What's a Groundhog?

Today has been a very busy day. The phone seemed to ring more than usual but we plowed on through our routines! Today I put out the valentines activities on the table. There are MANY to show you BUT I have other things to highlight in our day, so I will post those tomorrow. Here you see Jaxson working on a matching game.

Part of our schedule every day is gross motor play. The rule for a quality program is : unless there is falling precipitation or a weather warning- out we go. In all fairness there are days like today though that the sun is shining and nothing is falling from the sky but we stayed in. There is about 7 inches of snow melting outside which makes most of our play yard a mush pot. An alternative we have when we can't go outside is a " rainy day box". In that box atleast 9 gross motor skills are represented. During the hour we would normally be outside we take down this box and let the kids play. Since it is taken down so rarely.. they love it. I took pictures today for you to see some of that in action.

Also enjoy the pictures of the children with their homemade instruments. I asked the parents to make an instrument with their child and bring it back on Friday. Since we had no friends here Friday we waited for show and tell today. Not quite half participated but it was still interesting ! Some of the parents really went above and beyond. Thanks!

Oh ! Today is Groundhog Day. In addition to all the above we did read books and talk about groundhogs. We learned that they are also called Pigwhistles and Woodchucks as well. We also learned that groundhogs hibernate just like bears. Rumor is that the groundhog saw his shadow today. Ask your child if they know what that means !