Valentine’s Day Bilingual Math Learning Ideas

Valentine’s Day bilingual math learning consists of many activities that you can use in the classroom or at home. Aside from being fun activities, you might want to consider implementing math bilingual literacy.

But, what is math literacy? Of course, you might already know that literacy can consist of reading fun stories, nursery rhymes, poetry, and read-aloud texts.

Similarly, math literacy entails applying math concepts to solve problems. 

Valentine’s Day Bilingual Math Activities

As you use similar events or holiday themes like Valentine’s Day, your students will make connections between Valentine and math literacy. How is this possible?

Using different heart shapes or counting manipulatives, your students put together what they know to apply math. That is, they activate prior knowledge to associate, for instance, shapes with hearts.

Another example is counting hearts as manipulatives. While your young bilingual students gather hearts to count, they will be able to identify numbers and make discrete operations by adding.

Then, you can implement the math sentences to include what they see with the images. 

Materials:

• Heart-shaped printables and activities
• Construction paper or color print paper
• Math number cards or manipulatives
• Crayons, color pencils, or markers
• Safety scissors
• Glue

Instructions:

For Shapes 

1. Print each shape card and cut each card from the Resources section (member area)
2. Set aside
3. Cut individual labels and set them aside
4. Match each label with its respective shape
5. Create a flipbook of shapes by stapling the sheets together

For Counting

1. Print each number card and cut them individually from the Free Worksheets section
2. Use manipulatives or draw hearts according to the number on the card
3. Optional: laminate cards and use a dry-erase marker to draw hearts
4. Practice writing each number on each card
5. Organize the cards from one to ten
6. Staple the cards together to create a flipbook

For Bilingual Math Literacy

1. Print individual math cards from the Resources section (member area)
2. Cut each card and set them aside
3. Practice counting or writing the numbers on the cards
4. Color the items on each card
5. Practice the numbers in English and Spanish

Math Literacy for Bilingual Learning

While learning numbers and shapes might be an easy part of math, word problems or operations might be challenging. For example, bilingual learners might need extra support to understand problems and how to solve them.

• So, create various ways to help bilingual learners with math literacy.
• One way is to highlight keywords in the problem.
• Next, you can help students recognize those words as math symbols or part of operations.
• Then, set up the problem step by step.
• You can add other elements like group discussion or teamwork as you continue with the instruction.
• In this way, students can collaborate and interact with different problems. 

In conclusion, Valentine’s Day bilingual math activities are fun learning ideas. With simple hearts or math task cards, you can create ways to encourage bilingual learners to interact with math.

You can include fundamental math concepts that can later add to math literacy.