Groundhog Day, Sale, and Pronoun Winners

As a thank you for following our blog, we are throwing a sale at our TpT store this weekend!!

And, we have our winners!!

Now, onto the meat,  :O)

Groundhog Day is on Saturday.  I don't guess it's really a big holiday, but it can be fun to talk about!  I know at this time of year we are caught up in that "I'm running out of time to teach everything so I can't throw anything in there that doesn't meet a standard!"  Buuuuuuuuut, that's when we get creative and make it meet the standards, right?  So that's what we are going to do!!

Plus, General Beauregard Lee (Georgia's groundhog) is right down the street from us, and they always have him on television for his "prediction" and the students always wonder about it, so we may as well go ahead and share the history behind it!!

We like to read Groundhog Weather School.  We teach weather in 4th grade so we can relate it back to the weather unit we taught the first nine weeks.  This is a really cute story about other animals going to groundhog weather school so they can do the job like the groundhog.  We've read it the last couple of years and the kids love it!

We also read Groundhog Gets a Say.  This is an informational book, all about the groundhog.  He is telling about how wonderful he is to persuade people to give him a month of appreciation in February.  It gives great facts about groundhogs AND it's persuasive!  Talk about killing two birds with one stone!!

So, Stacia and I put our heads together and decided that we'd have our students write a persuasive piece.  There are three possibilities after reading these two books.

Click the picture and it will take you to the document.  :O)

Where, might you ask, did this cute clipart come from?  Well, I'll be glad to tell you!!  It came from 

and it was FREE!!!  Isn't he cute?!?

Now I'll share some other great resources I've seen.  Our good friend Stephanie Ann at Sparkling in Third Grade has made an adorable unit with a craftivity to go along with it!  Go by her blog and check it out...she even has a freebie fact and opinion groundhog scoot game!!  Her writing papers will go perfect with our persuasive prompts up above!!

I found so many great Groundhog Day Freebies out there, I just had to share!! (If I couldn't find a link to a blog, I linked to the TpT store!)

Here's one from Jennifer at Teaching to Inspire in 5th:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Groundhog-Day-Freebie

This is another freebie I found, although I had to read the directions because I wasn't sure what it meant but it's like a brain teaser (at least to my feeble brain!)  :O)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Groundhog-Day-Hink-Pinks-Hinky-Pinkies-Hinkity-Pinkities

From 4th Grade Racers:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Groundhog-Day-TicTacToe-Choice-Board

And there's tons more freebies on Teachers Pay Teachers!  It's just amazing what you can find!!  I love all of these teachers sharing their resources!!  :O)

Also, our buddy Jessica at Ideas by Jivey made a unit for Groundhog Gets A Say.  It's not a freebie but go check it out and tell her we sent ya!!

So, there you go!  See!  I told you we could relate it to the standards!  We can talk about Groundhog Day AND they can apply it to the common core!!  

What are you wishing for?  More of winter or an early spring?

Happy Groundhog Day (a few days early)!

Amanda

The blinkie groundhog came from Ruby Red Slippers.