Groundhog, Groundhog, what do you see?

With the month of February came many events, first we had Groundhog's day, then Valentines, then starting Monday,  Presidents Day. 

But.....THIS blog post is all about the groundhog. During the week before groundhog day, my master teacher and I completed many activities. As you know, writing was the first subject I picked up. I have tried REALLY hard to find something new and interesting to incorporate each week, so the students do not get bored. The easiest solution comes when a week has a holiday! 

During the week, my master teacher had the students complete a "Yes/No prediction" of groundhog day. The students were given a small groundhog to color, and they would add it to the chart of yes or no. THEN we tallied the results. Many believed the groundhog would not see his shadow, so we told them to wait and see :)! 
(Results: The Pennsylvania groundhog did not see his shadow, however OUR ATLANTA BEAU LEE, did see his shadow [great teachable moment of sun shinning in different places around the world]). 

To incorporate this into my writing lesson, I read the students two poems. I let them vote on which poem they would rather have. The majority chose this poem from DLTK: 
"I see a little ground hog, furry and round, he's coming up to look all around, if he sees his shadow down he'll go. Six more weeks of winter, Oh no!" ....

Since Mr. Haggard displayed the poem on the smartboard, he expected capital letters and punctuations!! 

The students were told to WRITE first, then they would be able to get a groundhog craft template found here at DLTK:
Ground Hog Template

After making an example for myself, I figured out what would work best. Found below are materials and directions:

Materials
--Brads (brass tack thingys ;) )!
--Ground Hog Template
--Hole Punch
-(Glue)
-(writing prompt/white paper). 


Directions: 
1. To begin, the students had to copy the poem off of the smart board.

2. The students were given the ground hog template, (body, head, feet, arms, hole). THE students were told to not worry with the feet, since they would have been covered up by the POEM. 

3. The students were told to color everything but the "hole" and "feet.   Once they did this, they could cut it out!

4. After cutting, the students were supposed to glue the head to the body and top of their writing prompt to the lower body of the ground hog. Then glue the "February 2nd" (optional) sign to one of the hands. 

5. The teacher would then punch holes in the body/arm and attach it by a brad, to give it that moving property. 

Found below are some of our little groundhogs:

Other Poem: "Shadow Shadow what do you see?" 

This was a very CUTE craft to complete, I am Glad I found it!!


BLESS<><

-MR. Haggard