Making The Most Of Liking Each Other On Valentine's Day

It's almost Valentine's Day, and there are always mixed reviews among students at our school. They have this idea that it's all about love, so we try to reinforce that it's more about liking each other and showing others that we care about them. This week, I plan to ask students to brainstorm ways that they can show their parents/caregivers they love them and then ways they can show their friends they care about them. The students will use that information to complete a Valentine's Venn Diagram  which you can find here at our TPT store.

Over the last two years, the students in my my "Significantly Challenged Social Communicator" social skills group have shown that they learn best through videos. (Check out Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke, and Stephanie Madrigal's 2011 Social Communication Profile found here which further explains categories of social functioning.)  With that in mind, I found two Peanuts videos that show how quickly feelings can change, and how our feelings can change the feelings of others around us.  I love using the Peanuts videos because the characters' emotions are exaggerated and somewhat over-the-top, but it's exactly what this group of students need.



This video is perfect for showing how quickly feelings can change.  (Sometimes in moments of complete stress, I find myself having the same range of emotions!)  I plan to ask the group the following questions:

• How do Charlie Brown's emotions change throughout the video?  What are some of the emotions that he felt?
• What does Charlie Brown mean when he says, "I'd be crushed?"
• Why did Charlie Brown decide to open the mailbox?  How did he feel?
• What happened when he opened the mailbox?  How did he feel then?
• How does Schroeder feel about the girls giving Charlie Brown a used Valentine?  How do you know that?
• Why do you think Charlie Brown decided to take the Valentine?

The second video is great for inferring.



Again, here are the questions I plan to ask the group:

• What does "Valentine's Crush" mean?
• Why did Linus wait to draw Lucy's mouth?  Why did he draw her mouth so big?  What words can you use to describe her?  Why do you think his hand was shaking?
• How did Charlie Brown feel when the little red-haired girl did not give him a Valentine?  What did he really mean when he said, "Happy Valentine's Day?"
• What did Lucy mean when she told Charlie Brown that he wasn't not the little red-haired girl's kind?
• Was Lucy really patient?  What word means the opposite or something very different than patient?
• Why do you think Charlie Brown didn't get any Valentines?  How would that make you feel?

We hope that you can find these videos as useful as we hope to!