9 Valentine's Day Picture Books for Upper Elementary

When it comes to February in the classroom, especially the upper elementary classroom, love is definitely in the air!

That is why I like to fill the month of February with love, kindness, and friendship-themed read alouds that are just perfect to bring Valentine's Day into the classroom. It is the perfect time to introduce or review themes in literature while reading a variety of books. These books can be used to celebrate Valentine's Day, discuss themes and other reading strategies, and engage students in meaningful book talks.

Read this list of my favorite picture books that I love reading in February with my upper elementary students. Plus, grab the free printables at the bottom of this post that go along with these books!

1. Yuck, A Love Story by Don Gillmore

This is my favorite story to read during February!

I love the specific details included in this book which make it perfect for visualizing lessons. This story follows two young friends as they develop a friendship, one going out of the way to give his new neighbor the moon. In the classroom, I read this story one time through without sharing the illustrations. Instead, I have students draw quick sketches of what they visualized every few pages. Then we reread the story, this time I share the illustrations, and the students compare what they visualized to the illustrations. It is a great lesson to encourage students to visualize as they read to increase their reading comprehension.

2.  Porcupining by Lisa Wheeler

This story is a fun read as the author enjoys using a play on words. Before reading this story, discuss what the word pining means as it comes up throughout the story and is one part of the play on words as the Porcupine is porocupining for a wife. Throughout the story, the Porcupine sings a song with a rhyming pattern. A fun follow-up activity would be to have your students write their own Valentine's Day poem using the same pattern.

This story follows the same theme as found in the book, Nobody Hugs a Cactus (number 9 on this list) making it perfect for comparing and contrasting themes, characters, and basic literary essay writing pieces.

3. Plant a Kiss by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

I love this sweet simple story and how the kiss is a metaphor for kindness! Kindness can and should be shared everywhere. This is a fun one to read and then brainstorm with students all the ways that they can spread kindness in the classroom, around the school, and around their community. Get started with this free kindness calendar.

4. On the Corner of Chocolate Avenue by Tziporah Cohen

We cannot go through February without a little discussion on chocolate and what better person to read about than Milton Hershey! I love reading this book, as it is the perfect mix of nonfiction and biography with a main idea and topic perfect for Valentine's Day...chocolate! The best part about this book is about Milton himself and what a philanthropist he was. This leads to wonderful classroom discussions about doing good things for others, kindness, and showing your love and how much you care, again perfect timing for February!

5. Hug Machine by Scott Campbell

This is a quick and fun read-aloud that truly encompasses the theme of love, perfect for Valentine's Day and February. This quick story is the perfect opportunity to introduce, practice, or review character analysis. Be sure to show your students the checklist found on the inside cover and the completed checklist on the backside cover, the kids love checking it by revisiting the story. 

6.  Be You! by Peter H. Reynolds

Want to get in a little social-emotional learning this month? Read this book and have a discussion about self-love! My students LOVE this activity! This book is written in a fun format, each page filled with phrases and illustrations encouraging the reader to just be themselves...an important message we want our kids to hear again and again. Follow up a read-aloud of this book with a little self-love activity to display to remind your students how awesome they are! Print out the heart and have the students fill it with all the things that they LOVE about themselves. Grab the free activity that goes along with this book at the bottom of this post.

7.  Nobody Hugs a Cactus by Carter Goodrich

This sweet story tells the story of Hank, a cactus that no one wants to hug. If you are reading this one alongside a read-aloud of Porcupining, you can compare and contrast the two story's story elements, characters, and each main character's feelings and emotions. The illustrations in this book provide great support when discussing character feelings and emotions and how feelings and emotions can change throughout a story.

8.  Love, Z by Jessie Sima

This unique book tells the story of Z, a robot out on a mission to find out what love really is. Throughout the robot's journey many things are learned and many people are met, but by the end Z realizes home is where he or she needs to be! I love this classic story with a fun twist.

