Winter Blah's Busters Including Special Events and Holidays in Your School Day: Olympics, Valentines Day, Chinese New Year, Presidents Day

When my kids were little I built much of my school year, especially in the winter, around various holiday's and special occasions. We still do that today, though to a lesser degree, and find that it really helps put some fun into our normal routine while still providing some learning.

February (especially this year) holds lots of Possibilities:

For all these holidays (and other great resources) for crafts and worksheets I would suggest becoming a member of Enchanted Learning enchantedlearning.com I have found it to be a valuable resource for the grade school years.

Also lots of good stuff for many holidays at http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/index.htm which is a free site.



Feb 2nd Groundhogs Day:
Learn about groundhogs, hibernation, shadows and how they are formed. Find a book at the library about the actual animal and also look for fun picture books about groundhogs we found a few at our library!.

Here are two sites about the most famous groundhog and official predictor who lives right here in PA.

http://www.groundhog.org/

http://www.punxsutawneyphil.com/




February 5th: Constitution Day:

Learn a little about the US constitution, read some of it, study one of the signers, go to center city and visit the Constitution Center or Independence Hall http://constitutioncenter.org/


February 12th Start of Winter Olympics:

Learn about the host country and the games themselves http://www.vancouver2010.com/

Watch the opening ceremony and find countries on a map or globe; pick a couple of countries, other then the US to root for, follow how they do, learn about these countries and make copies of of their flags.

Lots of fun stuff here http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/winter_olympics.htm

Make your own medals and laurel wreaths to wear when your team wins an event you are watching.

learn about the various sports and their rules, talk about sportsmanship and how to be a good winner or looser.
Here is a great site that teaches some of the science behind some of the Olympic events:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/olympics/

Learn about the ancient Olympics and how they differ from the modern ones, and how the modern ones started.



Feb 14th: Valentines Day:
Learn about St. Valentine, Find out how Valentines Day got started, make some valentines for friends or for people who need to be encouraged, surprise your mail man, librarian or the lady who always rings up your order at the grocery store with one, or give one to an older member at Church.

Fun crafts to choose from here http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/valentines_day.htm



February 14th Start of Chinese New Year:

Learn a bit about China

Lots of fun stuff to do and info here to keep you busy!! Love this site!
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_new_year.htm


Go to Philadelphia's China Town for a meal, or dim sum (though this week it might very crowded but you could go later and give foods you read about now a try Joy Tsin Lau is our favorite http://maps.google.com/maps/place?sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&oe=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=joy+tsin+lau+restaurant&fb=1&gl=us&hq=joy+tsin+lau+restaurant&hnear=Philadelphia,+PA&cid=5246055854701499710)

A great resource is the book "Moonbeams, Dumplings, and Dragon Boats" by Nina Simonds et al.

Also check your library for Chinese storys and fairy tales, books by authors Grace Lin and Demi are also good for this.

The University Of Pennsylvania http://www.penn.museum/ normally does a fun Chinese New Years event though I couldn't find mention of this years date.



Feb 15th Presidents Day:

Pick a president and read something about him.

This site from the White House has info. on the Presidents Mansions, Portraits of all the Presidents and other fun info. Check it out and don't worry about "learning" just enjoy looking at the things that interest you or seeing what all the presidents looked like, it is all groundwork for later study.

Also some stuff here: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/presidents_day.htm



Feb 16th Shrove or Fat Tuesday end of Mardigras:

Info. and Crafts here: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/mardi_gras.htm
and here: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/pancake_day.htm

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/shrove-tuesday Has some info on these Traditions in the US.


Make Pancakes and Sausage for dinner, this is the day that all fat in the house was used up by indulging in these things before the fasting and restraint from indulging that came with Lent.

In the United Kingdom they often have pancake races on this day, this site http://www.sideburn.demon.co.uk/olney/pancake.html gives some info. on this funny tradition.


Feb. 17th Ash Wednesday

Here is some basic info. on this religious observance.
http://protestantism.suite101.com/article.cfm/ash_wednesday_meaning_and_purpose
How might you incorporate this into your understanding of what God is doing in your life and how he wants you to grow?



Feb 28th Chinese Lantern Festival:

some background info. here.
http://www.chinavoc.com/festivals/lantern.htm

read some more of the story books you didn't get to for Chinese New Year