Groundhog Day Unit Study!

I wrote out this unit study on Groundhog Day and thought I’d share it.  Please preview all links for content before you share them with your children.  I have not reviewed them thoroughly and can not guarantee the content.

History

History of Groundhog Day

http://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day

http://groundhog.visitpa.com/index.html 

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/Haskell_EL/calendar%20past%20events/groundhog.htm

http://www.factmonster.com/spot/groundhogday1.html

Science

Groundhogs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/sciencedrawing.pdf

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/animalreport.pdf

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/woodchuck.pdf

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/science_for_kids/113430

http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/groundhg.htm

http://groundhog-day.123holiday.net/groundhogs.html

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/mammals/woodchuck/

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/abwoodchuck.html

http://dmoz.org/Kids_and_Teens/School_Time/Science/Living_Things/Animals/Mammals/

Shadows

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/scottforesman/sci_6_SPS_exper.pdf

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/scottforesman/sci_2_SPS_inferring.pdf

http://www.hunkinsexperiments.com/pages/shadowspartone.htm

Weather/ Seasons- keep a weather chart of week

http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/

http://www.education.noaa.gov/sweather.html

http://www.miamisci.org/hurricane/weatherstation.html

http://sln.fi.edu/weather/todo/todo.html

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/games/CS_New_Earth_Seasons.html

http://www.learninghaven.com/science/articles/seasons.htm

http://notebookingcorner.com/WeatherChart.pdf

Geography

Pennsylvania

-         Find Punxsutawney on the map.

-         Fill in a report form of Pennsylvania.

-         Draw a picture about Pennsylvania on a notebooking page and write about what you learned.

-         Write a short report about Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

http://www.kidskonnect.com/Pennsylvania/PennsylvaniaHome.html

http://www.susq-town.org/roach/PennsylvaniaForKids.htm

http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/states/pennsylvania.html

http://www.50states.com/pennsylv.htm

http://www.50states.com/maps/pennsylvania.htm

http://www.infoplease.com/tv/printables/kt_maps/kt_map_pa.pdf

http://www.infoplease.com/tv/printables/kt_maps/kt_map_pa_cap.pdf

http://www.infoplease.com/tv/printables/kt_maps/kt_map_pa_geog.pdf

http://abcteach.com/Maps/penn.htm

http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/usa/pennsylvania/flag.gif

http://www.kidzone.ws/geography/usa/pennsylvania/both.gif

http://highland.hitcho.com.au/statequickfacts.pdf

Spelling

-         Write each word ten times

-         Write 5 sentences using at least eight words.

-         Write a story about Groundhog’s Day using at least 8 words.

1. groundhog
2. shadow
3. sunny
4. predict
5. woodchuck
6. cloudy
7. hibernate
8. mammal
9. winter
10. spring

Math

Poll people you know on whether they believe the Groundhog will see his shadow and then make a bar graph of how many said “yes and how many said “no”.

Reading

www.teachingheart.net/groundhogsdaybookedvico.doc

http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/Heres%20A%20Little%20Groundhog.pdf

http://maggieskindercorner.com/groundhog.pdf

Writing

Writing Prompts

1. Pretend you are a newspaper reporter reporting on the big event at Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  Write what you see.
2. You are a Presidential candidate who believes Groundhog Day should be a national holiday, present your case.
3. You are in the crowd at Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, describe your day and excitement while there.

Notebooking

2. Draw and write about groundhogs.

http://www.abcteach.com/Animals/groundhog2.htm

http://www.abcteach.com/free/members/14158.pdf

http://www.abcteach.com/paper/groundhog_day_write1.htm

Lapbook

-         Venn Diagram comparing groundhogs to prairie dogs, badgers or beavers.

-         Layered book about groundhogs.  Categories: general information, habitat, food, enemies, lifestyle

-         Tri-fold (fold paper in thirds like a brochure) with map of where groundhogs live.  Decorate the outside. 

-         Shapebook (can use a coloring page stapled to writing paper cut to shape) with a story about a ground on his first Groundhod day.

-         Hamburger fold (fold top of paper down to the bottom of the paper in half) book with the history of Groundhog Day written inside.  Decorate the outside.

-         Add your graph of who thought the groundhog would see his shadow from the math work.

-         Use several matchbook folds to write question and answers about groundhogs, Groundhog Day, shadows and weather/ seasons.  Write the question on the front, then open it up and write the answer on the inside.