9.  Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli

February cannot come and go without at least one reading of the book, Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch. This is one of my all-time favorites! It is perfect for discussing gratitude, friendship, and feelings of loneliness. This touching story tells about Mr. Hatch who feels alone and sad until the day he thinks that is loved when he gets a large box of chocolates. Unfortunately, it was delivered to him in error, but with a theme of friendship and kindness, it all works out for Mr. Hatch. this story is also perfect to analyze characters and discuss how characters change throughout the story. This is a must-read! 

BONUS Valentine's Day Read Aloud: Love from the Crayons by Drew Daywalt

If you are looking for a book to review or practice figurative language, this is it! This book is filled with similes and metaphors for the different colors in the crayon box...all representing love for a different reason. Before reading this book, have the students make predictions about how each color represents love. After reading the book, come up with different colors that are not in the box and have students work with a partner to write similes and metaphors about those colors.

When it comes to celebrating Valentine's Day in your upper elementary classroom books that go beyond just Valentine's Day is a must for February! The books in this list are filled with themes that you will want to bring into the classroom and continue discussing throughout the year!

You will love reading these related posts:

4 Groundhog Activities for Upper Elementary

6 Valentine's Day Party Ideas with a Twist

St. Patrick's Day Ideas you Never Thought Of!

Celebrating National Poetry Month in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Looking for more high-interest February activities? Click the HERE.

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100th Day of School Ideas and Activities for Upper Elementary

100th Day of School activities for upper elementary made simple!

Being an upper elementary teacher is hard! There is always the struggle between the fun of wanting to celebrate the holidays and seasons in the classroom and making sure you get in the challenging expectations and standards of your grade level.

Kids are kids no matter how old they are and they love celebrations of any kind! I have found that my upper elementary students LOVE to celebrate every holiday throughout the year...even the 100th Day of School! The holidays are a great way to increase participation and engagement from your upper elementary students.

You may gloss over the 100th Day of School, thinking it is a day for the primary grades, but don't! Celebrating the 100th Day of  School is an instant motivator for your upper elementary students and a great way to engage students in the middle of winter, just when they need a little boost!

Of course, when it comes to celebrating the holidays in my classroom I always infuse critical thinking, and rigorous activities that get students thinking...not just celebrating!

Here are my favorite ways to celebrate the 100th Day of School with my "big kids" who love celebrating as much as any other kid!

1. Start with a Read Aloud!

The Hundredth Day Disaster is a perfect read-aloud for upper elementary classrooms! It is super fun to read since it is written in rhyme.  It is easily relatable too, as the teacher miscounts and does not have 100 days of school on her chart. The kids band together to help their teacher figure out how she miscounted. (Spoiler alert, don't blame the teacher, our days are quite hectic!) With larger vocabulary words included and a theme of a strong community, this story is one that I definitely feel is a good fit for upper elementary classrooms!

Since it is written in rhyme, challenge your students to create a list of 100 rhyming words! Grab the free printable below.

Other Fun 100th Day of School Reading Ideas:

• Challenge to read silently for 100 minutes on the 100th Day of School (or during the 100th Day week)
• Word Challenge: Give a specific direction and challenge kids to brainstorm as many as they can in a small group or with a partner. Combine all student ideas to see if you reach 100. For example: Let's list 100 compound words.
• Sentence Challenge: Give a specific topic and challenge students to write one hundred sentences about that topic. This is a perfect tie-in to any nonfiction topic you are studying.

2. Play up 100!

When it comes to the 100th Day of School, you can do more than just count 100 things! Leave that for first graders. Go beyond the counting of 100, and dive deep into learning about things that are related to 100. My two favorite "play on 100" topics to learn about are inventions that took place 100 years ago and Benjamin Franklin, who appears of course on the $100 bill! 

By taking the number 100 and relating it to the last century, upper elementary students can take part in exciting 100th Day of School lessons.

