Happy Ground Hogs Day! 2/2

What many already know, is that Groundhog Day — celebrated every February 2nd — is the day that the Groundhog comes out of his hollow after a long winter’s slumber to look for his shadow. If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of 6 more weeks of bad weather and returns to his burrow. If the day is cloudy and thus shadowless, he takes it as a precursor of spring and stays above ground. What you may not know, is that the one and only Punxsutawney Phil is the world’s smallest and furriest weather forecaster that began making predictions in 1887, and has since become a North American tradition.

Every February 2nd, countless people flock to Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The covert ceremony was held undercover until 1966, and only Phil’s prediction was disclosed to the public. Since then, Phil’s fearless forecast has become a national media event.

The groundhog comes out of his now electrically heated burrow, looks for his shadow and utters his prediction to a Groundhog Club representative.

Phil sees his shadow about 90% of the time, and locals contend that the groundhog has never been wrong.

Fascinating FactsIn 1723, the Delaware Indians settled Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania as a campsite halfway between the Allegheny and the Susquehanna Rivers. The town is 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, at the intersection of Route 36 and Route 119.

The Delawares considered groundhogs honorable ancestors. According to the original creation beliefs of the Delaware Indians, their forebears began life as animals in “Mother Earth” and emerged centuries later to hunt and live as men.

Some say the name Punxsutawney comes from the Indian name for the location “ponksad-uteney” which means “the town of the sandflies.”

What you may not know, is that the one and only Punxsutawney Phil is the world’s smallest and furriest weather forecaster that began making predictions in 1887, and has since become a North American tradition.

Every February 2nd, countless people flock to Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The covert ceremony was held undercover until 1966, and only Phil’s prediction was disclosed to the public. Since then, Phil’s fearless forecast has become a national media event.

The groundhog comes out of his now electrically heated burrow, looks for his shadow and utters his prediction to a Groundhog Club representative.

Phil sees his shadow about 90% of the time, and locals contend that the groundhog has never been wrong.

Groundhogs are one of the few animals that hibernate — the body temperature drops to a few degrees above freezing, the heart barely beats, the blood scarcely flows, and breathing nearly stops.

A baby groundhog is called a kit or a cub. They’re generally born in mid-April or May, and able to go out on their own by July. The size of the litter ranges from 4 to 9.

A groundhog’s life span is normally 6 to 8 years.

Groundhog Day proponents state that the rodents’ forecasts are accurate 75% to 90%. A Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years puts success rate level at 37%. The National Climatic Data Center has stated that the overall predictions accuracy rate is around 39%.

The comedy movie Groundhog Day takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on this day. Actor Bill Murray is forced to relive the day over and over again until he can learn to give up his selfishness and become a better person. Since the 1993 release of the film, attendance at the real event has expanded — in 1997, there were 35,000 visitors in Punxsutawney, 5 times the Jefferson County town’s population of 6,700. 

SITE UPDATE

I have added a new page.  Click on the upper right hand corner, under service learning. 

Random Facts in Honor of the Super Bowl

- The Super Bowls is one of the biggest events of the year, resulting in more parties

than even New Years Eve.- Nine of the ten most watched TV programs of all time are

Super Bowls.- The Super Bowl is broadcast in 182 countries. That is more than 88%

of the world’s countries.- People eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any day

of the year, including Thanksgiving.- Fans spend more than $50 million on food during
the four days of Super Bowl weekend.- Vendors will serve 1,000 cases of peanuts at

the game. Stacked on top of each other those cases would be much taller than the

Empire State Building in New York.- Fans at the game will eat 5,000 pounds of hotdogs.

 If you laid those hotdogs end-to-end, they would stretch more than 5 miles.

-GUESS THE EXACT SCORE & THE WINNING TEAM TO EARN A FREE

TEST PASS! LEAVE YOUR GUESS UNDER ANY SUPER BOWL POST. SCORES

MUST BE EXACT. LAST DAY TO LEAVE SCORES WILL BE THE DAY OF THE

GAME BEFORE THE GAME STARTS.     

Learn more about Election 2008

VIEW RESULTS BY:

Political Party

Candidate

State

Date

DEMOCRATS

Magic Number2,025

REPUBLICANS

Magic Number1,191

* TOTAL DELEGATES		* TOTAL DELEGATES
	232 Hillary Clinton The former first lady is now in her second term as the junior senator from New York.		97 John McCain The U.S. senator from Arizona ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000, but lost to George W. Bush.
	158 Barack Obama The former lawyer and state senator won a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois in 2004.		74 Mitt Romney The former Massachusetts governor made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate in 1994.
	0 Mike Gravel The former U.S. senator from Alaska now heads up a non-profit firm promoting civics and education.		29 Mike Huckabee Before he was a governor of Arkansas, Huckabee served as pastor to several churches.
			6 Ron Paul The U.S. House member from Texas and medical doctor ran as a Libertarian for president in 1988.

Democratic delegate totals include pledged delegates and superdelegates. Republican delegate totals include pledged delegates and unpledged RNC member delegates. What are delegates?

Service Learning Project-Sock Drive

 

February 23 is the 100th day of school!  Kindergarten together with 1st grade will be in charge of the sock drive.  As a school, we collect brand new white socks.  Each student is to bring in 3 pairs of socks.  These socks will go to a wonderful organization called Operation School Bell.

Operation School Bell (OSB) provides new clothing, shoes and personal grooming products to children from families with extreme need. Our assistance enhances each child’s self-esteem, promotes learning and encourages regular school attendance. Each year, over 5,500 children in the Los Angeles Unified School District receive support through the generous donations of our local citizens and corporate sponsors. You too, can help the children of Operation School Bell. Click Here to find out more about our service.                    Kindergarten and 1st grade will count the socks in pairs, 5’s and 10’s to meet standards in math.  Not only are we supporting a good cause but the children have so much fun counting socks and organizing the drive.  It’s important to educate our children about the organization we are supporting and why we are doing so. If you have any questions or would like to help in any way, please contact me.   Book drive results will be coming soon!