Hibernation Should Be For Humans, Too...

Am I right... or am I right?  Hibernating animals are so lucky.  Imagine eating tons of goodies to prepare... then sleep for weeks and wake up skinny and ready to eat again!  Who is with me?

Well, I guess since I can't be a bear...  I might as well embrace my awake status.  Hibernation is always a cool subject to teach about... especially with the little humans.  They are fascinated by animal behavior and it always fits in nicely with our animal needs unit and always seems really well timed around Groundhogs Day... how serendipitous!  ;)

Using paper plates cut in half and with the middle cut out...  we created bear caves and these went up on a bulletin board.  The kiddos had a blast making these and decorating the background.  The googly eyes really make it cool!

Our book for the week was Hibernation from Reading A to Z.  We also watched a super informative video on Brainpop Jr.  We brainstormed all that we learned on the whiteboard and then the kiddos started to write!  They did a really good job!

Each kiddo voted whether or not they thought the Groundhog would see his shadow and then graphed the class information.  The kiddos also completed an ABC order practice page.  Both those sheets are included in my Excuse Me, Mr. Groundhog pack.

We used this FREEBIE from Katie over at Teacher to the Core to do a cool science experiment.  I grabbed 2 empty baby food jars and labeled them "hibernating bear" and "awake bear".... we let the hibernating bear jar rest somewhere nice and quiet in the classroom.  The awake bear jar got passed around to each student for them to shake and hold for a minute or so each.  Then we talked {and wrote} about our findings.

Their writing paired with pictures of them shaking the jar... the science standard posted and a We Can statement made for a great hallway display.  You can read more and find the freebie from Katie in her blog post HERE!!!

Lastly, we did the quick experiment with ice cold water... you know the one where one hand is exposed and the other is in a plastic bag with "blubber"... the kids FLIPPED out over this.  They loved it!

Well today is probably my last snow day {ahem, still no snow here} so I need to get back to my hibernation for the day.  I'm going to curl up on the couch with my coffee and pin to my heart's content!  Hope y'all are having a great Wednesday... stay warm friends... and I'll talk to y'all soon!