Try these "Big Kid" 100 Ideas:

• Have students research and write a persuasive piece about which invention they think is the most important one that was invented in the last 100 years
• Have students create a list of 100 endangered or extinct animals and create a presentation on one of them
• Bring 100 into their world by having students work with a partner to create a list of 100 different ways to do something that directly relates to their world, like 100 Different Ways to Practice Multiplication Facts
• Have students count out 100 days and find the date. Have students write a letter to the teacher explaining what they hope to learn and experience in the next 100 days of learning.

3. 100 Acts of Kindness Challenge

In my school, the 100th Day of School falls in February. And let's face it, February is one of those months that has SO MANY THINGS TO CELEBRATE...like:

• Groundhog Day
• Valentine's Day
• President's Day
• Random Acts of Kindness Week
• Lunar New Year (depending on the lunar calendar)

So why not do a little double-dipping and tie the 100th Day of School into another special day that you celebrate! I love using the 100th Day alongside Random Acts of Kindness Week and challenging the students to complete 100 random acts of kindness around the school. They love this challenge! Year after year I love to watch my students come together as a class to meet this goal. It truly is inspiring!

Try these 100th Day + Other Holiday Ideas:

• Have students create a list of the United States Presidents that held office in the last 100 years. Go further and have groups of students research and present information about one of those US Presidents.
• Have students as a class write out 100 Valentine's Day cards and leave them around the school
• Have students research and list 100 different places where groundhogs live

4. Community Building 

There is nothing I love more than completing community-building activities throughout the year! It is a welcome change of pace when the lesson focuses on strengthening our classroom culture and atmosphere. Community building activities are especially fun when it is tied into the 100th Day of School right in the middle of winter, just when we need a little refocus on our classroom family!

This activity is simple yet powerful and you will find you will want to do an activity like this each month!

Here is how we write our community-building letters:

1. Have students write their names with a pencil on a small piece of paper and fold it into fourths. Place all the names in a bucket or bowl.
2. Have students one at a time randomly draw a name from the bucket or bowl, making sure that they did not pick themselves. If they pick themselves, have them show you before selecting a new name.
3. Students then write a letter to the student whose name they picket. Their letters should be positive, upbeat, and include specific examples of why they are happy to be that person's friend and classmate.
4. For the 100th Day of School, we use the theme...100 Words to Describe YOU! The kids love it! They write a letter for their classmate AND fill a "100" with positive words about their classmate.
5. When all students are all done creating the cards for their classmates, they deliver them. They really love both giving letters and receiving them!

Try these community-building ideas:

• Work as a class to create a list of your favorite 100 memories, lessons, and activities that you have completed this school year
• Try something from this list: 8 Strategies for Building Classroom Community

5. Math Fun with 100...of course!

What is the 100th Day of School without a little, or a lot of math fun? When I taught fifth grade, I had to get creative on how to celebrate the 100th Day that went beyond the number 100. So, instead of focusing on the number 100, we focused on math activities around "hundredths." The kids loved it! We use these spinners and practice adding and subtraction decimals. Before students add or subtract, they must round the decimal to the nearest hundredth.

We also did activities like these:

• Race to one hundredth math game
• Greater than or less than one hundredth
• How big is one hundredth?

If you teach third grade or fourth grade, you can do these same spinner games and activities but focus on 100.

Try these 100th Day Math Ideas:

• Have students figure out different ways that 100 days can be measured. How many hours is it? How many minutes? How many seconds?
• Give students the probability challenge of flipping a coin 100 times, will it be 50 heads and 50 tails? Have them predict, flip a coin, gather their findings, and be ready to share with a mini presentation.
• Have students work backward from the number 100 and write a word problem where the answer is 100. Students can write addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and two step word problems. Have students create an illustration to match their problems. This is always a class favorite! 

When it comes to celebrating the holidays and seasons in your upper elementary classroom, don't leave the 100th Day of School out! It is the perfect opportunity to get in some fun, community building, critical thinking, and rigor in the midst of winter. 

