Feb

ruar

y C

alen

dar

Cap

ers

Na

me

Fe

bru

ary

Ca

len

da

r

Wed

nesd

ayM

onda

yTu

esda

yTh

ursd

ayFr

iday

Lea

p ye

ar g

ives

Feb

ruar

y a

29th

day

ev

ery

four

yea

rs. A

sk s

tude

nts

how

th

ey w

ould

fee

l if

thei

r bi

rthd

ays

wer

e on

Feb

ruar

y 29

and

onl

y ca

me

ever

y fo

ur y

ears

.

Febr

uary

28

is F

lora

l Des

ign

Day

. H

ave

each

stu

dent

dra

w a

bou

quet

of

flow

ers.

Febr

uary

26

is th

e bi

rthd

ate

of L

evi

Str

auss

—th

e cr

eato

r of

the

firs

t pai

r of

jean

s. I

nvit

e st

uden

ts

to w

ear

som

ethi

ng

mad

e of

den

im to

day.

The

firs

t tel

epho

ne d

irec

tory

was

is

sued

in N

ew H

aven

, Con

nect

icut

, on

Feb

ruar

y 21

, 187

8. I

t had

onl

y 50

list

ings

. Sho

w s

tude

nts

a ph

one

book

fro

m y

our

com

mun

ity

and

dem

onst

rate

how

to

look

for

spe

cifi

c li

stin

gs.

Febr

uary

20

is S

tude

nt V

olun

teer

D

ay. I

nvit

e st

uden

ts to

bra

inst

orm

sp

ecifi

c w

ays

they

can

vo

lunt

eer

in th

e sc

hool

or

com

mun

ity.

Febr

uary

16

is H

eart

2 H

eart

Day

—a

day

to e

ncou

rage

dia

ry w

riti

ng.

Hav

e st

uden

ts u

se jo

urna

l wri

ting

as

a m

eans

of

expr

essi

ng th

emse

lves

. P

rovi

de ti

me

each

day

for

your

stu

dent

s to

wri

te in

thei

rjo

urna

ls.

Geo

rge

Was

hing

ton’

s m

eals

oft

en

had

eigh

t mea

t dis

hes!

Hav

e ea

ch

chil

d de

scri

be th

e bi

gges

t mea

l he

has

ever

eat

en.

Febr

uary

is N

atio

nal W

ild

Bir

d–Fe

edin

g M

onth

. Enc

oura

ge s

tude

nts

to m

ake

bird

fee

ders

by

spre

adin

g pe

anut

but

ter

on p

inec

ones

and

then

ro

llin

g th

e pi

neco

nes

in

sunfl

ower

see

ds.

The

thir

d M

onda

y in

Feb

ruar

y is

P

resi

dent

s’ D

ay. T

his

day

reco

gniz

es

the

birt

hday

s of

Geo

rge

Was

hing

ton

and

Abr

aham

Lin

coln

. Hav

e st

uden

ts

sing

“H

appy

B

irth

day”

in

hono

r of

th

ese

pres

iden

ts.

Val

enti

ne’s

Day

is F

ebru

ary

14. H

ave

each

chi

ld c

reat

e a

card

for

a f

rien

d or

fam

ily m

embe

r.

The

sec

ond

Wed

nesd

ay in

Feb

ruar

y is

Los

t Pen

ny D

ay. H

ave

stud

ents

co

llec

t ext

ra p

enni

es f

rom

hom

e an

d gi

ve th

em to

a s

helt

er o

r lo

cal

Hum

ane

Soc

iety

.

Cel

ebra

te th

e bi

rthd

ate

of T

hom

as

Edi

son,

dev

elop

er o

f th

e li

ghtb

ulb,

on

Feb

ruar

y 11

. Dis

cuss

w

ith

stud

ents

the

impo

rtan

ce o

f hi

s in

vent

ion.

In h

onor

of

Pota

to L

over

s M

onth

, ha

ve s

tude

nts

nam

e th

eir

favo

rite

w

ays

to e

at a

pot

ato.

