The Fantastic Five: Groundhog's Day

Showing posts with label Groundhog's Day. Show all posts

Monday

Muffin Tin Monday: Ga-Ga for Groundhogs!

We were rockin' the house on Groundhog Day this year,
so of course we had to make Muffin Tin Monday
part of our fun!

I based this lunch on the book
"Groundhog Gets a Say" by Pamela Curtis Swallow
and all the other fun groundhog day activities we did
(which you can read more about HERE).

Our special lunch included...

Groundhogs...
(hot dog bun peanut butter sandwiches decorated with brown icing and chocolate chips)

Green Bean "Grass"...

Purple "Grape" Flowers...

...and a Cheery Carrot Sun!

Now, don't wait until next February...

head on over now and check out other
Muffin Tin Monday meals!

Friday

Weekly Wrap-Up: Is the Groundhog part of the Octopus food chain?

Not the "catchiest" title for this week's wrap-up,
but we did a lot of different "stuff" this week,
and I like to tie it all together...somehow...

We began the week by getting ready for Valentine's Day
and made Love Note Mailboxes...
(read more HERE)

...and Valentine Men.
(read more HERE)

We celebrated "Groundhog Day" in a big way...
(read more HERE and HERE)

We "shared the love"
by making presents for our puppy pals...
(read more HERE)

...and continued cooking lessons by making
"Banana Bread Muffins."
(read more HERE)

Now, PLEASE don't think all we do in our house
is hands-on, over-the-top, cutsie-wootsie...
(although, I do enjoy all those things and I believe they can all be educational)

We also learned more about the fall of the Roman Empire
with our Sonlight Curriculum...

Writing and counting numerals (Kindergarten)/rounding to the nearest thousands place (2nd grade)
with Math-U-See...

Read many books with "O" words (like Owl and Octopus)...

for Preschool and Kindergarten and created Letter Art
(see more HERE)

while working on our phonics skills....

Read more about Felicity's adventures in Williamsburg
for 2nd grade Reading/Copywork....

We did try to make 2nd grade spelling practice a bit more fun
by organizing the "wr" words by their vowels...

...and wrote them down in a flap booklet...

We also learned about Food Chains and Food Webs
this week in science...
(see more HERE)

WHEW!
We DESERVED a bit of fun with friends after all this!

We even made Mug Cake with our pals...

(It was fun to make, but the recipe I used wasn't the moistest in the world,
so the kiddos basically ate the tops off. I am now in search of a better recipe-
any suggestions?)

"M"an, I a"M" "M"ore than ready for a "M"assage!

When you finish your spa appointment,
please saunter on over to Weekly Wrap-Up and see
other Homeschoolers Happenings!

Wednesday

stART: "Groundhog Gets a Say" by Pamela Curtis Swallow

This week, we included our stART activity during our
"Ga-Ga for Groundhog's Day" celebration.

The book we read was funny and very informative...

(Fun Fact: The groundhog dig and move around up to 700 pounds of dirt in one day!)

The craft we created to go along with the book
was a pop-up groundhog puppet.

I have seen many different fun and creative versions of this craft
(like this and this and this).

Here's our take on the project...

First, we gathered up our supplies:

White paper party cups
Wooden spoons
Green paint
Sponge brushes
Craft glue
Googly eyes
Black and Brown pom poms
Red cord/string/yarn

To get the kiddos set up for the craft,
I cut an X shape into the bottom of each paper cup.

The kiddos then painted the cups green,
for the grass of the groundhog's burrow.

"We're painting the grass green, we're painting the grass green..."

(Sung to the tune of "Painting the Roses Red"
from Disney's cartoon version of "Alice in Wonderland.)

Set the cups out to dry.

Next, glue on the groundhog's facial features:

Eyes: Googly eyes
Nose: Black pom pom
Mouth: Res cord
Ears: Brown Pom poms

Set your little groundhog family out to dry...

Morn over the fact that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow
and there will be 6 more weeks of winter,
and got to bed.

Let the craft pieces dry while dreaming of spring flowers and sunny days...

Try out the puppet...

...and take it to preschool to show your friends!

(Yes, I do homeschool my kiddos, but Little Wild Man
is going to preschool three days a week since this is my first full year of homeschooling.
TRUST ME- this was a wise decision on our part!)

"Go to sleep, Go to Sleep,
Go to Sleep little groundhog..."

Now, don't wait for Spring to get here-
Head on over NOW to stART
and check out other story inspired art!

Tuesday

We're "Ga-Ga" for Groundhogs!

Today was Groundhog's Day!

And even though Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, we had a good day...

During our morning science, we discussed seasons,
which was a perfect lead in to Groundhog's Day.

(I based a stART activity on this book, which you can read more about here.)

I read this book to the kiddos before
they started their individual morning work.

I HIGHLY recommend it for Groundhog's Day-
it's very informative (and funny too!).

Both of the younger kiddos' National Wildlife Federation magazines

had articles about the ground hog which we looked at together...

Article from Baby Girls'
"Your Big Backyard" magazine...

Cover to Little Wild Man's
"Animal Baby" magazine...

While the girls were working on their math,
Little Wild Man worked on this Groundhog magnet page...

While Jungle Girl continued to work on her 2nd grade assignments,
Baby Girl and Little Wild Man matched groundhog shadows
on a worksheet I got off of
KidsSoup...

(I highly recommend investing in a membership
to this site if your have preschoolers/Kindergartners-
it's well worth it!)