Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Groundhog Day

Theme: Groundhog Day

Choosing Time: Puzzles, Construct Vehicle Sets, & "Oh Rats!" Board Game

Snack: Thank you Jackson for being our snack helper today! Everyone loved the "fishy" crackers!

Movement: We did 10 different exercises 10 times!

Lesson: We saw pictures of real groundhogs. Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks. We looked at all the body parts of groundhogs. They have 4 fingers & one tiny thumb. Their ears are very tiny. We practiced sitting like them. Groundhog day has been practiced for a long time. "Phil" is the famous groundhog in Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania. We watched a video clip about groundhogs from National Geographic. We read a booklet about Groundhog Day. We took turns to try and sequence the story pictures correctly. This is a pre-reading skill. Some of us continued to do this on their own later.

Games:
  • We took turns crawling through a tunnel while I chanted a little rhyme. When the child came out of the tunnel I would either say it was sunny and so a shadow scared him back into the tunnel or it was cloudy and the groundhog was happy to play outside the rest of the day. When all of our groundhogs were outside playing we learned a new game...
  • I provided a large box for 2 children to hide in. We learned a song about groundhogs. When it was the right time the children would pop out of the box. We did this until everyone had a turn.
Song: I'm A Little Groundhog (Sung to I'm A Little Teapot)
I'm a little groundhog, Fuzzy & brown
See me pop up and look around
If I see my shadow, down I'll go
Six more weeks of Winter, OH NO!

Art: Groundhog Puppet with a Tunnel

Book: Commotion in the Ocean by Giles Andreae

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