Do you celebrate Groundhog Day? I just love these fun quirky days and having grown up in Punxsutawney, PA where we got off school that day due to the thousands of people who flocked to the town on February 2nd, Groundhog Day holds a special place in my heart and I love "celebrating" it with my kids each year with fun activities and themed snacks and foods. As my kids have gotten older we like to spend the day crafting and learning about the origins of the "holiday" as well as learning about groundhogs. To put together a complete unit study, I have been using my Groundhog Day Thematic unit and we finish it off with the fun Groundhog Day craft. I just love this groundhog with his big eyes and funny legs. He's one of my favorites.

Groundhog Day Thematic Unit

Groundhog Day Activities Thematic Unit and Craft

While we still love a good hands on activity like our totschool groundhog day and preschool groundhog day activities we have been incorporating more unit study type activities into our learning and we are using my Groundhog Day thematic unit and craft pack. This thematic unit is packed full of resources that you can use to not only study Groundhog Day, but groundhogs as well.

Groundhog Day and Groundhog Nonfiction Text Resources

I wrote two nonfiction books that can be read to your children or students to teach them about the origins of Groundhog Day and teach them all about groundhogs. Each full color nonfiction text in accompanied by a student text that reads exactly as the full color version that students can color in. Also included in a cute little Groundhog Shaped All About Groundhogs activity. Read the All About Groundhogs text to your children and then they can use the groundhog shaped book to log information about groundhogs like their habitat, diet, predators etc.

A one page nonfiction text close reading activity sheet and corresponding graphic organizer sheets are also included for a simple comprehension activity for both Groundhogs and Groundhog Day. Don't forget about good ol Punxsutawney Phil.

Groundhog Labeling Activities

This labeling activity set includes a full color labeling posters (one real life groundhog and one clipart groundhog) as well as a black and white version for kids to color and 3 differentiated versions of the labeling activity sheets. Labeling activities are wonderful for introducing or reinforcing key vocabulary words

Groundhog Day and Groundhog Writing Activities

My kids absolutely LOVE writing activities like "How to Catch a Groundhog" and "If I had a pet groundhog" and can be heard giggling and laughing the entire time they complete activities like this. They make writing time fun for them as they do for many kids. These kinds of writing prompts are perfect for those struggling writers who have a hard time coming up with things to write.

Groundhog Day Vocabulary, Graphing & More

To round out our Groundhog Day thematic unit, we use our vocabulary cards, KWL sheets, and fact sheets.We start the unit out by writing what we know and what we wonder about Groundhog Day and groundhogs on the KWL sheet and then as we finish off the unit we fill in what we have learned. Using these KWL sheets has really helped my kids compile all the information they know and learn throughout the study. It is so neat to see their questions be answered and those little light bulbs go off. They get so excited.

Groundhog Day Craft

And no thematic unit study is finished until we complete some kind of craft and this fun quirky Groundhog craft is still one of my favorites. I just love his big eyes and fun long legs. The craft also doubles as a fun writing activity. There are three different writing prompts included and love to use the "I predict the groundhog will" prompt and make our predictions on whether Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow and give us six more weeks of winter or if he will not see his shadow and spring will be right around the corner.