In the first week of February, the children learned about Ground hog day and the tradition of Punxsutawney Phil coming out of his burrow on February 2nd every year to predict when the end of winter will be. We learned that the purpose of Groundhog Day is to predict the weather by observing a groundhog’s behavior. We read a book that explained the tradition. We talked about how groundhogs hibernate in their burrows in the winter and on February 2nd “Phil” comes out and if he sees his shadow he goes back into his burrow and there will be 6 more weeks of winter, but if he does not see his shadow then he stays outside and it means spring is on it’s way! We discussed that it is a tradition that has been celebrated for over a hundred years.

We looked at pictures of this year’s Groundhog festivities in Punxsutawney, Virginia where crowds to watch Phil emerge from his burrow. We saw a picture of the real Phil.

The children made Groundhog shadows by taping down a cut out of a groundhog and painting around it. We then peeled the cut out off and revealed the shadow. The children also made groundhog hand puppets out of paper bags. We used the puppets during circle time as we said our Groundhog Day poem.