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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*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)

7 Valentine's Day Classroom Party Ideas with a Twist

February is my favorite month to be a teacher! It is jammed packed with different holidays and events that are always so engaging for the students. From Groundhog Day to Presidents Day and everything in between like Mardi Gras and the Lunar New Year, the month always seems to fly by.

Even though there is so much going on during February, the real excitement present in the classroom during February is usually due to Valentine's Day! Whether you have a Valentine's Day party in your classroom or not, the excitement can still be felt. I love to harness all that excitement into unique lessons that allow students to truly feel like they are celebrating the holiday, but also be knee-deep in learning at the same time!

After you pass around those Valentine's Day cards try something new and different this year! These are my favorite go-to activities that are perfect to use during any Valentine's Day party or as a stand-alone lesson during the month of February.

1. Heart Health

February is American Heart Month! What better time to learn about heart health than February. My school always participates in Jump Rope for Heart, so it is the perfect time to learn about the heart, circulatory system, and living a health lifestyle. After reading, studying, or sharing facts about our hard working heart, have students conduct a heart experiment! Students check their pulse before and after rigorous exercise to see just how hard their heart works.

It's simple, here is how:

1. Have students use stopwatches to find their resting heart rate (heart rate before any activity). Their pulse can be found on the side of their neck, below the ear, or on the inside of the wrist.
2. Set the timer for a minute and allow students to jog in place or complete jumping jacks.
3. Immediately have students use stopwatches to find their heart rate again.
4. Have students compare their heart rates and discuss why it is important to exercise each day.

2. Community Service Project

February is Random of Acts of Kindness month and one way to tie together Random Acts of Kindness Week with your Valentine's Day party is to complete community service projects with your students. The past few years I have completed community service projects during our Valentine's Day parties and with students have loved it, especially writing cards.

Here are some that we have done in past that the kids have loved:

1. Make Valentine's Day cards and pictures for servicemen and women.
2. Make Valentine's Day cards and pictures for local senior citizens.
3. Create bright and cheerful pictures and banners for kids in local hospitals.
4. Write thank you letters of appreciation to someone that student loves (family member, staff member, coach, anyone!)
5. Make joke books for anyone who may need to be cheered up.
6. Make a book for their younger reading buddies.

3. We Love Books Day

Turn Valentine's Day into We Love Books Day this year! Make it a day to incorporate books in each lesson of the day, being sure to share your favorite ones. During your, We Love Books Day have students share a book that they LOVE with their classmates. This is perfect to do during Valentine's Day Parties or any Friday during February. Grab these FREE book recommendations or have students cut out a heart from construction paper and write about their favorite book or series. After students share their favorite books with each other, create a display on your classroom bulletin board to serve as book recommendations. 

Looking for love-themed books to use throughout your We Love Books Day this month? Try some of my favorites listed below and then grab the FREE We Love Books Day Kit at the bottom of this post.

1. Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch* Pairs well with lessons on character understanding. (Don't have the book? Watch a reading of it HERE.) Want even more Mr. Hatch activities? Click HERE.
2. Yuck, A Love Story* Pairs well with lessons on visualizing as you read.
3. Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deeds* Pairs well with kindness lessons. 

Grab this set for FREE right here!

4.  Spread Some Gratitude

I love finding any excuse to spread gratitude! Sending a quick note of thanks for being an awesome friend, classmate, or reading partner is an easy way to build classroom community and help students feel good about themselves. When we write notes to each other in the classroom, students always cherish the kind words that they receive. Bust out the pink construction paper and hearts or use premade notecards to spread some love, kindness, and gratitude right in your own classroom this Valentine's Day!

5. Random Acts of Kindness Challenge

Random Acts of Kindness Week takes place during the month of February and is a great way to get students involved in doing good deeds around their classroom and school community. Grab these free Random Acts of Kindness calendars and have your students fill the days with random acts of kindness they would like to complete before the year is over. Head to my Instagram page and view the Kindness challenge story for a quick video tutorial about how I use these calendars in my classroom. Use these additional classroom kindness ideas and kindness read-aloud books to really get into the spirit of kindness this month.

Go one step further and read about how this important day got started and challenge your students to spread 17 acts of kindness this month!

6. Research Something or Someone You Love

This is one of my favorite projects to complete during the week of Valentine's Day! 

The concept is simple-students complete a research project on something or someone that they LOVE. It can be an activity or sport, an animal or person, or anything that sparks their interests. The kids love completing these writing projects because it is all about their choice and interest. Use your Valentine's Day party to have the students share their writing pieces. You can make it a simple research project that includes looking up information on their chosen topic and writing a paragraph, or have students complete a more in-depth animal or biography research project that students research and take through the writing process throughout the month of February.

Teacher Tip: Before writing biographies with your students this month, grab this FREE biography on Milton Hershey to set the stage for learning!

7. Play a Game

Parties are meant for playing games, right? I am all about educational games in the classroom, especially during crazy months like February. These holiday and seasonal-themed Tic Tac Math Games are a staple in my classroom and I love using them as much as the kids each month, especially during February. The math games are differentiated so students of all levels can play, and since they are completely editable they can be made into any skills review or challenge games of your choice. 

See the Tic Tac Love games that we play during February HERE.

Valentine's Day parties do not have to be sugar-filled to be fun!

Pass out those cards and then try one (or more) of these thoughtful and educational activities to engage your students and make your party time structured and purposeful.

You might be interested in reading:

Must-Read Winter Picture Books for the Upper Elementary Classroom

Celebrating Kindness in the Classroom

Groundhog Day Activities for Upper Elementary Students

St. Patrick's Day Unique Ideas for Upper Elementary Classrooms

Looking for more high-interest Valentine's Day activities, projects, and bulletin board sets?
Click 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)

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