Valentine's Day Math
Who says Valentine’s Day is only about Hallmark and sugar? Classrooms can find creative ways to expand this holiday into a great learning opportunity. Try having your class send a valentine to their favorite number! This can be a great thing to put up on a bulletin board for the day of the big party.
- Have students think about a number that they like, maybe their favorite number. They should create a card with this number displayed prominently on it. For primary classrooms, it might be handy to have giant numbers to trace onto red paper. Their writing can go anywhere on the number. Older students will invariably come up with a way to make the number pop out on the front.
- Students should write a little letter telling why that number is special to him/her. It would help to elaborate on what its uses are, mathematically speaking, and reasons why that number was picked. Students can write all the ways to make that number on the front, with any mathematical expression they can come up with that equals that number.
- Decorate and discuss. Allow a little time for some fun decorating. Doilies are basic V-day décor, but crayons work great too. It is always important for students to share with others about their work. Save time and have each child share one thing about their number as you staple each valentine up on the bulletin board.
Here’s a Valentine’s Day Math example
(It gets a little cheesy, but this helps the kids to see the fun in it!)
Happy Valentine’s day number 9,
I really like you. You are my favorite number. ‘NINE’ has 4 letters in it just like my name, Beth! I like that you’re 3 x 3, since 3 used to be a favorite number of mine when I was little. Now I’m older, so I’m just as happy with bigger numbers like you. I also like that you look like a 6 upside down. You’re the square root of 81 and you make really cool number patterns on a hundreds chart when you’re multiplied by other numbers. You’re also the largest single digit that I know. Happy Valentine’s Day, number 9!