Groundhog Day!

It's Groundhog Day and we've been learning all about these furry little critters. We watched a short video clip of a groundhog in the wild. We talked about the tradition of having the groundhog come out of his burrow on Groundhog Day to see if he sees his shadow. We checked out diagrams of a groundhog burrow and even learned they dig an area for a bathroom! We graphed our predictions of whether or not we thought he would see his shadow. 13 students thought he would see his shadow and 7 thought he would not.

We made puppets out of paper lunch bags.

We played a fun game called "Danger Ranger". We asked 2 students to be the "Danger Ranger" groundhogs who would be the groundhogs who were, essentially, the "lookouts". 2 Students had stuffed animal toys that were predators. We place hula hoops on the floor for the burrow holes and the rest of the class were groundhogs in the burrows. The Danger Rangers signaled with squeals or squeaks (none of my students could whistle) to the rest that the coast was clear and the groundhogs could go out into the woods to look for food. When the predators came out, the Danger Rangers stood by the burrows and squeaked loudly to alert the rest to rush home to the burrow before the dangerous predators could get there. I had the kids crawl to make it more difficult. We switched roles each round so everyone could have a turn to be Danger Rangers.

One morning this week before the students arrived, I hid 2 paper groundhogs in the class and had a "groundhog hunt".

Yesterday, we made groundhog faces.

Today, we stapled these to headbands to wear on our heads.

We later checked the predictions of Puxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania and, of course, General Beauregard Lee in Atlanta. Hooray!!!! Neither one saw their shadow, so Spring is on it's way!


Some of my favorite groundhog books:

Great Groundhog Day Links

Just in time for Goundhog Day, here are a few great links with fun and educational activities.

Little Giraffe's Groundhog Day

Universal Preschool"s Groundhog's Day Fun has some good activities and links!


ChildFun  Groundhog Day Crafts and Activities

DLTK's Happy Groundhog Day   A couple of cute crafts and some history.

Mrs. Jackson's Class Website Blog  Lots of cute craft ideas here!

Teaching Heart Mom: Groundhog Day Fun!!   Really cute links from all over the blogosphere!

Groundhog Fun!

Well, it seems that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow! We have had a lot of fun this week learning about groundhogs and shadows. So far, my friends and I have sung songs, played games and made these cute little groundhog headbands!

Usually when we make headbands, my kids want to wear them all day, so I wanted a real quick little project they could do upon arrival. Our skill focus was cutting practice, so students were given construction paper with circles already drawn on them. Typically, I would ask the students to trace lids from our math center to form their own circles, but due to time constraints, we took care of that for them. I think they turned out nicely, even if a few of them kind of remind me of a Jim Henson "Muppet"! The kids had fun and wore them all day, even asking if they could wear them at naptime.


I keep a bucket in my art center labeled "Make a Puppet". I keep all the materials students may need to make puppets of all sorts. Many have visited this center to make groundhog paper bag puppets, as well.One of our small group activities is to make shadow puppets on the wall, using our puppet theater and a small desk lamp. The kids invented their own game called "Guess My Animal". Yesterday we played "shadow tag" outside, but sadly, it was rainy today so we didn't get to play again today.



One of the games we played with our polar unit was the “Hibernation Rhyme Game”. Children pretend to sleep while the teacher says a pair of words. If rhyming words are said, students “wake up” and come out of hibernation.We have played it this week pretending we were groundhogs popping out of his burrow. They have asked to play it over and over again, so I know they really enjoy it!

Phil may be going back to sleep for another 6 weeks, but we will continue the groundhog fun for a few more days, even as we begin our dental health unit. Inevitably, my little friends are reluctant to let go of a good theme. They still ask for a reprise of activities we've done with Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas----yesterday they requested to do a movement activity we did for Columbus Day! Oh well, at least they are excited about learning!