Virtual Valentines

I don't want to forget this year, so I've been trying to remember those special moments that I felt the classroom magic... through a computer.  

Virtual Valentines came into our classroom this year.  The week of Valentines I usually give the students Friendship Homework.  It's the last week of the trimester, when we are taking a break with new information to just review... They usually write compliments for each student, then take the papers, and glue them on their valentine bags.  This year with everything going on, I still wanted them to have the joy of giving.  But we did it virtually.  It was AWESOME!

Over on the main page of our TEAM - where kids are NEVER allowed to write, I put 27 announcements - one with each of the names. It looked like this, but the GIF was something a little more personalized for each kid.

Students took the entire week and replied to each post with compliments, stickers, emojis, and gifs. They soaked it up.  They filled our main page with kindness. Then on that Friday before Valentines, they went and took screenshots of the messages from their classmates if they wanted to save.  

I also stuck the top image into each of their private channels to give a private valentine.  They responded with some very kind words.  These kids can make me cry.  Like when I overheard/saw an entire conversation over in a team channel about encouraging their classmates to give compliments to me... and they started saying the sweetest things.  I don't think they realized that I could read every single word. It was supposed to be a secret from me until the big reveal. 

I have hope for the next generation.  There are good ones. It made it a very special day after all. I’m now thinking of doing something similar for St. Patrick’s Day... like Pass around those Lucky Charms. :) Lol! We’ll see...   

Hope you had a great day!