Groundhog Day in Punsxutawney, PA
by Judie Haynes
From its beginnings in Germany to the lights, camera and action of Hollywood, Groundhog Day has been celebrated in Punsxutawney, PA on February 2nd for more than a century. Read the history of this tradition, look at Phil's predictions for the last 100 years, and find interesting sites for your English language learners.
Lesson Topic
Ground Hog Day in Pennsylvania
Proficiency/Grade Level:
Grades K-3; Beginning to Intermediate students.Content Concepts/Skills
Weather; folklore
Vocabulary:
groundhog, woodchuck, burrow, hibernate, shadow, claws, rodent, Punsxutawney, prediction
Materials Needed:
Websites about Groundhog Day which are appropriate to age of students. Downloaded booklets from Enchanted Learning. There are several different booklets for K-2 students. I used the "I See" booklet for K-1 and the "Groundhog Day" booklet for early fluent readers in grades 2-3.
Instructional Sequence
- I read the story of Groundhog Day. from the official site of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. My students enjoyed seeing the crowds shout, "Phil, Phil."
- Show students in grades 2-3 Phil's predictions for the past 100 years. Have them count the results and make their own predictions for 2008.
- We reviewed the vocabulary needed:groundhog, woodchuck, burrow, hibernate, shadow, claws, rodent, Punsxutawney .
- Students learned about the weather conditions that would produce a shadow. We visited a sunny spot in school and practiced making hand shadows. We tried to make shadows in the same spot with a big gray cloud in front of the window. Students guessed that there would be no shadow in cloudy, rainy, and snowy weather.
- Grade 2 students looked at the Groundhog Animal Printout.
- All students received their own booklet to work on and take home. Students in K-1 completed the I Seebooklet and Grade 2 students did the Groundhog Day Activity Book. You need to be an Enchanted Learning site member to download the booklets.
- Have students hear the events live on February 2nd with a live web cam.
- Help your students compose a message to Phil and send an email to him at PunsxutawneyPhil.com You can also type a message at this same site and they will translate it into "groundhog."
- Let students take this Groundhog Quiz.
- Have students play a groundhog concentraion game.
- Find activities for kids at Groundhog Activities.
- Improve your students' ability to complete jigsaw puzzles with this puzzle for Gr. 2-3 students. There is an easier puzzle at Groundhog.com.
- Find additional links at Kid's Domain.
Resource Picks
groundhog.org
This is the official site of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. Take your K-4 students to discover the history of Groundhog Day and meet Punxsutawney Phil. Your young ESL students will love hearing the Punxsutawney crowd shouting,"Phil, Phil." See Phil's predictions for the last 100 years.