You will love reading these related posts:

Must Watch FREE Groundhog Day Videos for the Classroom

4 Groundhog Activities for Upper Elementary

6 Valentine's Day Party Ideas with a Twist

Celebrating National Poetry Month in the Upper Elementary Classroom

Looking for print-and-go 100th Day of School activities? Click the HERE.

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*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

December Holiday Read Alouds for Upper Elementary Classrooms

December in the classroom is a magical time! The air is filled with excitement, the children are all smiles, and as the weather gets a bit cooler, it is the perfect time to gather together in the reading area for a good book!

But how do you pick the perfect December read-aloud that all of the students in your class can connect with? It is definitely tricky! That is why I love to make sure that my December picture book stack is well balanced to represent different holidays and traditions, especially some that my students may not have heard of before!

This list of suggested December picture books for upper elementary classrooms is a great place to get started when it comes to going beyond just the Christmas read-aloud. These books have all been read in my classroom and enjoyed by all students, no matter what holiday they celebrate, or don't celebrate.

Don't forget to grab the free printable activities that go alongside some of these picture books, just perfect to add to your December lesson plans.

New 2024! A City Full of Santas written by Joanna Ho

“A City Full of Santas” by Joanna Ho is a heartwarming story that beautifully intertwines the themes of traditions, family, and diversity during the holiday season. With its soft illustrations and thoughtful message, it’s a perfect read-aloud to spark discussions about traditions, making memories, and celebrating differences. You will love to add this to your holiday lessons, encouraging students to think about how they can spread kindness in their own communities.

Grab the free printables to use with these favorite read alouds!

1. The Little Owl and the Big Tree written by Jonah Winter

This sweet tale tells the story of Rockefeller, the small owl that stayed in his large evergreen tree even after it was cut down to be the main Christmas tree attraction in Rockefeller Center in New York City. This tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl stayed buried in his hole, afraid to come out even after the tree he lived in traveled for hours to get to NYC. This book tells how this little owl was found, nursed back to health, and released back into the wild. I love this one for December because it is not Christmas focused and is a real story that the kids love! I love to read this book and then dive deep into a nonfiction article about this book as a paired passage reading activity.

2.  How Santa Got His Job written by Stephen Krensky

This fun read follows Santa as he takes and leaves different jobs, until finding the right fit! Each job he takes has a problem that leads him to quit or get fired and take a new job. But each job he leaves provides him with an important skill that will help him do his job as the Santa Claus that we all know! The kids will love seeing Santa in different jobs and roles. A fun follow-up activity would be to write persuasive letters to Santa, telling him to take the year off after working all these jobs!

3.  Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree written by Robert Barry

I have read this book for years, and it is always one of my holiday favorites to read aloud each December! Written in prose and chock full of good word choice and vocabulary, this story follows the small pieces of one big Christmas tree as it is passed on to others. I love that this book can be used to illustrate how one action can have many different effects, which lends itself to lessons on kindness and the power of one kind deed.  

4. The Polar Express written by Chris Van Allsburg

No December read-aloud list is complete without The Polar Express! A truly classic tale, this story follows the adventures of a young boy on the way to the North Pole on the polar express. The adventure comes at the perfect time as the young boy is beginning to wonder about Santa's existence. As with all of Chris Van Allsburg's books, this one is cleverly written, includes beautiful illustrations, and will have the students at the end of their seats as they predict, infer, and connect as each page is read!

5. The Broken Ornament written by Tony DiTerlizzi

The Broken Ornament tells the story of a young boy named Jack who gets caught up in the Christmas rush and breaks his mom's special ornament. Throughout the story, he finds out why the ornament was so special to her and learns the real meaning of Christmas...the value of kindness and giving. After being visited by a Christmas fairy, Jack decides on a special way to try to make it up to his mom.  This book is a perfect read-aloud to springboard into discussions about the students' family holiday traditions.

