Notes

There was much excitement earlier in the week as we celebrated the appearance of “Parkside Pete”, our beloved groundhog. As we explained last month, we began our discussions of the legend of the Groundhog by talking about what we might find underground if we were to dig below the surface. This could include rocks, sticks and acorns, as well as our bulbs which we planted last fall. We then talked about other animals that hibernate including bears, bats, skunks, chipmunks, ladybugs and of course, the groundhog.

In a highly dramatic way, we re-enacted the story of the groundhog using props such as a flashlight, blanket of dirt (brown mat), and our realistic stuffed groundhog. As the legend goes, if the sun is shining on Groundhog Day and the groundhog sees his shadow, he becomes frightened, thinking it is some sort of monster and not his shadow. He then runs back down to his underground burrow signaling six more weeks of winter. If it is cloudy or stormy and he does not see his shadow, he isn’t scared, and he begins to wander about and look for food. This scenario signals that spring will be early. Groundhog Day 2026 resulted in inconsistent predictions depending on the location of our furry friends. Punksutawney Phil in Pennsylvania did see his shadow as did Staten Island Chuck. However, over at Turtle Back Zoo, Lady Edwina of Essex did not see her shadow, indicating an early spring. It’s hard to understand how she didn’t, given the fact that Turtle Back Zoo is only about 8 miles away and in our same county! What all this means is that predictions of the onset of spring remain unreliable. So even though the entire story of Groundhog Day is considered a legend, it seems to be a fun way to at least begin to think about spring with our little ones.

In Practical Life, we continue work with an eyedropper and water which is a natural follow-up to January’s basting. The skating penguins are still on the shelf since we have had so much cold and snow, and the children are still enjoying them and showing real progress in carefully balancing them on the ice patches. In February there are several color mixing exercises. We begin by using a whisk again, this time in plain rather than sudsy water, to create a secondary color from two primary colors (red + yellow makes orange etc.) We will also mix colors using an eyedropper and toothpick onto color-coded cards. Silver polishing will be added added to the shelves as well.

Dishwashing has begun in Side 2 and will now come into Side 1. Two children set up basins (one for washing and the other for rinsing), soap and brushes to wash, rinse and then dry real dishes and flatware. It is a nice exercise in cooperative learning and another opportunity for social interaction as two children work together to complete the task.

In Sensorial we are again focusing on shapes. We will be bringing in both the small hexagon box and the rectangle box which are more challenging than the triangle and large hexagon boxes which are already in. Also in Sensorial the third and fourth color boxes will be introduced. These are both exercises in shading colors and then matching and shading colors. The third and fourth color boxes really help to enhance and refine the child’s visual discrimination skills. We will also have many new winter puzzles on the shelves.

A favorite and fun addition to our Language area later this month is the picture/label matching. Annie and Sue Valentine have taken pictures of each of our students which they have made into 2 x 3 laminated cards. We make and laminate mini name cards just like the larger banner names. The children lay out the pictures onto a mat and try to match the labels with the pictures. This work lends itself to two students or even three with a teacher leading the activity at first, and the children do love to find their own pictures and labels and those of their friends. The activity does take a fair amount of time, but we now have longer work periods each day because of the cold weather and still snowy playground. Despite being indoors most days, we find that the children have the opportunity to work on more different classroom tasks, and it also gives us more time at the end of each session to read another story and/or play another moving game. As teachers this certainly keeps us on our toes as it requires us to be creative users of time at the end of each session.

We have snowmen and snowflake counting, stamping, adding and subtracting on the Math shelves as well as the addition of more complicated math tasks. This year the 100 Board has been very popular in both classes. The Board has 100 tiles marked with each of 100 numbers. We are amazed at how even in the younger class, many students are enjoying it and doing quite well with understanding the decades and patterns that take us from number 1 to number 100.

At the art table the children will be making snowmen, snowflakes and icicle trees to name a just a couple of wintery projects.

Of course in February we celebrate Valentine’s Day, and it seems like a good time to continue to focus on Peace…being kind, caring and helpful to each other and our family members. We will be placing white bags outside each classroom for each child which will hold your child’s valentines. If you and your child would like to send in Valentines for friends, please bring them in a bag with your child’s name on it Do not address the envelopes, but sign or have your child sign the card inside. The teachers will distribute these, and 20-25 cards should be enough.

Also in February we will be telling simple stories and reading books about our Presidents, particularly Abraham Lincoln and George Washington whose birthdays are celebrated. We have a large chart with pictures of all of the Presidents and cut out cards which match the pictures on the chart. The children take each card and match it to the 47 pictures on the chart. Again, this take some time, but does make a nice activity for a small group of students.

February is Black History Month, and we will be reading books and telling stories about African-American men and women. These special Americans by their actions and in the way they lived their lives have taught us important lessons in leadership and courage, and they have also impacted our history in a positive way.

Another highlight of this short but activity-packed month is our very popular theme of Birds. While the children continue to use and enjoy the dinosaurs, in order to keep things interesting during the winter doldrums, we bring in our baskets of stuffed birds from the Audubon Society, true to life in color and shape. Also, each one makes the authentic noise of that particular bird. After we have heard the call of several different birds, we play a game where the children close their eyes and the teacher squeezes the stuffed bird and its call is emitted. After we have spent some time on the birds, the children become really proficient at identifying the bird by its call. It’s amazing, and one of the most rewarding things about teaching young children’s that their minds are like little sponges (actually big sponges.) They are very enthusiastic about learning new things, and this month’s theme is no exception to that. As with the dinosaurs and sea creatures, we introduce each bird gradually, and we will talk about the special characteristics of each. For example, the children love to hear about the migrating robin who goes south for the winter and returns in March to construct a messy nest and begin a new family. The blue jay, while sometimes raucous and rude, will protect smaller birds from danger. The Baltimore oriole is beautiful in color and makes a very neat and cone-shaped nest. The tiny hummingbird has constantly whirring wings that help him fly great distances and also fly backwards and sideways. The woodpecker has a very strong head which allows him to peck loudly and with force on a large tree trunk searching for insects to eat, and his very strong tail helps him to balance on the trunk without falling. The little chickadee is quite acrobatic and can perch on the smallest feeder and also hang upside down. Our state bird, the goldfinch, with bright yellow plumage and a black cap, is strictly vegetarian and loves to eat seeds especially dandelion seeds. As always, books, puzzles, matching and counting exercises and art projects will all reflect our February study of birds.

At the end of the month, (as many of you probably remember), we will

begin to tell the story of our favorite Parkside bird, the robin and its journey from it’s southern winter home back to New Jersey. We will discuss not only migration and changing seasons, but also the important east coast landmarks as the robin heads north, including the Carolina beaches with palmetto trees and the cities of Washington DC and Philadelphia. As always our circle lessons will have props and discussions about geography (using a very large USA map), regional weather, and the important cities of Washington, DC and Philadelphia. We have replicas of the monuments in both cities. This unit is based on a book “The Restless Robin” published in the 1930’s. It was written by famed children’s author, Marjorie Flack, and, at the art table, the children will be creating their own books that will chronicle the northbound migration of the robin. They will make one page a week until we see the robin back in New Jersey, hopefully before the end of March.

While February’s a short month, it is certainly full of many themes and activities which include the Groundhog’s annual appearance, the study of Birds and Presidents, Black History Month and the celebration of Valentine’s Day. Of course the new and always interesting Montessori materials and exercises on the shelves will also keep us busy all month.

“You have to believe in happiness,

Or happiness never comes…

Ah, that’s the reason a bird can sing-

On his darkest day he believes in Spring.”

Douglas Malloch