Although Valentine’s Day is traditionally laden with chocolates and sweet treats, there are also so many non-sweet treats available nowadays. As an elementary school teacher, I’m always looking for alternatives to candy that I can give my students either as rewards during the month of February or to put in their Valentine’s Day mailboxes.
I found a ton of cute, non-sweet treats like tiny notebooks, mini heart erasers, fun pencils, and a bunch of different Valentine’s stickers. (everyone loves stickers!) I love to give my students 
To make the Valentine’s pencils extra fun, I designed a set of purple, hot pink, and red printable “Happy Valentine’s Day” flags to add to them. I printed them on white cardstock so they were sturdy. (You can download these for free at the bottom of this post.)
After printing out the pencil flags, you can cut each one with scissors or a paper cutter.
Fold them flag strips and apply pressure to the crease. Next, trim each one to a flag shape. Use a glue stick to fasten each one securely around the top of each pencil. To print out the FREE printable “Happy Valentine’s Day” flags, go here.
I made a non-candy “treat” bag for each of my students that included a Smile Face Valentine pencil with a flag on it, a couple of Mini Valentine Spiral Notebooks, a handful of Mini Smile Face Erasers, a couple sheets of Mini Heart Big Roll Stickers, and a Tic-Tac-Toe Valentine Sticker Card for each student. I stuck everything into a clear cellophane bag. and tied with some ribbon. I can’t wait to pass them out on Valentine’s Day! Do you send anything special for Valentine’s Day for your child’s classmates?
For my 1st graders. it was easier for me to break it down and teach them 3 main things about Memorial Day that I felt were most important for them to know.
Memorial Day is such an important topic to talk to children about, both at school and at home. Above all, because of the sacrifice our soldiers and their families make, America is the “Home of the Free, because of the Brave!”
To create this fun Valentine’s Day patterning activity, I found the most adorable mini smile face heart erasers on the Oriental Trading Company site’s 
Students can also just practice the patterning at their desks. Each student gets 3 circles, each one with an “A”, a “B”, and a “C” in the center, to create their “key”. They place a different colored heart eraser in each circle after they decide which ones they want to be each letter in their patterns.
Then they place the rectangular pattern cards out on their desk. Each student receives about 50 heart erasers to work with and they create their own patterns. It keeps them pretty quiet for a short while, which is nice.
To switch it up, they can change around which color heart they place in the key and create new patterns. They LOVE doing this patterning activity!
As an extension activity, you can also have students draw and illustrate their patterns on a piece of paper.
Prior to the first day of school, I’ve usually spent several days of my summer break working on my classroom. I always want it to be perfect for my students. There are pencils to sharpen, name tags to personalize, bulletin boards to put up and so more.
Once the new school year gets under way, I still find myself spending extra hours after school each week, in my classroom. It just seems like there’s always something that needs to be done.
I’ve read a lot about self-care lately and am learning the importance of doing so. It’s important to take time out for yourself during the workday, even if it’s just 5 or 10 minutes at a time. My skipping lunch to work isn’t something I should be allowing to happen and I’m going to change it, in addition to some other things
I was so touched when I received a special teacher care package, filled with goodies, from Udderly Smooth®! It was so thoughtful of them to send it to me and several of my teacher friends. Have you heard of their products? They are beyond moisturizing and have the most adorable packaging! I love cows! Also, all of the products are made in the USA!
The first thing I reached for when I opened the package was the cow stress ball. Stress balls are like the world’s best invention. Kids love them too! It’s definitely something I will utilize in my classroom often!
These products couldn’t have come at a better time because keeping my hands moisturized at work is something else I am totally lagging on. I must wash my hands at least 100 times a day, as I’m always coming in contact with little ones. Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration but keeping my skin moisturized needs to be another priority at work.
I put together a list of the things I’m going to try to work on this year at school. I’m going to keep this list on my desk as a friendly reminder and daily check list. I’m there to teach, create, and inspire…but I also need to take care of me!
What are some of the things you need to do to take better care of yourself? Maybe you could make a declaration of those things like I did. 
