Groundhog Day and the Superbowl

This week we learned the letter Vv, which made us start thinking of Valentine's Day.  We made these Valentine vases for the letter Vv.  

We also enjoyed playing some great phonics games on the computers.

But before we could celebrate Valentine's Day there was one more important holiday that needed our attention, Groundhog Day!!

The students enjoyed learning about the traditions of Groundhog Day and Punxsutawney Phil.  They made groundhog cupcakes (vanilla wafer ears, M&M eyes, and marshmallow teeth).

Groundhog puppets we used to announce Phil's weather forecast. 

We learned that the average groundhog is between 12-15 inches tall, and that Punxsutawney Phil is 22 inches tall!

We measured ourselves beside Phil.

We also learned about the tradition of Phil seeing his shadow on Groundhog Day, if he saw his shadow then more winter was on the way and if not then spring was near.

We were hoping for a sunny day to go outside and trace our shadows but it was definitely too rainy and cold for that this week.  So we traced our shadows on the Promethean Board. 

The day before Groundhog day we predicted whether or not the groundhog would see his shadow.  Most of us agreed that he would not see his shadow and that Spring would be here soon.  We were right, Phil didn't see his shadow and he predicts that Spring is near.  But we also learned that Phil is only right 32% of the time!

 The later part of the week we focused on the Super Bowl.  Friday was a sports dress-up day and the students looked great in their sports uniforms.

Making personalized jerseys.

Again, we were hoping for a pretty day on Friday for the "Football Throwing Contest".  But the cold weather kept us inside, we moved the contest to the hallways.

The students loved the contest, and I think we may have some future quarterbacks in our class!

Brayden threw the football the furtherest.  Way to go, Brayden!

The students made a prediction about who would win this year's Super Bowl, they graphed their results.

It was a close race, it looks like the Steelers may be the fan favorite by one vote.

Enjoying football cupcakes.

Football players from Southern Miss came to visit us as well.  Everyone loved meeting them.  They even taught us some Southern Miss cheers!

Student of the Week: Anna-Kate

Coming Up...

Phonics: Jj

Math: Topic 11 - Subtraction

Thematic Unit: Valentine's Day

Spelling Test - Beginning this week we will start having weekly spelling test.  A word list will be in the folders each Monday.  Practice these words with your children each night, the list will consist of five words and one bonus word.  This is a great way for the students to prepare for first grade.

Word List for the Week of February 7:

love

red

hug

lips

bag

Bonus: Sunday

Valentine's Day Party - Our class party will be Monday, February 14, at 1:45 PM.  Students will need to exchange Valentine cards with their classmates.  Please note that we have a new student that needs to be added to the original list that was sent home.  We have 24 total students.  Also, please send a shoe box for your child to decorate for a Valentine mailbox, send these ASAP.

Monday, February 21 - NO SCHOOL - Presidents' Day

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