Boxerwood naturalists Hannah Klein (and Jessica Sullivan out of picture) teach Danielle Moran and Judi Staton’s Head Start class at Enderly Heights Elementary about hibernation first-hand from a drowsy groundhog, who wakes up briefly from his long winter’s nap to visit them using hand puppets Woodchuck Chuck and his side-kick, Chatter the Squirrel. They’ll be making the rounds, burrow and all, to 16 preschool classrooms in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County this season.

Boxerwood Groundhog Wakes Up in Preschool Winter Detectives Outreach Program Teaches Kids About Hibernation   Rockbridge preschoolers are learning about hibernation first-hand from a drowsy groundhog, who wakes up briefly from his long winter’s nap to visit them. Woodchuck Chuck and his side-kick, Chatter the Squirrel, are hand puppets animated by Boxerwood naturalists as part of Boxerwood’s Winter Detectives outreach program. They’ll be making the rounds, burrow and all, to 16 preschool classrooms in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County this season. Recently, Chuck and Chatter (a.k.a., Hannah Klein and Jessica Sullivan) visited children at Noah’s Ark preschool and in Head Start classes at Enderly Heights Elementary. They’ll be in Connie Huffman’s preschool classroom at Fairfield Elementary on Groundhog’s Day, Tuesday, February 2. Chuck explains to the children how he fattens up in fall, and demonstrates how his heartbeat and breathing slow “way, way, way down” in late autumn. In this way, he burns up very little energy and is able to sleep through most of the winter, when food is scarce. The Fairfield children will learn from Chuck that groundhogs wake up in the middle of their long winter’s nap not to look for their shadows and predict the weather, but to grab a quick snack. After two months in hibernation, and two more to go, a groundhog can get pretty hungry! Winter Detectives is sponsored by the Dale Waller in Early Childhood in Nature Program at Boxerwood. Although their schedule is busy, Chuck and Chatter are willing to add a few more classes to their tour. For more information about Winter Detectives and Boxerwood’s other Early Education programs, visit the Boxerwood webpage at www.boxerwood.org or contact Bonnie Bernstein at 540-463-2697 or email bonnie@boxerwood.org

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