I always try to plan lessons that actively engage my students.  In February, I planned a lesson that was Valentine’s Day themed.  All week my students were very excited for their upcoming Valentine’s Day party and I knew that any lesson that involved Valentine’s Day would be one that would keep their attention!  I began the lesson by reading Clifford’s First Valentine’s Day by Norman Bridwell.  I brought in a stuffed animal version of Clifford to pass around during the read-aloud, which my first-graders loved!  They couldn’t wait for it to be their turn to hold him.  After the story, I planned to have the students work on their writing skills.  In the book, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth make Valentine’s Day cards for their friends and family and take them to the post office.  I made each student in my class a small mailbox with their name on it.  Inside the mailbox was a box of Valentine conversation hearts and small paper hearts that matched the candies.  I explained that we were going to make our own valentines to put in our mailboxes, just like Emily Elizabeth and Clifford.  The students were very excited!  They followed directions and copied the messages from the candies onto their paper hearts and even came up with their own nice messages!  Then they went around and “delivered” their mail to each other!  I also made mailboxes for myself and my mentor teacher.  This continued to keep students actively engaged in practicing their writing skills, because they looked forward to delivering mail to their teachers!  By connecting to something that was important to them (Valentine’s Day) and by giving them a sweet incentive to behave (Valentine’s Day treats from me), I think I planned a super engaging and successful lesson!