Valentine's Day BS... Go back to bags!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super easy to wrap a box. I don't know the "right" way to do it (if there is one) but I've done it and it was very easy. Don't worry about that part!

I can wrap a gift box, but not a lid and bottom separately. It's amazing I still got a Ph.D,

You don't have to wrap them separately since you cut a whole in the lid for the cards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade is this? I hear you, but it is hard for me to relate because my three sons always enjoyed doing things like this and didn't view it as a chore.

My son also hated all these projects... it was awful. The teachers all assume all kids love them. Some find making these things REALLY stressful.

Some kids find the more academic stuff really stressful and can thrive and enjoy themselves doing more artistic projects. Seems like a fair balance.

Not really because the point of school is academics. Yes the enrichment stuff is good too but valentine's boxes are not on the SOLs. Nobody needs to master this to get into a good college or land a job. If your kid sucks at math then I am sorry and I hope they have lots of opportunities to feel successful in other spheres, but not every kid should be graded on every possible sphere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Every year we get guidelines for Valentine's Day boxes that are so detailed it's insane. It is made clear this is voluntary, but something every kid must do. These kids have a lot of homework and tests. Not every kid enjoys making a box that must be:

-Shoe box completely covered with white people-nothing showing through (Neither I nor either of my children have a talent for covering shoe boxes with paper)
-Slot big enough for cards must be cut (How about they be allowed to open the shoebox for cards?!)
-Decorations must involve (fill in blank) theme
-Please use multiple colors
-Name must be prominent in contrasting color

How about you let kids bring in brown lunch bags and decorate only if they chose. How about the kid write his/her name on a shoebox and let friends open said shoebox and insert card rather than have my child stab herself trying to create the right size slot.

It's Valentine's day. It should be fun. No need to be so controlling. I'm all for insisting if you give cards, you must give to everyone. I'm even fine with no candy. Just don't create busywork!

Vent over.

My DC's made one box and used it the rest of their ES Valentine's Day events. The key is to use colored duct tape and just put it in the closet the rest of the year and pull it out the next year and the next and the next.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:5th grade. Yes she got the assignment in advance, but around that time she has multiple tests and a project due. She burst into tears telling me she has 1 more thing to do and she sucks at arts and crafts.

Oh and it came with a grading rubric! Every year it gets more ridiculous and I am stuck trying to help her wrap a box. I don't wrap boxes. I wrap gifts and that is it.

It's 5th grade. Grades don't matter. If my child burst into tears about it and didn't care if she had a box on Valentine's day, I would tell her she didn't have to do it. If she cares about having a box, get one of the Michael's boxes and forget the rubric.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super easy to wrap a box. I don't know the "right" way to do it (if there is one) but I've done it and it was very easy. Don't worry about that part!

I can wrap a gift box, but not a lid and bottom separately. It's amazing I still got a Ph.D,

You don't have to wrap them separately since you cut a whole in the lid for the cards.

NP. Then how do you get the cards out of the box to read if you don't wrap the top separately?

[Anonymous]

This is like everything else - some kids love it, some kids don't. Some kids struggle with it, some kids excel at it. For us, it's big reading assignments that are a struggle and for you it's wrapping a shoe box. Hard to get upset about this one.

[Anonymous]

Do it for her. Send a note to the teacher telling her you're doing it for her. CC the entire class and the principal.

Tell her you assume this is supposed to be a fun assignment, but for your child, it's not, and there's no such thing as mandatory fun.

Also, Valentines. WTF? What if a kid is a Jehovah's Witness and doesn't observe holidays?

Sorry for the rant. We're in Arlington, where the school calendar doesn't even mention major religious holidays, and thus, invariably, someone schedules something important on for the High Holy Days. But we're supposed to tie ourselves in knots for a "holiday" that isn't even appropriate for little kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super easy to wrap a box. I don't know the "right" way to do it (if there is one) but I've done it and it was very easy. Don't worry about that part!

I can wrap a gift box, but not a lid and bottom separately. It's amazing I still got a Ph.D,

You don't have to wrap them separately since you cut a whole in the lid for the cards.

NP. Then how do you get the cards out of the box to read if you don't wrap the top separately?

They do that at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's super easy to wrap a box. I don't know the "right" way to do it (if there is one) but I've done it and it was very easy. Don't worry about that part!

I can wrap a gift box, but not a lid and bottom separately. It's amazing I still got a Ph.D,

You don't have to wrap them separately since you cut a whole in the lid for the cards.

NP. Then how do you get the cards out of the box to read if you don't wrap the top separately?

Not the PP, but you unwrap the box. Since the assignment and holiday are now passed, and (hopefully) it won't be needed in OP's kid's 6th grade class, you can then recycle the whole thing (before or after removing the cards )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Michael's has white valentines boxes with pre cut holes!!

Yep. It was a fun activity with my three elementary school kids- stickers and glitter glue pens- bam. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems like an absurd assignment. What's the point, exactly?

Perhaps to suck the life out of what should be a fun activity. If you want to encourage creativity don't have so many requirements. Here's an idea, it can be extra credit if a kid wants to go to town with it. It's a nice way for a creative child who is struggling to get a little extra credit for a science theme valentines day box. However, if a kid can do the work and hates this sort of thing then let the kid write her or his name on a box and call it a day. This is not a useful learning activity so stop trying to stifle creativity and freedom.

Well put.

[Anonymous]

Go back to bags? I remember making Valentines boxes when I was a kid in the 90s.

[Anonymous]

Receiving a grade for this type of "project" is crazy to me! My kids were always "encouraged" to make these boxes, but a grade was never given. And from the times I volunteered in the classroom for the Valentine's Day party, the girls always had cute little boxes and the boys either had a random shoe box with some VDay stickers covering up the NIKE label or a brown paper bag with a heart and name drawn on it, lol.

Neither of my kids even really looked at the valentines received. They picked through for those who gave valentines attached with candy and the rest went directly in the trash when we got home.

I'd send a freakin' brown bag with stickers and strongly worded note about the absurdity of having to decorate a box for a grade.

[Anonymous]

Michael's now sells these boxes - covered in white, pink, red, with the "mail slot" precut. In the past I made them, and then I saved them in a storage container with the leftover valentines.

[Anonymous]

My sympathies, OP.

My son has a fine motor disability and other issues, and making such things in elementary school was the bane of his existence!!!

Only a few more years to go, and yours will be out of the crafty woods. Not that construction isn't required for middle and high school, but at least it's directly connected to the curriculum, and he might enjoy it more.