So this is love? Valentine’s Day gives youngsters a lesson in courting

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002 | 8:26 a.m.

Boxes of candy flying off the shelves. Reservations for two. Flowers, cards, teddy bears and lingerie.

'Tis the season for being a Valentine.

But just as significant others are sweating about when to pop the question or wondering whether gifts for their beloved are will meet the high expectations of Valentine's Day, there's a whole new generation learning the holiday's simple premise.

"When you get to Valentine's Day," said 6-year-old Cody, a kindergartner at Wasden Elementary School in Las Vegas, "it's going to fill the appetite of happy."

Hmmm.

Wielding a pair of scissors and cutting out hearts to affix to his Valentine's Day card-collection bag that will be used today, Cody added more pointedly, "I like it when I love people."

In kindergarten, where students are still grappling with the shearing-power of scissors, strange new faces and unfamiliar disciplines, Valentine's Day is just as fleeting as Presidents Day, Flag Day and other holidays marked in February.

But as students cut and paste hearts, take home lists of their classmates' names and anticipate the Valentine's Day party that is thrown at most local grade schools, many seem to be absorbing the significance of the tradition.

Academically and socially, teachers of the early grades are usually at the helm of the festivities, guiding students through the craft-making, card-sharing holiday that is so pure in its essence.

In celebration of Valentine's Day, Pat Von Mendenhall, a first-grade teacher at Detwiler Elementary School in Las Vegas, recently asked a group of students a question that has haunted philosophers for centuries.

"Class, what is love?" she asked.

Bouncing on their knees with arms raised, the students were called on one by one to share their wisdom:

"Love is like the Golden Rule."

"Love is when you want to be treated the right way."

"Love is like you love somebody and they love you as you take care of them if you're at the house or somewhere."

"Love is someone that you admire."

"Love is when you love your parents and they care about you."

On a nearby wall, poems written on construction-paper hearts hinted at the gamut of emotions and thoughts many young hearts succumb to when Cupid finally draws his bow. From the curious ...

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. You know I love you. Do you love me too?"

to the insecure ...

"Roses are red. Violets are brown. Will your love for me always be around?"

to the cold-hearted ...

"Roses are red. Violets are blue. I don't know if I really love you."

to the matter-of-fact.

"Roses are red. Violet are blue. Please wash your hands when you are through."

"They're very sincere," Von Mendenhall said recently, as students worked on a Valentine's Day art project. "They know that Valentine's Day is about love and caring."

Marissa Starks, a kindergarten teacher at Wasden Elementary School, said that some children are familiar with Valentine's Day before they start attending school.

Others, she said, are learning as they go.

In keeping with the tradition, Starks incorporates math and reading exercises with Valentine's Day. Hearts prove to be a suitable subject for matching activities, patterning, sorting and teaching how to follow directions.

In Archna Nigam's second-grade class at Jydstrup Elementary School in Las Vegas, students are tackling Valentine's Day-related health projects by discussing the medical and scientific aspects of the human heart.

The students are also graphing using candy conversation-hearts and playing "Backwards Bingo" (also using candy hearts), which teaches listening and number operations.

"The big activity for Valentine's Day is the party," Nigam said. "We call it the 'Friendship/Valentine's party.' "

Because the party -- similar to most grammar-school Valentine's Day celebrations -- comes with an exorbitant amount of sugar and excitement, Nigam's class will celebrate the holiday Friday at the end of the school day rather than today. That's when the students will exchange their Valentine's cards.

"We focus on friendship, what makes a good friend," Nigam said. "And to be polite to each other, to be helpful, to encourage one another."

By second grade, some students claim that they've had enough of the whimsical emotion called love and the notion that someday a flying winged-God named Cupid will prey on their unsuspecting hearts.

"Too much love!" a lighthearted student in Nigam's class, named Daeveion, blurted, explaining with a smile why he doesn't like Valentine's Day:

"Kissy! Kissy! Kissy!"

His peers giggled and colored their Valentine's Day projects. A few had their own ideas about the holiday, particularly about the history of its key players.

While feverishly cutting and pasting, 7-year-old Elaine explained, "The ghost alien comes to Earth and shoots somebody who turns into Cupid. That's what I think what happened, really. A long, long time ago."

Elaine's mild-mannered classmate, Cheyenne, chimed in to explain her theory:

"There was a little boy named Valentine and he sent a little Valentine to a special little girl and on Thursday, the 14th of February, the girl birds found a boy bird to live with forever."

Sort of.

There are a few different theories about the origin of Valentine's Day. One theory, the most popular, dates back to the Middle Ages when a Christian named St. Valentine is said to have been imprisoned by the Romans.

While imprisoned he fell in love with a jailer's daughter. The night before St. Valentine's execution, he wrote her a letter and signed it, "Your Valentine."

The birds? Well, they were lovebirds, a common symbol that can often be found on Valentine's cards.

Soon enough, though, the holiday's festivities may pass the students by.

In his fifth-grade class at Detwiler Elementary School, teacher Terry Buringrud said he's discovered that some of his students are at an age where they've grown crushes and frown on making boxes or envelopes to collect Valentine's cards from their peers.

Still, he said, "Everyone wanted the list of names. They still want to have part of that fun."

To celebrate, Buringrud said that there will be movies and treats. And then they'll exchange Valentine's cards.

"I try to keep kids 'kids' as long as I can," Buringrud said. "We don't have to hasten growing up around here. It happens all too fast."