Valentine's Day

Yesterday I spent a few hours helping my three children prepare Valentine's cards and treats for their classmates. My son Alex has 33 children in his third grade class, my daughter Sami has 24 first grade classmates, and little Aidan has 24 friends in his Pre-Kindergarten class...that adds up to a total of 81 Valentines! We sure had our work cut out for us! Alex and Sami were able to work fairly independently, using their class lists to address each card. Sami took special care to choose just the right card for her not so secret admirer! Aidan's task was slightly more challenging, as he is still mastering not only spelling his name correctly, but also writing in a suitable size to fit all the letters together. His teacher requested that the Valentines not be addressed, to facilitate distribution into the students' backpacks...this made his job a little easier! They were all very excited when the Valentines had been completed, and look forward to sharing them with their friends tomorrow at school. Once again, they have reminded me that it is just as exciting to give, as it is to receive! Happy Valentine's Day!

Vocabulary

Valentine: a special treat, often a card or chocolate, given to someone to celebrate St. Valentine's Day

classmate: a student or person in your class

independently: working alone, or without help

admirer: a person who likes something, or someone

facilitate: to make something easier to do

distribution: giving or delivering something

Exercise: Complete these sentences using the vocabulary words above.

1. I sorted the dirty clothes in the hamper to ____________ doing the laundry.

2. Mary is an ___________ of that author; she has read all of her books.

3. He knows John from school; he is his ____________.

4. Can you help me with the ___________ of the mail?

5. Do you need help with this, or can you work _______________?

6. I received a beautiful __________ with red hearts and ribbon.

Grammar Point: Idiomatic Expressions

An idiomatic expression, or figure of speech, is a phrase or saying whose meaning does not necessarily correspond to its literal definition. For example, to say that someone is "all ears" does not mean that someone is literally made of all ears, but instead that they are ready and eager to listen to what someone has to say. Can you find an example of an idiomatic expression in the paragraph above, and figure out its meaning?