It’s Groundhog Day!
Posted by Sherry McGregor on 02 Feb 2010 | Posted in: Holiday and Seasonal, The Mailbox Books
So what’s the word where you are? Are you facing six more weeks of winter, or is spring just around the corner? Growing up in the West, I had never heard of the celebrated groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. I thought every little town or region had its own groundhog that was the weather predictor. Mind you, I had never even seen a groundhog and pretty much assumed we were all talking about prairie dogs. Anyway, I still celebrated the holiday with friends at school and loved all the grown-up talk about whether the groundhog had seen its shadow and what it meant or didn’t really mean weatherwise. Are you celebrating this unique holiday? I peeked through our files and found a couple ideas I just couldn’t resist sharing. I hope they make your day fun. Happy Groundhog Day!
Sherry
PS: By the way, since I moved to North Carolina, I have actually seen a groundhog! Imagine my excitement when I realized what that furry brown prairie dog really was!
I’m a Little Groundhog
Youngsters will enjoy reciting this catchy little rhyme while sporting their own groundhog masks. To make a mask, have a child color the underside of a paper plate brown; then have her cut a slit from the edge to the center of the plate. Help her overlap the cut edges so that the plate forms a shallow cone. Then staple the edges in place. Encourage the child to glue a pom-pom nose, a black construction paper mouth, two brown construction paper ears, and yarn whiskers onto the mask; then help her cut out two eyeholes. Tape a wide craft stick to the bottom of the groundhog mask. Invite 
each child to hold her mask in front of her face while she recites this rhyme.
I’m a little groundhog, so furry, furry, furry,
Looking round for my food. Oh hurry, hurry, hurry.
When danger comes near me, I scurry, scurry, scurry
Right back to my burrow. Yes sirree, sirree, sirree!
—————————————————————————————-
Seeing Shadows
Celebrate Groundhog Day with these fun pictures! Give each child a 9″ x 12″ sheet of white construction paper, a copy of a groundhog pattern, and several pieces of tape. To make a picture, each student colors and cuts out his groundhog pattern; then he tapes it on his sheet of paper. Next, he draws on the paper a scene that incorporates the groundhog. He colors the entire page, making sure that no space is left uncolored. Then he carefully removes the groundhog from the paper, revealing an uncolored area. 
He colors the white area black to create a shadow and moves the groundhog over slightly as shown. Finally, he reattaches the shape to the paper. Post students’ completed pictures on a display titled “Seeing Shadows.”
3 Comments |
Subscribe
|
Email This
Hi Sherry,
Thank you for your cute art project idea. Here in Maine the snow has finally gone and the birds are singing there songs. We are thinking about Easter and all that it brings. I would like to share a Easter Bunny song. Tune of : Twinkle, Twinkle
Easter Bunny, soft and white,
Hopping quickly out of sight,
Thank you for the eggs you bring
At Easter time we welcome spring,
Easter Bunny soft and white,
Hopping quickly out of sight.
I grew up in Western Pennsylvania and went to college around Punxsutawney. For us it was a yearly tradition that everyone waited for on February 2. Now that I live in Baltimore, I have to explain to my Kindergarteners what a groundhog is and why do we worry about his shadow. We plan lots of related activities and have great fun in creating our own unique shadows on that day!
NEVER HEARD OF THAT BEFORE. GROUNDHOGS!
AMAZING! I LIKE IT HOWEVER THE WAY I HEAR ABOUT NEW THINGS.