Nat

iona

l Pan

cake

Wee

k is

ob

serv

ed th

e w

eek

of S

hrov

e or

Pa

ncak

e Tu

esda

y (t

he d

ay b

efor

e A

sh W

edne

sday

). R

ecru

it p

aren

t vo

lunt

eers

to tr

eat

your

stu

dent

s to

a

panc

ake

brea

kfas

t du

ring

the

wee

k.

Cel

ebra

te th

e bi

rthd

ate

of L

aura

In

gall

s W

ilde

r on

Feb

ruar

y 7

by

read

ing

alou

d W

inte

r D

ays

In T

he

Big

Woo

ds f

rom

the

seri

es M

y Fi

rst

Lit

tle

Hou

se B

ooks

(S

chol

asti

c In

c.).

On

Febr

uary

5 c

eleb

rate

the

date

th

at th

e W

iffl

e® b

all w

as fi

rst s

old.

E

xpla

in th

at th

e W

iffl

e® b

all h

as

hole

s in

ord

er to

less

en th

e di

stan

ce

it w

ill t

rave

l. D

urin

g fr

ee ti

me,

hav

e se

vera

l Wif

fle®

ba

lls

and

rubb

er

ball

s av

aila

ble

for

stud

ents

to u

se.

Febr

uary

is C

anne

d Fo

od M

onth

. H

ave

stud

ents

don

ate

cann

ed g

oods

to

a lo

cal s

oup

kitc

hen

or f

ood

pant

ry.

Febr

uary

2 is

Gro

undh

og D

ay. T

ake

stud

ents

out

side

to lo

ok f

or th

eir

shad

ows.

Febr

uary

is R

espo

nsib

le P

et O

wne

r M

onth

. Dis

cuss

wit

h st

uden

ts w

hy

pets

are

impo

rtan

t to

us

and

how

pet

s de

pend

on

thei

r ow

ners

for

ce

rtai

n ne

eds.

Nat

iona

l Pen

cil W

eek

is c

eleb

rate

d du

ring

the

last

ful

l wee

k of

Feb

ruar

y.

Hav

e ea

ch c

hild

wri

te a

sto

ry ti

tled

“A

Day

In

The

Lif

e O

f M

y Pe

ncil

.”

�

©19

98 T

he E

duca

tion

Cen

ter,

Inc.

• F

ebru

ary

Mon

thly

Rep

rodu

cibl

es •

Gra

de 1

• T

EC

940

No

te T

o T

he

Teac

her

: H

ighl

ight

spe

cial

day

s an

d ev

ents

with

thes

e fa

ct-fi

lled

idea

s.

New

Pota

toes

WH

OLE

LIB

ER

TY

1994

IN

GO

DW

ET

RU

ST

February events and activities For The Family

�

Name FebruaryEventsFamilyactivities

Note To The Teacher: Distribute one copy of this reproducible to each student at the beginning of the month. Encourage each family to complete at least one activity by the end of February.

©1998 The Education Center, Inc. • February Monthly Reproducibles • Grade 1 • TEC9�0

Groundhog Day When will winter weather end? Punxsutawney Phil allegedly answers this question each year on February 2. According to legend, if this groundhog sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter are in store for us. If he doesn’t, spring is just around the corner! Celebrate this day with your family by creating shadow pictures. Demon-strate how to make a shadow by hold-ing your hand between a light source and a wall. Then have your children experiment with hand shadows. Can your youngsters make their shadows smaller? Larger? Challenge them to make hand shadows that resemble creatures, such as ducks, horses, and dogs. Hands down, this shadow play will delight your students!

Directions: Select at least one activity below to complete as a family by the end of February.(Challenge: See if your family can complete all three activities.)

Fairy Tales Recognize Wilhelm Grimm’s birthday on February 2� by creating a unique family fairy tale. Long ago fairy tales were passed from generation to generation with oral retellings. Grimm and his brother published many of these delightful tales to ensure that they were preserved. Choose one family member to start telling an original fairy tale. After a few minutes, have him or her stop, and ask the next person to continue the story. For added fun, a turn may end at a sus-penseful moment in the story or even mid-sentence! This activity is sure to spark youngsters’ imagi-nations and it’s perfect entertainment for long family trips.

