1-2-3 Come Do Some Groundhog Activities With Me

I do a variety of groundhog-themed activities during the week of Groundhog Day.

One day (February 2nd) is simply not enough time to take a look at these interesting animals, which provide a way for me to get in a bit of science, non-fiction reading, as well as use them as a fun theme for word work (GR blend, compound words) plus math centers, where we count groundhogs, do puzzles, and practice graphing (Will he or won't he see his shadow?) predictions.

With that in mind, I designed two groundhog “flip the flap for facts”  booklets. One includes fun facts about groundhogs, the other has interesting information about Groundhog Day.  First up, is the background information about Groundhogs.

Don’t know anything about groundhogs? No worries. I’ve done tons of research so you don’t have to.
Simply make the teacher’s edition booklet, familiarize yourself with whatever facts you want to share, then read them to your students.

I categorized simple and interesting information into: characteristics, habitat, home, diet, hibernation, young, predators & behavior.

There are 2 "flip up" pages to a one-page template for easy printing.

Besides the teacher’s edition, there are blank page patterns so you can program them however you want, as well as pages with the category headers, so that students have a guide for their research and written answers. 

I purposely did not number any pages, so that you can choose which topics you want your students to explore.

The booklet provides a simple and fun way to introduce research and writing a report, which can be done individually, with a partner, or in a small group of four.

The cover (head of the groundhog) is run off on tan construction paper. Students add highlights and shading with crayons. The base or back cover of the booklet is printed on card stock.

The pages are trimmed and just the top "glue tab" is glued to the base of the booklet.  When all of the pages have been collated, the cover is glued down on top of the base, so that the "mouth" portion of the groundhog "flips up" to reveal the informational pages underneath. Again you have the option to choose which pages you want your students to include.

There are just 8 pages to do independently, (if you choose all of the categories) which can also be divided into a 4-page partner assignment, or a 2-page small group activity; allowing you to do the project in a short amount of time. 

The groundhog booklet can be done in class during your writing/reading block, or be finished as homework then returned. Be sure and check out the non-fiction groundhog books your school library may have or do a bit of research with your students, during your computer lab time.

The packet is also appropriate for younger students, as I’ve included a “fun fact” worksheet for little ones to color, then write down a favorite fact that they learned from you reading the informational teacher’s edition.  As always, I've included completed samples for you to share with your kiddos to help explain things.

Completed projects make a cute February bulletin board. The booklets can also be displayed.

I’ve included 12 real photographs of groundhogs too. (Two-on-a-page for easy printing). Use them to introduce your lesson, then scatter them around your students’ work.

There’s a “Learning About Groundhogs” poster for the center of your display as well. 

The other "flip for facts" booklet features information specifically about Groundhog DAY, so if you’re looking for a little something to share with your students, I think you’ll enjoy this craftivity.

It can be a simple card for little ones to make. There are 3 “Happy Groundhog Day!” greeting options, which are revealed when you flip the legs of the groundhog cover up.

You can also make a “Flip the Flap For Facts” booklet, with interesting information about Groundhog DAY.

Make your teacher booklet and read it to little ones so they learn a bit about Groundhog Day, then have them transition to making the card.

There are also 2 black and white versions so students can make their own booklet. So that you can differentiate your lessons, I’ve included an emergent reader option, packed with lots of Dolch sight words, as well as a preschool “trace the word & color the pictures” version.

Besides the 3 booklets and card, I’ve also included a “Fun Fact” worksheet.

Use this after you read your booklet to check comprehension. Children color the groundhog then jot down an interesting fact that they learned, or their favorite one.

Completed projects make a cute February bulletin board.  I’ve included a “Groundhog Day Fun!” poster for the center of your display.

There are also 2 graphing extensions to go along with the optional "question" pages.

Because Canada also celebrates Groundhog Day on February 2nd, I included 2 pages with the alternate “colour” spelling, as well as a Venn diagram activity comparing our Phil with their Will, plus a photograph poster featuring both groundhogs. (Willie is an albino groundhog, so grab that teachable moment to teach a new vocabulary word.)

