As with Other Special Days, Pre-K Teachers Should Be Aware of Developmentally Appropriate

Groundhog

As with other “special” days, Pre-K teachers should be aware of developmentally appropriate practices when talking about Groundhog Day. Songs and activities that work with older children won’t make sense to most Pre-K children, i.e. six more weeks of winter! Here are two songs that can help children understand that groundhogs hibernate during the winter and come out in the spring. (COR – CC level 3 – groundhogs come “out of” of the ground) Groundhogs actually wake up about every two weeks during hibernation to check the weather, and only come out when it is warm enough! (COR – DD level 3 – describe a change in an object or situation) More interesting facts about groundhogs can be found on the following website: www://encarta.msn.com/column_groundhogday_tamimhome/The_Secret_Truth_Behind_Groundhog_Day.html

After teaching children one of the songs below, try a dramatization of the groundhogs popping out of their burrows to the instrumental piece, “The Cuckoo” from “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns. This piece is on track #19 of the Lynn Kleiner CD and track #23 of the Boston Pops CD that many of you have. (You will probably only want to use about 40 seconds of the piece.) When you hear the clarinets playing their two notes (that sound like “cu-ckoo”), cue the children to pop up from their burrow and look around! There is a page attached with pictures of clarinets – you can make enough copies so that half of the class can be the groundhogs and the other half, the orchestra, playing the clarinets on cue! Tune: “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” Tune - "I'm a Little Teapot" Wake up, groundhog, time to see I'm a little groundhog, furry and brown What the weather’s going to be. When winter comes I sleep underground. Time to stretch, time to think, I'm curled up as cozy as can be, Time to eat, and time to drink. When it's spring, please wake me! Wake up, groundhog, time to see What the weather’s going to be! Groundhog

Going underground to hibernate! Peeking out in the spring!