Project Groundhog

This is just a quick note....an email came to my inbox yesterday.  It said that Project Groundhog registration opens tomorrow!

Have you ever participated in Project Groundhog before?  You should go check it out here!  It is simple, it is fun, and it includes things you might already be doing.

You create a class groundhog, name him, and then check out his prediction on February 2nd.  You share that information online with your team.  Everything is easy to do.  Then you keep track of the weather for six weeks to help you decide if your groundhog was correct.  Each week you post your weather and connect with the other schools on your team.  Easy Peasy.

I always look forward to this....lots of opportunities for graphing (we always ask the whole school if the groundhog is going to be right and post that graph on the wall outside our classroom), science lessons on shadows (we track our shadow all day long one day during the six weeks), lessons on groundhogs.  I teach my kinders how to read a thermometer.  We collect data.  We write emails to our team.  Of course there is always a little craftivity that goes on.  I think we may do this from Just Wild About Teaching.  She has a whole unit of things to do.

I may also do this simple paper plate shadow and pop-up puppet.  I saw it here....but A Mommy's Adventures didn't mention exactly where she got it, except to say her daughter's pre-school teacher did it.

Michelle at Teach 123 has a nice list of books you could read and she has created a great resource too.  Check her out here.

Random facts...Did you know that February 2 is exactly halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox?  That's how (or why) Candlemas Day started.  Farmers needed to check their hay supplies to see if they would have enough to last the rest of the winter (hopefully spring would come early?).  People would go have their candles blessed to last them until spring as well. Lots of other good random things like if you found the little baby in your Kings Cake on Epiphany you are supposed to bring it to a Candlemas gathering. But I keep thinking it only gets better from here....no matter what, the days are getting longer, we are half done, and spring is on its way.

Have some fun with the groundhog and join me (we may even get on the same team)!