There are several map worksheets of both countries as well.  If you studied Canada during your “Christmas Around the World” travels, this is a fun way to revisit those lessons.

So....you've covered non-fiction reading, a bit of science, some writing a dash of math, plus a smidge of geography all with one craftivity, which you can feature on an easy-peasy bulletin board!
Woo hoo for you!

Today's featured FREEBIE also has a groundhog theme and is titled: Groundhog Slappin' Games.  (I was inspired by the "Whack-a-Mole" arcade game, because the critter that pops up reminded me of a groundhog poking his head out of his burrow.)  The packet is a whopping 60 pages long!

Your students will really enjoy playing these games, as they slap a variety of groundhog cards, with a flyswatter, to show that they know specific standards.  This is a super-fun, quick and easy way to whole-group assess as well.

Students practice recognizing skip counted numbers, shapes, colors, groundhog-related words, (there are 54!) + upper and lowercase letters.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by. If you can believe it, it has started to snow here in Michigan.

Although it's quite lovely, and covers up the ugly dirt and dead things, I am quite tired of winter and ready for the warmth of sunshine-filled days.

If a groundhog can truly predict an early spring, here's hoping he does NOT see his shadow.  Wishing you a lovely day.

 "No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Do Some Groundhog Day Activities With Me

Do you read ”Who Will See Their Shadow This Year?” by Jerry Pallotta?
It’s one of my students’ favorite Groundhog Day stories and perfect for practicing the “sequencing and retelling a story” standards. 

With that in mind, I designed this quick, easy and fun ”Who Will See Their Shadow?” “slider” craftivity, which will help your students retell the story in chronological order.   

The gist: A variety of animals are sick of winter and anxious for spring. Since the groundhog is sleeping, they wonder if they can make it come sooner by seeing their shadows. 

Each one takes a turn, causing all kinds of weather from a hurricane to a tornado, which makes this a great story to review all kinds of weather with your kiddos as well.

There are 3 outside slider options to choose from. Pick your favorite or give children a choice.

There are also 2 slider strip options: one with just the animal graphics, and the other with the animals and their weather word.

For example, when the chicken saw her shadow it rained; when the polar bear saw his shadow there was a blizzard.

Students color the animals on the “slider strip” then cut and glue it together.

As they pull on the end of the “slider-strip” the various animal characters go through the “window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their craftivity home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.

Even if you don't have time for everyone to make a slider, make one for yourself, as it's a great tool for reviewing a story.

I introduce the lesson by reading the book ”Who Will See Their Shadow?”, then share my completed "slider craft” with my students.

So that you can quickly, and easily make an example, I’ve included full-color patterns.

After I read the story, we retell the tale together, using the picture prompts on my slider.
I have them guess which animal character they think comes next, before I pull the picture through the “window”.

My students now know what’s expected of them, and are very excited to transition to making a “Shadow” storytelling slider of their own.

Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.

I’ve included a “Let’s sequence the story” activity for this, where students color and trim the picture “windows” then glue them in the correct order on their worksheet.

There’s also a, “Here’s What Happened…” writing prompt worksheet, (BW & color) as another way to check comprehension, plus practice sequential writing, hopefully using a variety of ordinal numbers and other transitions. 

Today's featured FREEBIE also has a Groundhog theme.

Click the link for the quick, easy & fun "Fickle Phil" Groundhog Day lunch bag craft. 

Well that's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hear the snowplows zipping up and down the roads, sure wouldn't want that "way too early" morning job. 

Wishing you a prosperous day. 

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." -Unknown

Click the links to . . 
Come join the fun on Facebook for my exclusive FREEBIES & Monthly Giveaways.
Check out my educational Pinterest boards.

      1-2-3 Come Play Some Groundhog Games With Me

Slip Slappin' Away....

     Have you ever been to an arcade and played the game where you hold a hammer and wait for that crazy furry little critter to emerge and then try and bang him on the head? 

