Substitute Groundhog (and some FREEBIES!)

Today we had so much fun with  Substitute Groundhog by Pat Miller.  I wanted to share this book with you before the big day next week!

First of all, Pat Miller's books are just PRECIOUS!   She also wrote Squirrel's New Year's Resolution which we love every year.

It's hard to find good books for New Year's and Groundhog's Day- and these are great ones.

Pat actually wrote to  our class and sent us labels for the inside of  our books.  We were all star struck that a real author of books that we love would write to us!  So now- these are even MORE special books to me.

The funny thing is that all of my kids will believe that a leprechaun wrote them a note, or that an elf is watching and messed up the room.  BUT when I  showed them the note that Pat wrote to us and the book plate inside the book, some of them were like, "YOU wrote that.  We think YOU wrote that."  Really?  That's how famous and awestruck we are with authors of books that we love.  Santa, elves, and leprechauns are logical, but an author actually writing to us- NO WAY!  

Anyway, it's real.  She did write.  And I feel just as excited as the kids!

First of all, in the story, Groundhog isn't feeling well , so he needs to have a substitute fill in for him on the big day.  This gave me a chance to talk about what a substitute is- since the last time I was out of the class, the kids asked me when the "step teacher" was coming...  

Groundhog tries out a few different applicants for the job, but there is always some sort of a problem.  One of the friends is Eagle- which was a perfect chance for me to ask the children why Eagle would be a good choice! (Because he can see so well- with his EAGLE EYES, like we use for reading!)

Spoiler Alert:  The ending is adorable, because an armadillo finally takes the job- and then makes Groundhog feel better by taking him back to Texas for some Texas sunshine! (I could use some of that right about now...)  It was fun to show the children where Texas was on the map (since we are in NY), and to hear how many relatives lived in Texas.

After we read the story and talked about it,  I had the kids write and illustrate a reason why they would be a good substitute groundhog.  Here were some of the answers:

I made some writing prompts to go with Substitute Groundhog is you would like a copy! 

Ms. S and Ms. A's Classroom News shared this cute little doodle activity making a groundhog and shadow from a heart!  I have lots of heart tracers for Valentine's day, so this will be fun to do.

My kids also get a kick out of this song:

                             

Happy Groundhog Day!  Come on, Groundhog-  DON'T see that shadow!





Thanks for stopping by!