Valentine’s Day often brings up conversations about care and connection. In schools, this can be an opportunity to focus on something universally important: kindness and respect within the learning environment.
Teachers can use Valentine’s Day as a simple, age-appropriate moment to reflect on how students treat one another, and how small actions contribute to a positive school community.
Below is a classroom-ready activity designed for K–12 students, adaptable by age, and aligned with common Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) objectives.
Why Focus on Kindness and Respect at School?
Across grade levels, students benefit from learning how:
- Respect supports a safe learning environment
- Kindness helps everyone feel included
- Small, everyday actions affect the wider community
These ideas are foundational to classroom culture and are already embedded in most SEL frameworks.
Now, maybe you’re wondering how Valentine’s Day is related to all that. Well, Valentine’s Day simply provides a familiar calendar moment to revisit them; that’s all.
Activity Overview (for Teachers)
Grade range: K–12
Time needed: 20–30 minutes
Focus: Kindness, respect, and community at school
Format: Short poem + discussion + student reflection
The activity uses a short, widely taught poem as an anchor text, followed by guided discussion and a simple student response task.
Anchor Text: A Short Poem About Kindness
The activity draws on an excerpt from “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye, a poem commonly used in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms.
The poem explores kindness as an everyday practice rather than a grand gesture, making it appropriate for school settings and adaptable across ages.
Teachers may read an excerpt, paraphrase the idea for younger students, or invite older students to read and discuss the text directly.
How the Activity Works
- Introduce the idea of Valentine’s Day as a time to reflect on kindness and respect in school.
- Read or paraphrase the poem excerpt.
- Discuss what kindness and respect look like in a classroom.
- Students respond through drawing or writing, depending on age.
The emphasis stays on school behavior, not personal relationships.
Download the Classroom Activity
To make this easy to use, we’ve created an editable and printable classroom asset that includes:
- Teacher instructions
- Age-differentiated student prompts
- Clear SEL alignment
Kindness and Respect at School – Teacher Guide
Kindness and Respect at School – Student Handout