-         Use a tabbed book and write about the other cultures that had their version on Groundhog Day.

-         Use any of the art projects or science projects that are appropriate for lapbooks.

Lapbook Folds-

http://www.scrapbookingtolearn.com/scrapbookfolder.html

http://www.dinah.com/egroup/Dinah%20Zike%27s%20e-Group3.htm

http://www.notebookingpages.com/Notebooking_Pages_Free_Lapbooking_Elements.html

http://www.techknowassociates.com/tips/layeredbook.htm

http://www.scrapbookingtolearn.com/booklets.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001156/makingbooks/em_popup.htm

http://www.canby.com/hockmanchupp/student_folder_websites.html

http://www.bydonovan.com/templates.html

Art

http://www.kidszone.ourfamily.com/Groundhogdaycrafts.html

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/groundhogday.html

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/februaryholidays/l/blfeb2nd.htm

http://www.preschooleducation.com/agroundhog.shtml

http://www.prekfun.com/Preschool_Themes/GroundhogDay/GroundhogDay_art.htm

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/groundhog_art.html

http://pittsburgh.about.com/cs/groundhogcrafts/index.htm

http://www.thetoymaker.com/Holidays/GroundhogDay/1MrGoundhog.html

Music

http://ourworld.cs.com/DonaldRHalley/ghdsongs.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/7498/groundhog.html

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/groundhog_songs.html

http://www.abcteach.com/MonthtoMonth/February/groundSONG.pdf

http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems12.html

http://www.preschooleducation.com/sgroundhog.shtml

Snacks

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/family/cake/cake_grndhog_0203/

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/groundho.html

Games

http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/groundhog-js.htm

http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/groundhog-c.htm

http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/groundhog_games.html

Activities and Worksheets

http://www.groundhog.org/hogtivities/philpuzzle.shtml

http://www.groundhog.org/hogtivities/philmaze.gif

http://www.groundhog.org/hogtivities/wordsearch.shtml

http://www.abcteach.com/MonthtoMonth/February/groundhog1.htm

Misc.

http://www.groundhog.org/

http://www.childfun.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=15

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/%7Emaggieoh/Holidays/G/g_index.html

http://myschoolonline.com/page/0,1871,24742-146190-27-2548,00.html

http://groundhog.visitpa.com/zoocam.html

Clipart

http://webclipart.about.com/od/holiday/l/blghog1.htm

http://webclipart.about.com/od/msubghogaa/Groundhog_Day_Clip_Art_Links.htm

http://webclipart.about.com/od/holiday/l/blghog2.htm

Coloring pages

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/coloring-pages/ground-hog-day/

http://www.awesomeclipartforeducators.com/groundhogdaycoloringpages.cfm

http://www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/color/cpgroundhog.shtml

http://www.coloring.ws/groundhogs.htm

http://www.abcteach.com/Animals/groundhog.htm

Patterns

http://www.lovetwoteach.com/groundhog.pdf

Things you can buy

Lapbook- Elementary

Lapbook- Pre-K

 © Christian Homeschool Academy 2007

This article is copywrited.  Feel free to use it, share it, share the links and link to it.  Just please don’t claim it as your own.

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Posted by midwifemom

Tag you're it.

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Posted by bbullard

Your unit study is very thorough. I love this idea, and although I have not been exposed to "lapbooks", I will educate myself in the weeks to come. The groundhog day study sounds like a great study for our youngest (I'm sure the older ones will jump in, too). Is there a way to get this unit study in an e-mail from you? If it is too difficult, don't worry about it. If not, would you mind sending a copy to belinda.bullard@blessedheritage.com? Many, many thanks in advance, and again, if it doesn't work, don't worry about it. I'll try to print what you have, although I fear that I'll wind up doing several color page screens.

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Posted by Anonymous

Thanks so much for posting this. It is great. Do you have any more? We love unit studies;)!!!

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Posted by eclecticeducation

To Anonymous-
I don't have any that are quite as complete as this one, but I do have a study on Mesopotamia listed in my World History Catagory. I also have a lot of botany links list in the Science Catagory but I did not form it into a unit. I plan in the near future to have other unit studies. If you miss the posting you can always look in my Catagory list. I am still quite new at posting so not all of my catagories are fill, but I'm working on it!

Edited by eclecticeducation on Jan. 31, 2007 at 7:19 AM

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Posted by foxvalleyfamily

the Groundhog ideas are AWESOME!
Thank you!

Michelle W.

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