Valentines Day Activity ELA Reading Valentine Mailbox Mystery Inferencing Lesson
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What educators are saying
Description
Looking for a Valentines Day Activity that is fun & engaging? This popular inference lesson cab easily be modified by having secret senders put their clues in a Valentine mailbox!
Making inferences can be one of the most challenging reading strategies for elementary students! These mystery mail inferencing activities are designed to make inferring fun for students and easier for you to teach! The printable activities included in this packet are sure to get your students excited about practicing making inferences and will really help them understand the reading concept.
Inferencing is such an important skill to develop in order to be effective readers and critical thinkers. This activity engages students, anchors their learning, provides them with a fun, interactive learning experience, and helps them build an understanding of what it means to infer. This helps them when inferring comes up in language arts lessons and when it’s needed during their independent reading. They can think back to that memorable experience, drawing on that prior knowledge, and applying it within texts.
How to Implement this Resource in Your Classroom
- Start by making a list of staff members you want to include. Consider inviting all of your students’ former teachers and classroom aides, the principal, specialist teachers and other staff members that they know well and come in contact with often to participate.
- Prepare a “packet” for each of the mystery writers by simply securing the blank letter template, the cover sheet and an envelope together with a paperclip. Distribute them to the people on your list. You could include lots of people if you want to create stations at the end of the week or you could just ask 3-4 and model this as a whole class lesson.
- Copy the header and the 3 object pages onto colored paper and create a visual display to record your students’ thoughts. When the first few letters arrive, remove one object at a time and attach it to the display. Record students’ inferences with each object. After all three are displayed, students can conclude who the letter was using their inferring skills.
- Finally, read the letter and reveal the sender. So. Much. Fun!
Additional Optional Steps:
- Provide each student with a copy of the inferring page and as you reveal each item, they can illustrate and label the boxes at the top of the page. After all three items are revealed, they can record their own inferences, thoughts, and ideas about the sender based on the object and predict who sent it.
- Create an “inference Workshop” by placing envelopes and recording sheets at different stations. Number each envelope. Students enjoy using their inferring skills independently. This also makes a great activity for early finishers.
- As an added twist, continue the fun throughout the year by creating envelopes as if they were sent by celebrities or characters from books. You could also have the students create an envelope.
THIS READING RESOURCE IS GREAT FOR:
◼️ whole group lessons
◼️ small group instruction
◼️ literacy centers
◼️ reading lessons
WHAT IS INCLUDED:
✔ teacher guide that includes information about the resource as well as step-by-step instructions
✔ printables for preparing the envelopes including a mystery mail tracker, letter to participants, blank themed paper to write your own letter and stationery for your participants to write to your students
✔ mystery mail display printables to help you create your own mystery mail bulletin board display
✔ student activity pages to guide students through the process of making an inference about who sent the letter
5 REASONS TEACHERS LOVE THIS RESOURCE:
► This resource includes everything you need to prepare, manage, and execute this project.
► Students LOVE it! They will be highly engaged in their learning!
► It is very quick and easy to prepare this printable resource.
► It’s a great way to build relationships with your school administrators and colleagues.
► It takes a challenging concept and teaches it in a way students understand and then apply to other academic areas.
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