To see or not to see...Will Phil see his Shadow?

Just a quick little post with a few fun Groundhog Day activities...

Predicting

On February 1st, I like to do a little predicting with my kindergarteners!

I usually read a Groundhog book and then talk about the Legend of Groundhog day.  

Please tell me that I am NOT the only teacher who can't remember what the shadow talk means?  I mean seriously...I have to look every year!  Does shadow mean winter or does no shadow mean winter!?!?!  I can never remember!!!  

For most people Groundhog Day is not a big deal, but for me it's my birthday.  So I feel that I should at least remember what it all means, but for the life of me I can NEVER remember!!!  One of my favorite teacher friends and I were talking about this and she was like, "Girl, I made myself a groundhog cheat sheet!!"  That's right folks she made a cheat sheet!  I LOVE that girl!  

So this year I decided to figure it out and get my Groundhog facts straight!  Did you know the first Groundhog day was in 1883!  Wow!  Did you know that groundhogs whistle when they are scared!  I know you are all impressed right!?!?!  

Well anyway, in my journey to become a groundhog day expert I thought I would create a mini unit to use in my classroom!  It is on sale in my TPT store!   

Check it out here

It includes a book with fun groundhog facts and what the legends says if the groundhog sees his shadow or not.

Here is the key:
Shadow = 6 more weeks of winter
No shadow = early spring

(no need to thank me)

It also includes labels to make a graph to predict if the groundhog will see his shadow or not.

On Groundhog Day we discuss our predictions and then finish off with a fun craft and STEM activity.  

Groundhog Craft

(Not my original idea - if you know where the original idea came from let me know)

Supplies:
small styrofoam cup
popsicle sticks
print out of a groundhog
(included in my mini unit - but you can use any one)
cotton balls

Steps-
1. Have students color the bottom of a styrofoam cup brown.
2. Color and cut out groundhog
3. Glue cottonball around the top of the cup (snow)
4. Tape groundhog to a popsicle stick
5. Poke hole in bottom of cup
Voila' you have a cute little groundhog poking his head out of his burrow!

Shadow Stem Activity

Last year after using Lego kits I got the idea to have my students build burrows for their groundhogs.

Once they built burrows I then had them put their groundhog in and create shadows.  My students loved it, and they gained a true understanding of what it takes to create shadows.  

I have included the directions and recording sheets for the STEM activity in my mini unit.

Hopefully you can use some of these simple, engaging ideas in your classroom!

BTW, lets hope the groundhog does not see his shadow!  

(I bet you had to scroll up and see what that means...I did!)

SaveSave

Bringing some fun to stations... even when it is FREEZING!!!

It is snowy and freezing in Indiana, so naturally our stations are snow themed.  

I love making stations fun and engaging.  It doesn't have to take a lot of money and doesn't have to be complex.  Here are some of the snow stations that I have used in my classroom!


Here is a simple yet engaging math station.  I can't take the credit... my AMAZING colleague created the number snowman/snowflake station and I LOVED it!  

Snowman Ten Frames

This is great for teen numbers.  

Supplies needed: 

Snowman with numbers

(could use numbers 0-10 for differentiation)

Snowflake ornaments

Laminated Ten Frame

or

Blank decomposing page

Here is the super cute snowman!

How cute is this?

So here is how this math station works...

students will get one snowflake ornament and stand at the line and toss the snowflake onto the snowman.  They name the number they get and either show it on a ten frame with manipualtives or find the number and fill in the ten frame.

I plan on using this again as I teach place value.  I have attached a link to a free place value page that you can use with this activity.  (Print the page double sided)

Get the free Place Value worksheet here

Place Value Snow Globe Fun 

Supplies needed:

small jars, 

pom poms, cotton balls,

glitter

snow related objects

I bought these cute little jars at Target Dollar Days and have been saving them until I found a good use for them!   I decided to use them as "snow globes" for my math stations.  I filled them with snowmen and snowflake foam stickers, blue pom poms, cotton balls, and of course glitter!  Glitter makes everything better...am I right?!?!?!  

I wrote a number on the back of the foam sticker.  The idea is that the students will shake the jar, find the number, and then fill out the place value worksheet.  On the place value worksheet they will write the number and then color in the correct place value blocks.  

This is a simple place value station,  but by putting the number in "Snow globes" it is more exciting!  Easy enough!  

Here is a link to free numbers and place value worksheet

Snowball Fight 

What's the worst thing about a snowball fight...the cold!

So take the cold out of it and snowball fights are AWESOME!  Last year I decided to bring the snowball fight inside.  This is a super easy activity and it is great if the weather has been cold and your kiddos can't go outside.  

Supplies needed:

Scrap paper (doesn't get easier than that)

Write letters, numbers, shapes, popcorn words, addition problems, subtraction problems, cvc words, or pretty much anything that you are teaching onto the scrap paper.  Crumple up the paper.  

Put the snow balls in the middle of the room, your students grab a snow ball and have a snowball fight.  Play music, set a timer, or ring a bell.  Once the bell rings or the music stops kiddos grab a snowball and open it up.  They then figure out the problem.

The following are examples of what you can do with the snowflakes:

Letters:

name the letter, give letter sound, name a word that starts with the letter

Numbers:
name the number, what comes before or after, draw place value blocks, fill ten frames, tally marks
(use a draw erase board to write the answer)

Popcorn words:
read the popcorn word or use the word in a sentence.

Addition or Subtraction Problems
have students write the problem on a dry erase board and solve.

My students loved this!

Paint with snow

This isn't my original idea, but my students loved it!  

I found this idea on Instagram from @callenderskinders

My students have been so excited about the snow and since we couldn't go out in the snow I decided to bring the snow to them!  

Supplies Needed:

plastic ups

snow

white paint

glitter glue

paint brushes

black paper

Grab a small bucket of snow from outside.  Take cupfuls and mix it with white paint and glitter glue.  Voila' you have snow paint.  Kiddos paint with it on their black paper.  Pretty much just like regular painting with a twist because it's SNOW!!!  

Hope you can use some of these ideas in your classroom!  Making stations fun and a little more engaging doesn't always mean extra work.  Sometimes we just have to get creative with what we have!