Sweetheart Jewelry

1. What is the sweetest part of Valentine’s Day? Could it be the tiny heart candies that describe feelings? Originally called motto hearts, more than 8 billion of these candies, often called conversation starter hearts, are made each year. In the event students are not familiar with conversation hearts, have some examples available in the classroom for children to view. Have students note the messages printed on the hearts and begin a list of messages on a classroom white board.
2. Over the years, messages on the conversation hearts have changes. Ask students to interview parents and other adults to recall some of the heart messages that they received. How have the messages changed over the years? Students add newly uncovered messges to the classroom list. Then begin a new list of messages students might want to send to their loved ones on conversation hearts.
3. As students prepare to make original conversation hearts, have them cover their work space with recycled newspaper. Provide each child with a handful of white Crayola Model Magic and Crayola Washable Markers. Demonstrate to the class how to add color to the white Model Magic and knead it until they arrive at pastel colors similar to the hearts—or any other colors they wish for sweetheart necklaces, bracelets, or pendants.
4. With plastic dinnerware, students sculpt, mold, or cut out small shapes such as hearts, cupids, or other valentine designs. Add a brief message to the hearts such as "Love U" or "BFF". Air dry shapes overnight.
5. Thread a needle. With the help of an adult, use a thimble to string the dried shapes. Knot the thread on both sides of shapes to hold them in place.
6. If a shiny look is preferred for jewelry, students mix equal amounts of Crayola School Glue and water to make a glaze. With the work area covered with recycled newspaper, students apply glaze with a sponge brush. Dry overnight.
7. Use Crayola Glitter Glue to add finishing flourishes to designs. Air dry on newspaper.
8. Tape the ends of the string together to safely wear Sweetheart Jewelry.

LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.

LA: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade level topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

LA: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

MATH: Solve problems involving measurement and conversion of measurements from a larger unit to a smaller unit.

SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.

SS: Give examples of and explain group and institutional influences such as religious beliefs, laws, and peer pressure, on people, events, and elements of culture.

SS: Identify and use various sources for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

VA: Demonstrate how history, culture, and the visual arts can influence each other in making and studying works of art.

Possible classroom resources include: Saint Valentine by Robert Sabuda; The Ballad of Valentine by Alison Jackson; Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat; Valentines Day (Holiday Histories) by Kathryn Imler

Working in small groups, students investigate the history behind valentine symbols such as hearts and cupids.

In preparation for interviewing parents and grandparents about Valentine's Day celebrations past, students compose interview questions. Have these questions word processed and a copy of the questions printed for each student in the class.

Students write original messages that they would like to see/give on Valentine's Day heart candy. Compile a complete class list and post the list in the classroom for easy access. Students create additional Crayola Model Magic hearts and inscribe self-selected messages for each hears. Students prepare to give these 3-D hearts to a special someone.