Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to sprinkle a little love into your lessons, and what better way than to have some holiday fun while teaching descriptive adjectives? With hearts, candies, and kind words in the air, it’s a great opportunity to teach students how to make their writing more colorful and captivate the hearts of their readers. Here are some fun ideas to help your upper elementary students master descriptive adjectives while celebrating Valentine’s Day in style!
1. Heartfelt Descriptions: Valentine’s Adjective Matching Game
Kick off your descriptive adjectives lesson with a game! Create heart-shaped cards that you can split down the middle. Write Valentine themed nouns on the left half of each heart and descriptive adjectives on the right half. Cut all the hearts in half and shuffle them up. Your students’ mission? Match the most fitting adjective to each noun. For example:
- Noun: chocolates → Adjective: decadent
- Noun: flowers → Adjective: fragrant
This matching game gets students thinking about how adjectives enhance nouns, while the Valentine’s theme keeps it sweet and fun! No time to make a set of card? I’ve got you covered. Here’s a free download of this activity…just print and go!
2. Adjective Candygrams: Sweeten Up Your Writing
Ask students to write Candygram messages for their classmates using descriptive adjectives. Encourage them to get creative—each message should include at least two adjectives that describe their friend in a positive way. You might hear sentences like:
- You’re as kind as a warm hug and as funny as a puppy!
The challenge is to avoid overusing common adjectives like “nice” or “good” and to get specific and descriptive. Have students brainstorm a list of Valentine’s-inspired adjectives beforehand, like lovely, joyful, cheerful, shiny, and sparkling to help ignite creativity!
3. Stock an ELA Station with Valentine Task Cards
Task cards are a tried and true, teacher-approved resource when it comes to ease of set up and versatility. Use this set of Valentine themed adjective task cards to stock your grammar station, play Scoot, set up a Write the Room activity, or pair them with your favorite cooperative learning structure. The possibilities are endless and the extra practice with adjectives will keep your young writers learning and growing.
4. Love Letter to My Favorite Food
Talking about romance and love letters with upper elementary students….awkward! But we can tweak the object of our affections to something that everyone loves and no one is awkward about. What if your students could write a love letter to their favorite food? Have them choose a food they absolutely love—like a pizza, chocolate chip cookies, or a bag of Cheetos—and write a descriptive Valentine’s love letter to it. The catch? They need to use at least five descriptive adjectives in their letter. For example:
- Dear Ice Cream, you are the most delicious, creamy, and refreshing treat on a hot day. You make my taste buds feel joyful and my heart so happy! I will love you forever, ice cream!
This exercise is a lighthearted way to get students thinking about how adjectives make their writing more vivid, all while having a little Valentine’s Day fun.
5. Cupid’s Adjective Hunt
In this activity, students go on an adjective scavenger hunt around the classroom. Before class, hide heart-shaped cards with different descriptive adjectives written on them all over the room. Students then search for the hearts and write down the adjectives they find. Afterward, challenge them to use these adjectives to describe Valentine’s-themed objects, such as:
- This chocolate is rich and melty.
- The red roses are vibrant and fragrant.
Not only does this get students up and moving, but it also helps them see how descriptive adjectives are all around them!
6. Valentine’s Day Poetry: Acrostic Adjective Poems
Acrostic poems are a staple of Valentine’s Day ELA activities. Have your students write acrostic poems about Valentine’s Day-themed words like “Heart,” “Love,” or “Cupid” or have them choose the name of someone special. The catch? Each line of their poem must include a descriptive adjective that paints a picture about the thing or person featured in the acrostic poem! Here’s an example using one of my very favorite people, a four-year old named Aviana.
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- Adventurous
- Vibrant
- Imaginative
- Adorable
- Nice
- Affectionate
Acrostic poems are a great way to encourage creativity while focusing on incorporating adjectives into writing. It’s a great way to sneak in a review of positive character traits as well!
7. Adjective Valentine’s Day Word Wall
Transform a section of your classroom into a Valentine’s Day adjective word wall. Start by having students brainstorm Valentine-themed adjectives and write them on pink or red hearts to display on the wall. Words like adorable, dazzling, heartfelt, and snuggly are sure to make an appearance! As the wall grows, challenge students to use these words in their writing or speech throughout the week.
8. Design a Valentine’s Day Character
Get creative and have students design their own Valentine’s Day character—a cute animal, a mischievous Cupid, or a friendly Valentine’s monster. Once they’ve drawn their character, have them label their drawing or write a few sentences describing it with at least five descriptive adjectives. They might describe a Valentine bunny with fluffy fur and enormous, round eyes or a Cupid with sparkly wings and a mischievous grin.
Spread the Love with Descriptive Adjectives
By adding a little Valentine’s Day fun into your descriptive adjectives lessons, you’ll keep students engaged and excited to explore how adjectives make their writing more expressive. Whether through heartfelt Candygrams, silly poems, or adjective scavenger hunts, your students will leave with a better understanding of how to make their writing come alive—and with a little extra love in the air!
With these sweet activities, your upper elementary students will master descriptive adjectives just in time for Valentine’s Day. Let the creativity (and the kindness!) flow!