When you think of Groundhog Day activities, you usually think primary grades. However, upper elementary students love to get in on holiday fun as well.
These activities don’t have to be time consuming. Just a few small activities will have students excited to come to school and engaged in the classroom.
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1. Create a KWL Chart
Some students have probably had some exposure to Groundhog Day while others may be new to the country and have no idea what it is.
Create a KWL chart with your students or put them in small groups to fill one out.
If you’re new to working with KWL charts, it is just a 3 column chart. The K stands for “What I KNOW.” The W stands for “What I WANT to Know.” The L is filled out at the end of the lesson, day, or week. It stands for “What I LEARNED.”
2. Read a Book
As a reading and language arts teacher, I use any opportunity I can to include a read aloud in class.
There are a great variety of books about groundhogs and Groundhog Day, but my favorite is Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons. She is a pretty fantastic informative author for upper elementary grades, and I use her books whenever I can. This book gives the history of Groundhog Day and also provides the reader with facts about groundhogs.
3. Introduce or Review Vocabulary
Taking some time to break away from your regular vocabulary wordlist and introduce your students to related vocabulary words is one of the most beneficial Groundhog Day activities.
I like to choose words they may not have heard about before and can use throughout the year.
Implementing:
- Give students the meaning of these new words and discuss them.
- Then, show them how to search for synonyms and antonyms using a dictionary or online resources.
- Next, help them identify when to use the words by creating brainstorming webs.
- Finally, have them create sentences and illustrations related to the words.
- Once students are finished, have them share their sentences and illustrations with a partner.
- Assess their understanding with a quick quiz.
These words can be taught one per day leading up to Groundhog Day or as a vocabulary boot camp on a single day. They can even be introduced as an activity at a word work center.
4. Take a Survey
Once students have an understanding of Groundhog Day, take a class survey and post it in class the day before Groundhog Day. Ask students to predict whether the groundhog will see his shadow or not.
Let students know not to feel bad if they predict incorrectly, Punxsutawney Phil has a less than 40% success rate with his own predictions.
5. Include Some Other Fun
Include some other fun activities in and out of the class.
- During recess have students play shadow tag. This was my absolute favorite to play with my cousins when we were little. There are several ways to play. The most popular way is to pick one person to be the shadow stepper. As they run around an open area, they step on a person’s shadow. That person now becomes the shadow stepper.
- Have students complete puzzles related to Groundhog Day. They can work on them as early finisher activities or create a class competition and see what group or student completes each one first.
