ESL February Activities: Groundhog's Day 100 Days of School and Valentine's Day Lesson Plan Ideas, Vocabulary, and Crafts

February is packed with opportunities to create meaningful, engaging lessons for your ESL students. From exploring traditions like Groundhog Day, 100 days of Schoolto expressing love and kindness on Valentine’s Day, this month is full of chances to build language skills while fostering cultural understanding. Below are some creative ideas to incorporate into your classroom, along with strategies to make these activities effective for English learners. 

1. Groundhog Day ESL Listening, Reading and Vocabulary Lesson Plan Ideas

Groundhog Day, celebrated on February 2nd, offers a unique introduction to American culture and weather-related traditions. For ESL students, it can also serve as a springboard for building vocabulary, practicing listening comprehension, and introducing prediction-based language.

Activity Idea: Start with an engaging video about Groundhog Day Pause the video at key moments to check comprehension and teach new words like "burrow", "shadow," "spring," and "predict."

Groundhog Day ESL Reading , Vocabulary and Craft

With my ESL newcomers and younger students we read an emergent reader about Groundhog Day and with my older ELLs we read differentiated passages about this fun and interesting holiday. Both options allow students to learn about Groundhog Day traditions while building their vocabulary and reading skills. 

                                         

Groundhog Day is a perfect opportunity to teach weather and seasonal vocabulary like "spring," "winter," "cloud," "sun," "predict," and "burrow"while introducing the tradition of predicting the weather in the U.S. (Punxsutawney Phil).

Interactive Writing Craft Task: After reading their emergent reader or differentiated text, students can create a Groundhog Day craft. Depending on whether the groundhog "saw its shadow" or not, students use sentence starters and frames to describe what they like to do in winter or spring. For example: "My groundhog saw its shadow. It will be six more weeks of winter. In winter, I like to _______." This helps students practice seasonal vocabulary while building sentence structure.

Another fun craft for Groundhog Day is this engaging Groundhog Day resource designed for kindergarten, first, and second grade! With crowns, color-by-code activities, number order puzzles, and interactive TPR (Total Physical Response) drawing activities, students can celebrate while building essential skills like counting, phonics, and fine motor coordination. 

This easy-prep resource makes learning fun and keeps students engaged, whether they’re predicting six more weeks of winter or welcoming an early spring!

2. Valentine’s Day: Building Language Skills with Fun Activities

Valentine’s Day provides a great opportunity for ESL students to learn vocabulary, practice sentence-building, and engage in fun, interactive activities centered around kindness and tradition.

                                       

Valentine's Day ESL Reading Activities

Students can read an emergent reader about Valentine’s Day or differentiated passages that explore the tradition of the holiday and the story of St. Valentine. 

                                  

Younger learners focus on circling sight words and coloring images—a great chance to practice following directions (e.g., "Color the cupid pink"). 

Older students can engage in vocabulary activities such as matching images with words or building sentences about Valentine’s Day in the past and present.

Tasks: While younger students read and label story maps, older students can write sentences or draw about Valentine’s Day traditions. For example, newcomers may use sentence starters like "On Valentine’s Day,  friends share .... ." 

ESL St. Valentine's Themed Vocabulary Workshop and Write the Room Games: 

Set up a Valentine’s-themed scavenger hunt where students record vocabulary words based on image cards placed around the room. This "Write the Room" activity gets students moving and practicing their spelling. Conclude the lesson with a one-pager project about Valentine’s Day that includes categories like "People," "Food," "Gifts," and "Decorations."

With younger students, play "I Have, Who Has" using a Valentine’s-themed alphabet set. This helps with letter recognition and vocabulary in a fun, engaging way.

3. February Morning Calendar Routine in ESL classroom

While introducing each day of the month of February, have the students help you build a pattern using heart tiles and rose tiles. 

Discuss February weather and build interactive weather graphs as you go through February.

Play a February themed "Would You Rather?" game with questions like “Would you rather be a groundhog or a cupid for a day?”

Then, introduce students to February workbooks where they practice tracing, labeling, and writing about thematic February topics. Have them talk about winter clothes and complete a labeling Valentine's day clothes activity. This will help reinforce the newly learned vocabulary you've front loaded, and allow students to practice both vocabulary and sight words in their worbooks.

February is such a fun and exciting month for our students! These activities are designed to engage your ESL students while building their language skills and cultural understanding. Each one provides opportunities for listening, speaking, reading, and writing practice, while connecting students to the celebrations of February.

Remember, the key to success with these lessons is scaffolding and differentiation. Use visuals, sentence frames, and interactive tasks to make the content accessible to learners at varying levels of English proficiency.

What are your favorite February activities for ESL students? Let me know in the comments below!

4. Valentine’s Day with ESL Love Around the World

In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to ensure that all students feel welcome in our schools. The ESL Love Around the World / Hearts Without Borders St. Valentine’s Day Craft and Bulletin Board is an inclusive resource that celebrates both your students’ unique Valentine’s Day traditions and fosters a sense of belonging in the classroom and in our school community.

This resource promotes cultural inclusiveness, kindness, and language development, with scaffolded writing templates, vocabulary picture cards, and engaging crafts. With differentiated templates for newcomers, beginners, intermediates, and advanced learners, every student can participate confidently.

Bonus idea: Create a stunning classroom display by arranging your students’ 3D heart crafts into a “Love Around the World” collage shaped like a heart. It’s a beautiful way to celebrate diversity and make your Valentine’s Day bulletin board stand out!

This resource is a fantastic way to boost language skills, foster creativity, and celebrate cultural traditions in your ESL classroom. Don’t miss the chance to make Valentine’s Day both fun and meaningful!

Create a bulletin board  display by arranging your students' 3D heart crafts into a "Love Around the World" or "Hearts Without Borders" collage, shaped like a heart. Have each student draw and color their own smaller hearts, cut them out, and contribute them to form one large heart in the center of your school building. This collaborative artwork is not only a creative way to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but also an opportunity to highlight the beauty of diversity. It’s sure to make your bulletin board stand out and spread love and unity throughout the school!

5. 100 Days of School Crown Crafts

When February begins, it’s the perfect time to plan a fun and meaningful activity to celebrate the 100th Day of School! This milestone is not only exciting for young learners but also a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all they’ve accomplished so far. 

Whether you’re working with kindergarten, first, or second grade students, activities like 100 Days of School crowns, counting puzzles (by 10s and 20s to 100), and SOR-aligned color-by-code worksheets are a great way to combine learning with celebration. These activities help reinforce essential skills like counting, phonics, and fine motor coordination while making the day festive and memorable. Celebrate the joy of 100 days of growth and learning with your class in a way they’ll never forget! 🎉

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