     That game led me to thinking up a slapping game you could incorporate in your Groundhog Day activities.   My Y5's couldn't wait for their turn to slap a groundhog card with a flyswatter. 

So why would they slap him?  To recite answers: like letters, shapes, numbers and skip counted sequences!  I thought this would not only be a great time for my students, but a terrific way to review lots of report card standards, and a super easy way for me to whole-group assess at the same time! Click on the link to view/download the Groundhog Day Slappin' Games

The packet includes slapping cards for 54 words that are related to groundhogs and Groundhog Day.  I've included a traceable word strip on the bottom of each card for students to practice writing. 

Make an extra set, laminate and cut the traceable word off to make puzzles.  There's a 2-page tip list of ideas for the word cards, plus I've included a cover for them, so students can make "Itty Bitty" word books. 

As a Daily 5 word work activity, have students arrange the words in alphabetical order.  There's also a cover for students to make a Groundhog Day Word Dictionary.

There's a set of groundhog alphabet cards showing both the upper and lowercase letters together, and then sets for separate upper and lowercase letters.  These are great for Memory Match of "I Have; Who Has?" games.

So you can review colors, there's a set of cards for traceable color words as well as 2 different kinds of groundhogs that your kiddos can color, so there's a groundhog to match each color word.

Traceable number cards to 10, as well as sets of skip counting cards by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's are also included.

My personal favorite is the "I spy a shape" groundhog cards.

There is a card for the star as well as the heart, because I know some preschool teachers also cover those shapes, plus a set of cards that don't have the groundhog on them, so that you can make more games, or use them after Groundhog Day is a distant memory.

These too have matching traceable word cards.  All sets include blank cards so you can program with whatever you'd like, such as addition and subtraction equations, spelling words, CVC words etc.  (So many possibilities; so little time!) 

Here's what you do:

• Print off the masters, make extra's to add your own information, laminate the cards and cut them out.
  
• At school, gather your students into a circle on your carpeted area.  Choose the cards you want to work on, and sprinkle them face-up on the floor. 
  
• Explain what they should do, and model it for them.
  
• Give the first child the flyswatter and one minute to slap as many groundhog answer cards as they can.  Keep track of how many groundhog cards they slap correctly, by writing their names on the board and making tally marks.
  
•  For young children who are learning how to identify they name, you can write students' names on the cards and have them slap their name card. 
• Once everyone has identified their card, use them to do the Groundhog Pokey to help them get the wiggles out, then pin the card to their shirtsand have them locate classmates who have some of the same letters, or the same initial as they do.
  
• Click on the link to view/print The Groundhog Pokey
• Another game you can play is to let each child take a turn at sequencing the skip counted cards, or play "I Have; Who Has?" and count as you locate the cards.
  
• They could also arrange the skip counted cards in front of them and then omit every other card. 
  
• After they have done that, they can slap the groundhogs, counting as they go, saying the missing numbers as they slap the groundhogs and the empty spaces. 
  

• After the fun, have them make an Itty Bitty Booklet out of whatever set of cards you want your students to work on, or make little booklets for all of the sets.
• Children enjoy a "just-my-size" booklet to share with their families and it reinforces what they're learning at school. 
  
• Before your students go home, give them a certificate of praise for being great groundhog slappers!
  

I hope you'll have lots of fun slapping these groundhogs!  Enjoy your day! Click on the link to print/view the Groundhog Slap Game cards. Feel free to PIN away.

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know!" -Daniel Boorstin

What are you doing for Groundhog Day?  You can start today by making this educational and interactive bulletin board.  Or make this a huge wall display in your hallway and get other students and passersby excited and involved.  Click on the link at the end of the list to print/view all of the Groundhog Day bulletin board templates.

On the left is a photo of a small construction paper placement picture I made, so you can get an idea of the way things are laid out. 

