We´re going on a bear hunt

Here you have two versions of this nice tale. On the second video, the story is narrated and sung by the author Michael Rosen.

                                                                                         

Arbor Day

Arbor Day is a special day that is celebrated all around the world to remember the important role trees play in our environment, and people are encouraged to plant and take care for trees.

It is believed that the first modern Arbor Day took place in the small Spanish village of Villanueva de la Sierra in 1805 following an initiative of the local priest with the support of the entire population.

It is also believed that the first country that celebrated Arbor Day as a widespread celebration was Sweden in the year 1840.

The  establishment of a World Tree Day was an initiative of the World Forestry Congress held in Rome in 1969. The date chosen to celebrate it was  March 21^st because it is the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere and the first day of Autumn in the southern hemisphere and so it can be celebrated in lots of countries at the same time.

In Spain, Arbor Day is at that date coinciding with the International Day of Forests, from the year 1972.

In other countries, the date varies depending on climate and the best planting season.

In U.S.A. the first Arbor Day was created in Nebraska in 1872 by a journalist and politician called Julius Sterling Morton. On this first celebration one million trees were planted. Nowadays, in most states it is celebrated on the last Friday in April.

Trees are terrific (learn about the trees)

When you enter, go back to the page before

Trees, trees, trees song

The green grass grew all around

The New Year of the Trees (Arbor Day in Israel)

In the song, you can change "Tu B'shevat" for "Arbor day"

Tu Bishvat  is Arbor Day in Israel. They also call it The New Year of the Trees. This is the date when the most of  winter rain has fallen  and the sap has come up in the trees and as a result, the fruits begin to form now.

It is usually celebrated in February or March.

They celebrate it eating fruit (figs, grapes, pomegranates, dates, olives…) and many schools take children on trips to plant trees.

The trees are very important in the Jewish religion and in the Torah (their written law) we can read: “Man is a tree of the fields”

I's time to plant a tree or two

 

I´ve got a minute or two to sing to you

I look around it's plain to see so much work to do

I guess it´s time to plant a tree or two
 The color of the world has changed and I'm feeling blue
Everything is turning grey, what am I going to do?
I guess it's time to plant a tree or two
Did you know a tree purifies the air, a tree can grow almost anywhere
Some can grow to a hundred and four, so please don't destroy them anymore
You can climb a tree and hide away, smell the leaves in early May
Pick an apple or a pear, killing the trees is so unfair
You can give another bird a home It's so easy to do
Owls and squirrels and butterflies would agree with you
I guess it's time to plant a tree or two
If you want to change your world today it's up to you
Remember what we're trying to say, it's long overdue
I guess it's time to plant a tree or two, I know it's time to plant a tree or two.

The little pine tree (the value of being happy and proud with what we have and what we are)

The oak tree and the reeds (the value of knowing that an exaggerated pride often leads us down)

What tree is it?

Amazing trees in the world

The history of Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Bill (the most famous groundhog in the world)

Phil is a groundhog or woodchuck (a rodent that
belongs to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots).
This animal lives in a town called Punxsutawney in the state of Pennsylvania, in the norh-east of the United States.

On Phil´s day, February 2nd, there is a ceremony, early in the morning, that begins before the sunrise, in a special location called "Gobbler´s Knob" where Phil has his burrow with his name on the little door.  According to the folklore, Phil emerges from his home and lots of journalists, cameramen, weather forecasters and people from all over the country are waiting to see if Phil will see his shadow. Remember, if it´s cloudy and he doesn´t see his shadow, he will leave the burrow and we can expect an early Spring. But if it is sunny and the groundhog sees his shadow, he will return to his burrow and we can expect six more weeks of Winter. When Phil has made his decisión, legend says he speaks to the president of the Groundhog Club in a secret language called "Groundhogese"

                                   

                                                                                

During the rest of the year, Phil lives in the Punxsutawney library with his wife Phyllis.

Phil has been sharing his weather predictions for more than 120 years. This is impossible because groundhogs only can live about 10 years in captivity, so people say there have been many Phils over the years.

However, Phil´s fans claim there has only been one Phil. What is the secret? Following the legend, each summer Phil drinks a sip of a special mystery groundhog punch that lengthens his life for 7 years.


In this photo, Phil is speaking to the president of the Groundhog Club, Bill Deeley.

 

Phil is also called: "Seer of seers", "Sage of Sages" or "Prognosticator of Pronogsticators".

 

To finish we´ll say that the word "woodchuck", the other expression to name groundhogs, has nothing to do with Wood or chuck. It comes from the alteration of the words "otchock" or "wejak" that mean groundhog in Algonquian (American Indian languages). So there is only a phonetic similarity.



More groundhogs predicting the weather

Although Punxsutawney Bill is the most famous weather forecaster groundhog, there are other woodchucks that do the same in different places in the United States and in Canada.
Now, you can know them:

- Balzac Billy: He is also known as the Prairie Prognosticator. He lives in Balzac, Alberta in Canada. Unlike other Groundhog Day mascots, Balzac  Billy is not a real groundhog but a man in a costume.











- Buckeye Chuck: He lives in Marion, Ohio. In 1979 the Ohio General Assambly declared him as "the oficial State Groundhog.

- General Beauregard Lee: He resides at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn, Georgia. He has received honorary doctorates in some universities in Georgia such as "Doctor of Weather Prognostication" or "Doctor of Southern Groundology", He lives in a White-columned Southern mansión with an architectural wáter fountain, a postal box, a granite monument... He also has got satellite dish, a laptop computer and even a wine cellar to take a sip from time to time.












- Shubenacadie Sam: This is another Canadian groundhog. He lives in the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in the town of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. He makes the first Groundhog Day prediction in North America.

- Smith Lake Jake: He lives at the Birmingham Zoo in Birmingham, Alabama. He is known for wearing a hat with his name. Unlike other forecasting woodchucks, Jake is not an early riser and on February 2nd he doesn´t appear until about 10 a.m.














- Staten Island Chuck: This groundhog lives at the Staten Island Zoo in New York City. The ceremony of predicting the weather is often attended an officiated by the Mayor of New York City. In 2009 Chuck bit Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The Mayor did not attend the ceremony for five years and he did not explain why. Because of the Mayor incident , Chuck was replaced by his granddaughter, Charlotte, for the first ceremony of new Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014. But unfortunatly, de Blasio dropped the groundhog during his first ceremony and 7 days later, on February 9th, Charlotte died. In 2015, Chuck´s daughter replaced the others. This female "Staten Island Chuck" walked out of a hutch that an elevator had lifted onto the stage of a portable Plexiglass habitat, while de Blasio watched from six feet away. Although the original Chuck (as far as it is known) is still alive, he has been permanently retired out of fear he may bite again.

- Sir Walter Wally: He lives in Raleigh, the capital of the State of North Carolina, at the Museum of Natural Sciences, where the ceremony takes place. He was rescued after an encounter with a vehicle and now he can´t be released into the wild because he would not survive.

- Wiarton Willie: He lives in the town of Wiarton, in the South Bruce Peninsula in Ontario, Canada. According to his website, he was born precisely on the 45th parallel, midway point between the Equator and the North Pole. Willie' predictive powers are attributed to this fact.People around say that he has an accuracy in his prognostications around 90% of the time.
He has got a statue in his town.
And to finish, a curious thing: Wiarton is the only albino groundhog in the list of the weather forecasters woodchucks

I´m a little groundhog...song



Go to sleep groundhog