The One About G - Groundhog Gets A Say

You know the "G" post would be about Groundhog Day. I've gone on before about my love of the much overlooked holiday.

Groundhog Gets A Say is all about a groundhog that shares my love of the holiday and his attempt to properly educate everyone on the awesomeness that is the groundhog!  I will give you a disclaimer though about this book. It is one of the ones with a lot of dialogue bubbles in it in addition to the story (like the Magic School Bus books).   Now, this isn't a problem really, it just makes reading it different. 

I have this book on CD so it is always included in my Listening Station during the week of our Groundhog Day celebrations.  The kids love it because it is pretty humorous. I love it, in addition to that, because it gives so much great factual information about groundhogs, much of it we cover in our studies. 

So, have you read this book? What do you think?  Have it on CD?  What do you think about it if you're familiar with it?  Do you have any other great groundhog books you like to use? Yikes!  That's a lot of questions, I just really like Groundhog Day. And this book. Check it out. 

Thanks for hopping by. 

The One About Shuffling

Shuffling.  I'm not talking cards here friends.  Plans.  As in I'm out again with a sick kid, this time Stella, and am once again shuffling plans.  There were several things I had to move from last week to this week only to miss out on them again.  Oh well, when parenthood calls you have to answer.

This week was already gearing up to be super busy before my unplanned absence.  To begin with it is a 4-day week, we have Friday off, followed by a 4-day weekend and another 4-day week next week with Monday off as well.  Both days are for training/professional development reasons.  So I was already trying to cram 5 days into 4.  Throw Chinese New Year, Lincoln's Birthday, Mardi Gras, and Valentine's Day into the mix and it was a recipe for disaster.  Not to mention the fact that we are still studying Groundhog Day.  Looking back, I don't know how I thought I would be able to include everything.  I mean, Lincoln can be pushed to next week with the rest of my Presidents Day stuff (sorry Abe).  But Chinese New Year?  Mardi Gras?  What about the books I was going to read?  The dragon we were going to make and dance around the room?  The masks we were going to make and wear as I threw beads to the kids?  Man, I had some fun learning planned. 

Oh well.  I'll be back in tomorrow so we will see what that brings.  Not much though.  I'll have to struggle to catch up on what I missed, add in Valentine's Day fun, a Pep Rally, and a party!  Yikes!  That just means that dragons and masks may have to be postponed until next week?  Or, gasp, put off for this year?  Yikes?  What would you do?  What do you do when this kind of thing happens in your classroom?  Postpone even though you've missed the best window of opportunity?  Put it off until next year altogether and call it a wash?  Hmmm.  I guess I'll just have to think it over.  

Speaking of these days, what do you do?  How do you celebrate?  I don't go all out like I do for other things.  It's more discussion-based and we read some books and have a fun craft.  More like a mini thematic study rather than an entire unit.  

So tomorrow is Valentine's Day!  We didn't go crazy this year.  With last week being so busy and my absence for 2 days we just didn't have a ton of time.  Plus on top of that the flu and a fever virus have been running through my classroom.  I've had so many kiddos out the past 2 weeks.  Some for a while and some here and there.  Makes it hard to do too much and at times I feel like I'm wading in make-up work.  One fun thing we did do on Monday was a cute Love Bug Glyph I made.  It worked out perfectly because we had some storms which meant, ugh, no recess.  Fear not!  I was ready to go with this fun little craftivity.  I love glyphs.  It's like the lovechild of a graph and a craft.  I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for so I made my own and the kiddos adored it!  You can find it at my TPT store here.  I'll have to get some pictures of the finished products and post them tomorrow.  They turned out great!  Tomorrow we'll probably make cards and hearts.  There won't be to much time for anything else with our busy schedule.  We didn't get around to decorating bags or anything for our valentines either.  Yikes!  I feel like a horrible teacher now.  But it has been crazy!

Well, speaking of valentines I should probably take advantage of Stella's nap and get mine done for the kiddos, Stella's as well.  The boys will be addressing theirs tonight and that is always fun!  Well, I hope your week has been a bit calmer than mine and you are finding time to include everything you'd like, be it curricular or fun enrichment!  

