Cross-Curricular Lessons for Valentine’s Day
This Valentine’s Day, go beyond the usual cards and candies with our cross-curricular lessons! Discover creative ways to incorporate science, social studies, and more into your celebration of love. Our Heart Unit goes over a wide range of Topics from How the Heart Works to Heart Problems, and yes, Valentine’s Day. Keep your students learning with these engaging, cross-curricular activity ideas. We also offer some tips to include your virtual students and to make the holiday feel special.
Math
The first paragraph of The Heart’s Purpose and Function says, “As you read this, your heart is pumping about five quarts of blood throughout your body.” Use this information to introduce the liquid measurements of gallon, quart, pint, and cup. Bring in a variety of clean containers that hold these amounts, such as milk and orange juice jugs and cartons, and a liquid measuring cup. Measure out five quarts of water and pour it into a bucket to show students approximately how much blood is in their bodies. Next, ask students to look at the containers and estimate how many cups are in a pint, how many pints are in a quart, and so on. Then students can pour water into the containers to find out the exact measurements. Finally, have students create math problems using these numbers: How many pints are in one gallon? How many pints are in five quarts? How many cups are in one quart?
Science
Either virtually or in-person, invite the school nurse or a local nurse or doctor to visit your class. Before the visit, ask students to come up with several appropriate questions about the nurse’s or doctor’s profession in medicine (not his or her personal life). You or other students can review the questions ahead of time to make sure they are worded well and have potentially interesting answers.
Physical Education
After reading Keeping the Heart Health Topic, work together with the physical education teacher to teach students where to find and how to take their heart rates. If you are in a virtual school setting, invite them to join your class via Zoom or create a prerecorded video to embed in your lesson. Have students take their heart rate throughout the day, and after different activities. How does their heart rate while sitting at their desks compare to after they run in place or walk down the halls? Students can record their results and answer the question, how did they feel after each activity? This is also a great excuse to get your students moving and out of their seats!
Health
Have students find the nutrition labels from their favorite Valentine’s Day candies. They can compare and contrast the nutritional values of the different treats. They can use different criteria for ranking the candy, such as the contribution to daily values, the amount of total fats and saturated fats; and the size of a serving. Ask them to predict which ingredient may affect the nutritional value the most. Afterward, you can give a refresher on the importance of healthy eating with our Nutrition Unit. Cross-Curricular Lessons for Valentine’s Day