Valentine’s Day In honor of this holiday on February 1�, help your youngsters make adorable handmade decorations. In no time at all, this simple Valentine’s Day project will be ready for gift giving or for displaying in your own home!

A Divine ValentineMaterials For One Decoration: 1 frozen juice can lid 1 paper doily two 7” lengths of narrow ribbon 1 small piece of decorative Con-Tact® paper construction-paper scraps scissors craft glueDirections: 1. Cut out a Con-Tact® paper circle

to fit within the rim on the top side of the lid. Peel off the backing and adhere the circle to the lid.

2. Cut out and glue small construc-tion-paper hearts to decorate the Con-Tact® paper circle.

3. Knot a length of ribbon to make a hanger. Glue it to the back

of the lid as shown. �. Glue the back of the lid in the center of

the doily. 5. Tie a bow with the second length

of ribbon and glue it; then set aside the resulting decoration to dry.

John J.DeDeSueSam

TeresaRobPamNickMaryAndyMaggie

BertLaTonyaShantel

KevinToddJessie

5

More Winter! Now What? Didthegroundhogseehisshadowthisyear?Don’tletwin-tergetyourstudentsdown.Trythisfunactivitytobringalittlespringtimetoyourclassroom.Cutalengthofbulletin-boardpaperforaclass-createdmural.Haveeachchildcolorimagesofspring(flowers,grass,butterflies,trees,etc.).Tocompletethe

mural,giveeachchildanartificialflowertoaddtothemural.Tapetheflowersamongthosethatweredrawn.Thesethree-dimen-sionaladditionsmakethemuralespeciallyattractiveandwillreallybringspringtolifeinyourclassroom—despitethechillyairoutside.

It’sFebruary2!Willthegroundhogseehisshadoworwon’the?Thisbasicquestion—aslegendhasit—determinesspring’sarrival.GroundhogDaycelebratesthebeliefthatifthesunshinesonCandlemasDay,orifthegroundhogseeshisshadowonthisday,therewillbesixmoreweeksofwinter.Punxsutawney,Pennsylvania,isfamousforPunxsutawneyPhil—agroundhogwell-knownforhisannualweatherprediction.

Punxsutawney Predictions Predictingandgraphingskillsareneces-sarytocompletethisinterestingactivity.OnadaypriortoGroundhogDay,haveeachchildpredictwhetherornotthegroundhogwillseehisshadow.Havestudentsrecordtheirpredictionsonachartasshown.WatchweatherreportsonFebruary2toseehowmanypredictionswereright.Thenhavestudentsre-corddailytemperaturesforthesixweeksfollowingGroundhogDaytoseeifPhil’spredictionwasaccurate,too.

6 ©1998TheEducationCenter,Inc.•February Monthly Reproducibles•Grade1•TEC940

Wasittimeforspring?Alltheanimalswerewaitingtofindout.WherewasMr.Groundhog?Hewoulddecideifspringwouldcomeoriftherewouldbemorewinter. AlltheanimalscalledforMr.Ground-hog.Soonhepokedhisnosethroughthedirt.Mr.Groundhogpulledhimselffromthehole.Hedidnotseehisshad-ow.“Hooray!”theanimalsshouted.“Itistimeforspring!”

Name GroundhogDay Readingcomprehension

Shadow StoryReadthestory.

Bonus Box:Drawcloudsintheskytohidethesun.

Answerthequestions.

1. Whowoulddecideifspringwouldstart?

2. WheredidMr.Groundhoglive?

3. WhatwasMr.Groundhoglookingfor?

4. Howdidtheanimalsfeelattheendofthestory?

7©1998TheEducationCenter,Inc.•February Monthly Reproducibles•Grade1•TEC940

Name GroundhogDay Longvowels

Nameeachpicture.Circlethevowelsound.

a=bluee=greeni=redo=yellowu=orange

Coloreachboxbythecode.

aeu eio uia eao

eao uoi aui uai

uae oea aeo oei

uea aoi uea eoi

Thinkin’ About Vowels