• Cut your caption out of die cut letters from an Ellison machine or type them out on your computer, cut them out and staple them across the top of your b. board.  
• A title can be: Will Phil See His Shadow?  Will The Groundhog See His Shadow?  _______________'s Class Counts Down to February 2nd. What's Your Guess? or whatever else you may come up with.  
• On the top of the bulletin board staple light blue paper for the sky, on the bottom attach light brown paper for the earth.
• Cut out a few hills of snow to scatter here and there. To make them sparkle, brush on some Elmer’s glue and apply to the edges.  Sprinkle with opalescent glitter.
• Using a darker shade of brown, make a large hill for a burrow.  Staple this to one side of your b. board.
• Add texture by ripping up some pieces of sand paper, or scrunching up various shades of tissue paper and stapling these to the burrow.
• Show the hole area by drawing it with a black magic marker, or cut an oval out of large construction paper.  
• Before stapling the burrow to the side of your bulletin board cut a slit in the top where the hole is, so that you can insert “Phil” on February 2^nd.

• Enlarge my drawing of Phil by using an overhead projector and trace him on another shade of brown paper.   You can add dimension by coloring him with markers or crayons, and adding a large wiggle eye.

• Print a copy of my “Do Not Disturb!” sign, mount it on construction paper, punch holes in each corner, and tie a piece of colorful yarn to each hole. Tack on to the front of the burrow with a thumbtack.
• Print off the Woodchuck Chatter Newspaper sheet and glue it to the back of the Do Not Disturb sign.  On February 2^nd flip over this sign.  Affix the yes or no answer to the empty box.
• Cut out a large white cloud and large yellow sun.  Place both of these in the sky, one in each corner.   You can add dimension to the sun using crepe paper streamers as rays.  You can add dimension to the cloud by having your students help you pull apart cotton balls and glue them to the cloud.  You can also scrunch up white tissue paper and staple that to the cloud.

• Run off copies of the groundhog prediction page.  Have your students TRACE then WRITE the sentence, make their prediction and then color their groundhog.  Make sure they sign their name at the top of their paper.

• If your b. board is in the hallway, make a copy of your class composite and have students glue their school photo next to their prediction.
• Mount students’ groundhogs on a variety of colored construction paper and staple them to the opposite side of your bulletin board of where you have your burrow.
• Print off my groundhog prediction graph and display that on your b.board as well.

• Tie a yarn loop to a plastic sheet protector, attach it to your bulletin board with a tack and hang it on the opposite end of the Do Not Disturb sign. Print off the Groundhog Day Countdown label and glue it to a piece of construction paper.  Cut it out and staple it above the countdown sheet protector. Print the Groundhog Countdown number pages, cut them out and glue them to construction paper, insert them inside the sheet protector from 10 to 0. Assign this as one of your daily jobs. Your students will have fun changing the numbers as they count down to February 2^nd.

• On February 2^nd insert the last number card in the countdown, flip over the Do Not Disturb sign, announce the news, affix the appropriate label, insert Phil and see how many of your students were correct. I think a big “Hooray!” for Phil is appropriate as well as for everyone who participated.
  

• This photo of Phil courtesy of the Punxsutawney Pennsylvania site's photo album.

• Follow the event up by clicking on the official site and watching what took place for the real Phil at  the official Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Website. You can also check out  the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania site, Phil’s home.  They have an Interactive Fun section with a Groundhogese Translator, which allows children to type in a phrase and have it translated into the original “groundhog-speak”. Click on the audio and hear a rendering of Groundhogese! Other activities include Ask the Groundhog and Send a Post Card.

• 
• If you’d like a nice compare and contrast activity, check out a Canadian site and have your students compare our northern neighbors'  Wiarton Willie the groundhog from the town of South Bruce Peninsula in Canada with USA’s Pennsylvania’s Phil. You could use a Venn diagram for this activity.  Click on the link to print/view this groundhog comparison contrast Venn diagram activity. 
• 
  
• If you want to make the Groundhog Day bulletin board above, Click on the link to view/print all of the Groundhog Day bulletin board templates.

I hope you have a groundhog great time with these activities!

As always, I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com