6.  The Nutcracker written by Valeria Docampo

This beautifully illustrated version of the classic Nutcracker is one your students will love, especially if they have not heard this story.  Not familiar with this story? It is about a young girl who is gifted with a nutcracker on Christmas Eve. She falls asleep and dreams of a magical land with candy and sweets and is protected by her Nutcracker who has come to life! I love to read this book before diving deep into a nonfiction article about this ballet as a paired passage reading activity.

7.  Night of Las Posadas written by Tomie DePaolo

This book is a religious story that tells about the tradition of Las Posadas. The tradition of Las Posadas is one that takes place in Mexico and lasts for nine days. It is a procession that re-enacts the story of Mary and Joseph looking for a place to rest and have Jesus. This story is definitely one for classrooms and families that celebrate Christmas and offers a twist at the end that will have students critically thinking!

Learning about different winter holidays around the world? You will love these activities.

8.  The Legend of the Red Poinsettia written by Tomie DePaolo

Have you ever wondered why Poinsettias are commonly called the Christmas flower? This story, retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola, tells about the legend that explains why Poinsettias are associated with Christmas. A young girl has nothing to bring to church to celebrate Baby Jesus so she brings weeds. Once inside the church, the weeds blossom into beautiful and shining red and green flowers. I love the legend and the special author's note at the end, too!

9.  All of a Kind Family written by Emily Jenkins and Paul O.  Zelinsky

This is a must-add to your December collection! This book takes place in New York City in 1912. It follows one family who celebrates the first night of Hanukkah by making latkes. I love how each page is filled with traditions this family celebrates and holds close to their hearts. No matter what holiday you and your students celebrate, everyone will instantly want to share one of their own family holiday traditions following a read-aloud of this story!

10.  Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins written by Eric A. Kimmel

I love this story! It is so engaging and always has students at the edge of their seats, cheering Hershel on as he attempts to save Hanukkah from the goblins. This original story, complete with unique and beautiful illustrations tells the story of one man as he tries to save Hanukkah from pesky goblins who try to stop the holiday from taking place. The author's note offers insight into how this story was created and why it was written. Definitely a must-add to your collection!

11.  Oskar and the Eight Blessings written by Tanya Simon

This is my favorite Hanukkah story to share. This one focuses on kindness and blessings and helps students to appreciate the small things in life. This story takes place in Manhattan on Christmas Eve and the 7th day of Hanukkah. The year is 1938 and Oskar, a young refugee from Nazi Germany is in NYC looking for his aunt whom he has never met. As he travels the city and streets of Manhattan he meets 8 strangers, each offering one small act of kindness. I love the discussions that take place around a reading of this book!

12.  Together for Kwanzaa written by Juwanda G. Ford

This story focuses on one family who celebrates Kwanzaa. Filled with traditions and practices of this winter holiday, your students will learn just how important this holiday is! The youngest of the family is worried that her brother will not make it home in time for Kwanzaa celebrations. As they prepare for the holiday the family all comes together, making this year's celebration extra special.

13.  Seven Spools of Thread - Kwanzaa Angela Shelf Medearis

This book is perfect to introduce students to the holiday of Kwanzaa during the month of December, but its message is perfect for any time of the year! This story has so many positive messages and follows the theme of family, community, and working together. In this story, seven brothers most put their differences aside and work together to complete a mission their father set out for them. The powerful tale perfectly illustrates the value kindness and teamwork. The introduction to the story is a must-read as it explains the history of Kwanzaa and goes over each of the guiding 7 principles. I love reading this one each year!

Grab these free coordinating book activities:

When it comes to sharing favorite read-alouds in December, remember to share books with a wide range of holidays, traditions, and cultures. The kids love learning about different holidays, their origins, and the traditions associated with them. This list is a great way to get started, they are all student approved! Happy Holidays!

Looking for more meaningful holiday activities like these? See more here. 

You will love reading these related articles:

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*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)