Groundhog Day is fast approaching. Do you remember the excitement you felt waking up on February 2nd and wondering if the groundhog saw his shadow? I remember watching the morning news wondering if there would be six more weeks of winter or if spring was just around the corner!
Groundhog Day activities are perfect for kindergarten, first or second grade because you can integrate this theme with some fun activities for science and writing into your day. Take a look at how we learn about the history of groundhog day and make it a fun day of learning in my first grade classroom.
Groundhog Day Activities – Read Aloud
When writing my lesson plans, I like to begin with a great read-aloud whenever possible. Reading a story to your class can set the stage for the day and help them understand why they'll be doing groundhog's day activities that day. There are so many fun books you can read but one of my favorite Groundhog Day books is Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts The Weather by Bruce Koscielniak.
In this cute story, Geoffrey becomes a local celebrity as he predicts the weather each year complete with tv cameras and news coverage. It's very similar to the real groundhog, Phil, who lives n the United States in Punxsutawney, PA. Each year on February 2nd we watch the live coverage of Punxsutawney Phil's prediction to see if we will have an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter weather.
Why do we celebrate Groundhogs Day?
Next, I tell the students that we're going to be learning all about groundhogs and ask them what they know about this little furry animal. Many students have heard about the holiday of Groundhog Day but don't know much about the animal itself. We use this KWL chart to write what we know and what we want to learn about groundhogs.
Groundhog Day Activities – Shadow Experiment
Your Groundhog Day activities wouldn't be complete without learning about shadows so we did a fun shadow detective experiment. You'll need a sunny day for this activity. I took the students outside and each person chose a partner. Each person stood in the sun and their partner drew a chalk line around their shadow. We recorded our own shadow on our Shadow Detective worksheet and then later in the afternoon, we came back outside.
The students stood in the same spot and had their partners draw another chalk line around their shadows. We discovered that our shadows changed because the sun was in a different place in the sky. Other fun groundhog day activities include any kind of shadow play and making shadow puppets.
While we were outside we took a little nature walk and looked for different things that groundhogs would find in their environment. We searched for different nuts, leaves, and twigs and then the students made this graph of the things they found. It was a fun way to integrate some math skills into our Groundhog Day activities.
Groundhog Day Activities – Writing
We spent a great deal of time learning all about groundhogs. We read a google slides non-fiction story and then we wrote down some of the things we learned on these graphic organizers.
The students also read this mini-book about groundhogs. It had a lot of great ideas to help them when they got ready to write their groundhog reports.
The students used the information that they had learned to make a flip book about groundhogs. They wrote about the groundhog's food, habitat, and an interesting groundhog fact that they learned. They even drew and labeled a groundhog.
Finally, they made a simple groundhog craft. This was a good way to practice cutting and their fine motor skills. It was easy enough for them to make on their own and they added a popsicle stick to the back to create little groundhog puppets. I hung their creative writing reports and these adorable crafts on the bulletin board in the hallway. It made a great addition to my February hallway decor!
When we were all finished, the students took this simple assessment to show all they had learned. It was a great way to get a science grade for the day!
Wishing your students a Happy Groundhog Day on February 2nd is so much fun. It's a great way to all a little fun to your lesson plans for younger children. If you're ready to add this special day to your plans this is the perfect resource. It includes lesson plan ideas, no prep activities, Google slides, and other printable groundhog day activities. Head over here to take a closer look at everything included and make Groundhog Day a fun tradition for your little learners.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS RESOURCE
Looking for more ideas for February? Take a look at these posts:
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