Thinkfinity: How can Groundhog Day become an...

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1976 Views 11 Replies Latest reply: Mar 11, 2012 6:43 PM by mjohnson

mjohnson

135 posts since
Mar 30, 2010

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Jan 25, 2012 10:48 AM

How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

February 2^nd is Groundhog Day. Maybe you and your students have heard of Punxsutawney Phil, but how much do you know about him and the tradition of Groundhog Day?

Last year at this time, Wonderopolis was a relatively new resource in Thinkfinity and on February 2^nd, 2011, their wonder of the day centered around Phil and his big day.

Please share your idea for an educational activity that centers on Groundhog Day. If you try one of the activities in the Wonderopolis wonder, or have used a similar activity in the past, share what you and your students learned.

I and the community look forward to hearing about some fun and educational activities!

Thanks,

Marc Johnson

Verizon Thinkfinity Community Host

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Tags: wonderopolis, wonder_of_the_day, groundhog_day, punxsutawney_phil

mabell
31 posts since
Aug 18, 2011

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Jan 31, 2012 3:18 PM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

Hard to beat Punxsutawney Phil, but I think the change of seasons is a great time to discuss the impact of weather and seasonal differences on our lives, from the disappointment of wearing coats a bit longer than desired to shortened growing seasons or rainy wet weather (which is what we have here in Kentucky).

It's also a good time to look at the use of the Farmer's Almanac and who and why we're interested in knowing what to expect weather-wise. Other animals supposedly help predict as well, such as the woolly worm (Wonder 432), frogs, birds, and even ants. I think it would be a WONDERful basis for some exploratory online learning. My guess is there are many suggested activities on Thinkfinity partner sites.

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- Jane Brown
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  Feb 2, 2012 9:39 AM (in response to mabell)
  Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?
  
  I really like your ideas, Donna, for including discussions in the classroom on the impact of weather and seasonal differences, the introduction of the Farmer's Almanac and how animals in general can predict weather changes and upcoming disasters, as with Tsunamies, and the wonders you found at Wonderopolis.
  
  And here is the rest of Punxsutawney's story, a fun introduction to these topics) today:
  
  Today, February 2, 2012, Punxsutawney did see his shadow and is predicting six (6) more weeks of winter.
  
  Do you think Punxsutawny Phil is correct? Cast your vote in our unofficial poll: February 2, 2012 is Groundhog Day
  
  For the record, Punxsutawney Phil says he is correct 100% of the time, but Stormfax.com says Phil has been correct 39% of the time.
  
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SIngraffea
42 posts since
Mar 25, 2010

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Feb 2, 2012 11:51 AM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

At Science NetLinks, we also point to weather when talking about Groundhog Day. Check out Groundhogs and Shadowy Doings to learn a little about groundhogs, hibernation, shadows, and more. Hope that helps!

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- Jane Brown
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  Feb 2, 2012 12:09 PM (in response to SIngraffea)
  Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?
  
  We knew to head to ScienceNetLinks resources for:
  
  Blue-ribbon lessons on weather:
  Weather 1: Weather Patterns (for K-12)
  Weather 2: What's the Season?(for K-2)
  Science at the White House (video for 6-8)
  
  Science NetLinks Updates:
  West Nile Weather (Audio for 6-12)
  
  Science NetLinks esheets to accompany lessons:
  Robert Gardner (for 6-8)
  Simulating Climate Change (for 9-12)
  
  and more, but what a great twist, heading for the Shadowy resources at the bottom of the link you provided, Sarah.
  
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reginasmoler
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May 18, 2010

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Feb 4, 2012 10:48 AM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

Yesterday, I gathered up the environmental club during lunch for an informal, but informative presentation about Groundhog Day. The kids were amazed to learn that groundhogs have a special burrow for going to the bathroom. They also loved hearing their whistle sounds and grunts. The websites are:

Groundhogs at HogHaven

and please don't miss the wonderful MonatureKids videos on You Tube. Here is one about Groundhog Day that my kids loved:

If I ever became a principal, there would be a big celebration for Groundhog Day. Other than Earth Day, when do we honor nature? The origin of Groundhog Day reminds us of times when people were more in touch with the natural world. Weather, shadows, animal hibernation are few of the many science topics that can be explored. Personifying the groundhog is an opportunity for story telling and imagination. What could be better?

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- mjohnson
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  Feb 5, 2012 1:39 PM (in response to reginasmoler)
  Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?
  
  Thanks for sharing your groundhog day resources. Excellent point about tying the day into discussions about nature and the natural world around us. Anyone else out there have ideas for other animal behaviors that would make for a good "day"? Maybe we can get a few more going so we can spread the learning throughout the year? Wouldn't that be fun?
  
  Marc Johnson
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  - reginasmoler
    5 posts since
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    Feb 5, 2012 8:48 PM (in response to mjohnson)
    Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?
    
    What a great idea to consider! Since March is nearly here, how about looking at lions and lambs? Compare/contrast? Perhaps on the cusp of spring.
    
    Let's keep thinking.
    
    Regina
    
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kris33
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Feb 9, 2012

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Feb 9, 2012 3:43 PM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

For Ground Hog Day from a math perspective you can look at the probability of it being another 3 months of winter or if it will be spring?

Because of a Ground Hogs Shadow, you could also look at shadows and use proportions to find the length of a trees height using the trees shadows length, your height, and your shadows length. That would be for 7th grade.

Elementary could trace and measure shadows and compare them to their actual height.

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nwillson
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Feb 8, 2012

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Feb 17, 2012 11:45 PM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

As a kindergarten teacher, this is a big day for us! We learn all about shadows and what it takes to make a shadow. My school has been trained to use thinking maps and groundhog day is a perfect way to utilize a flow map. We sequence what Punxsutawney Phil does on that day.We talk about weather patterns across the United States. Six more weeks of winter is not a big deal in California but it is on the East coast. We also learn about other animals that live underground and what they do to survive winter weather.

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rmorooka
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Jan 23, 2012

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Feb 18, 2012 3:06 AM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

We love Groundhog Day in our classroom. We learned that a groundhog is related to the squirrel, so we were so excited when we saw a squirrel outside of our playground today. It's the closest thing to a groundhog that we will see in the big city! We created a Venn Diagram comparing the squirrel to a groundhog, and we wrote a short interactive story about a groundhog and squirrel being friends. Groundhog Day also ties in beautifully with one of our Open Court Reading Units on Shadows.

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mjohnson
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Mar 11, 2012 6:43 PM (in response to mjohnson)
Re: How can Groundhog Day become an educational experience for students?

Great ideas everyone!! Hope you had or are having fun with groundhog day learning activites. Now that we are approaching the six week point from February 2nd, are you doing any follow-up activities? Feel free to continue sharing your ideas. As you prepare for next year, here is another site with additional activity ideas:

http://www.groundhog.org/teachers/

BTW, here in Minnesota where I am, we hardly had a winter this year - very unusual. This week, the weather is expected to be very warm and the small amount of snow we received this year is nearly gone.

Enjoy!

Marc Johnson
Verizon Thinkfinity Community Host

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