Thanks for hopping by!  :)   

The One About Groundhog Day

Yeah, I know what you're thinking.  "What are you doing posting during the middle of the day?  On a school day?"  Well, truth is I am home with Braeden.  He has the flu.  Yep, it hit us finally.  Amy stayed home with him on Monday and I was out yesterday and again today with him.  Luckily he seems to be on the mend and, fingers crossed, might return tomorrow!  So I've been out and now will deal with the aftermath of having a Sub for 2 days.  Now don't get me wrong, the sub I have is great.  I love her.  But a Sub is still not me.  The kids will still be crazy when I return.  Things still may not get done or, gasp, done the way I would do them.  I bumped some of the fun things I was looking forward to for when I return so that all awaits me tomorrow (I'll return even if Braeden doesn't, Amy will stay home again).  So tomorrow will be a blur of busyness.  Luckily I did take Jackson and Stella in so I was able to set out and prep the room a bit and get the papers from yesterday to grade.  At least I won't get behind in that.  I have grandiose plans of doing my lesson plans today, or at least most of them, so Friday (my usual lesson planning day) is easier.  We'll see if that happens.  I do apologize for not posting yesterday.  I totally meant to but got caught up with laundry, dishes, a sick kid, and creating for TPT of course (I posted 3 new items!).  But here I am today.  The grading is done and laundry and dishes are caught up.  So, time for blogging and more TPT has arrived.  Oh, I just realized I have strayed, surprise, from the title of this post!

So, Groundhog day was Saturday.  This is one of my most favorite days to celebrate in the classroom and it is highly underrated!  I go all-out really and we have a mini unit on groundhogs.  Usually I try to do a lot of it in one day, Groundhog Day, but since it fell on a Saturday this year I decided to spread it out over the course of a week.  Then I ended up missing part of this week so I'll still be cramming it in when I return.  But I'm still looking forward to it!  What do I do?  Funny you should ask, I was just about to tell you!

Well, for starters, last year I found this neat online site called Project Groundhog.  If you have never heard about it before you should totally check it out!  It pairs you up with classrooms across the country to track the weather and communicate for the 6 weeks following Groundhog Day.  It all culminates with the kids deciding if Punxsutawney Phil is a reliable source when it comes to predicting the weather.  Like I said, last year was my first year to do it and I, and the kids, loved it.  So I had to do it again this year.  It is fun and gets the kids involved in a hands-on way.  I highly recommend it for you next year.  

So, that's how it starts.  We have a class Groundhog and her name this year is Rosalinda, totally chosen by the kids when they voted.  We will spend at least this week, and maybe some of next week, studying groundhogs, their way of life, and all about them.  I created a Groundhog Fun Book that you can find here in my TPT store and we will do that as a culmination of our studies.  Also, on this Friday, as part of my Thematic Study, we will make hats, of course, and create a huge burrow (butcher paper over chairs.  The kids will take turns crawling in the burrow and then crawling out to see if they see their shadow.  Said shadow will be caused by another student standing on top of a chair (the sun) shining a flashlight down on them.  I love this part and the kids do too!  They get into it and make cute little groundhogs.  I'll try and post some pictures of all of this once I get them uploaded and edited to hide faces!

Groundhog Day is also special for me because it marks the 1-year anniversary of my TPT store!  It all started a year ago with this FREE resource, an I Have Who Has: Groundhog Day game!  We will of course play this on Friday as well and I'll leave it out for a week or so because the kids love to play it themselves when they finish their work.

So, what about you?  Do you celebrate Groundhog Day?  If so, what do your activities include?  If not, start planning for next year now!  Maybe I'll meet up with you on Project Groundhog!  Are there any special days that you feel are neglected and love to celebrate in your classroom?  What are they?  Well, regardless, enjoy the early spring that Phil has predicted.  Also, head on over to my TPT store to check out my first ever product and play it with your students!  Enjoy!

Thanks for hopping by!