LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Read opposing viewpoints and take a side; evaluate potential reasons for and against canceling Valentine’s Day.

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 2: Analyze the influence of culture, media, and other factors on health behaviors.

CASEL: Social awareness

KEY VOCAB

commercialized

pesticides

Lesson Plan: Should Valentine’s Day Be Canceled?

Should we take this holiday off the calendar?

PREPARING TO READ

Before you read the debate “Should Valentine’s Day Be Canceled?” ask your students the following pre-reading question:

What are the pros and cons of celebrating Valentine’s Day?

READING AND DISCUSSION

  • Have your students read the debate “Should Valentine’s Day Be Canceled?” independently; read the debate out loud to them; or have one student read one side of the debate and another student read the other side.
  • After they’ve read the debate, revisit the pre-reading question. Have their answers changed?

BUILDING COMPREHENSION

Check students’ comprehension of and engagement with the story with the following assessment tool:

  • Comprehension Quiz and Vocabulary Review

EXPANDING SEL OPPORTUNITIES

Continue the learning journey with the following extension activity:

After picking a side in the debate, have your students plan and deliver a one- to two-minute SPEECH TO THE SCHOOL BOARD outlining their position in the debate. They should imagine that their district’s school board is planning to hold a vote to ban all Valentine’s Day celebrations for students and staff. To plan, they can add to their pros and cons list from the pre-reading activity or create bullet points to use while speaking. Encourage students to use their own thinking alongside ideas from the article. Have students share their speeches either as a recording (using a digital learning platform) or in a whole-class mock school board meeting.

Print the Lesson Plan

Text-to-Speech