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Happy Groundhog Day! Four Lesson Plans, Activities for the Classroom
Happy Groundhog Day! Today, teachers across the country will be bringing the holiday into their classrooms through lesson plans, activities, games, books, and more.
Education World has plenty of lesson plan ideas and activities educators can use for Groundhog Day:
- Groundhog Day Party: Activities and Games Across the Grades: On this page, teachers can share the history of Groundhog Day with their students as well as lesson plans for geography and mathematics, games, and more. The article also offers some resources including:
- Six Books to Read on Groundhog Day: Education World provides teachers with six books they can bring into the classroom to teach their students about Groundhog Day, including:
- Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons
- Ten Grouchy Groundhogs by Kathryn Heling
- Every-Day Edit: Groundhog Day: Teachers can bring a quick lesson on Groundhog Day with this resource. Students are given a paragraph about Groundhog Day and are asked to find and correct the grammatical errors in the text.
- Graphing Groundhog Predictions: This lesson plan combines visual arts, mathematics, science, and social studies in one unit. Students are given resources about Punxsutawney Phil's past predictions, and are asked to create a bulletin board graph illustrating them. Students will learn how to research and create a graph.
Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor
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March Every-Day Edits
Use Every-Day Edits to build language skills, test scores, and cultural literacy. Be sure to see our tips for using Every-Day Edits in your classroom.
The PigOhio, the 17th StateWhooping CraneDr. SeussAlbert EinsteinAlexander Graham BellElizabeth Barret BrowningMichelangeloPaper MoneySandra Day O'ConnorLarsen Ice ShelfThe Roller CoasterBarbieHarriet TubmanBlizzard of 1888Ezra Jack KeatsAuthor Virginia HamiltonPi DayEt tu BruteThe Ides of MarchPatrick Henry's Liberty SpeechThe St. Patrick's Day ParadeGrover ClevelandWomen’s History MonthPresident James MadisonTunisiaPocahontasCivilian Conservation Corps Tuskegee AirmenLiberty DayHarry HoudiniNuts for PecansSilly Putty
Looking for ideas for using Every-Day Edits in your classroom? See our idea file.
Run out of Every-Day Edit activities for the month of March? Check out our Xtra activities for any time of year.
Subject: ELA- Reading
Grade: 3
Lesson Objective: To identify the moral of a fable
Common Core Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2- Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
Materials:
Printable Student Paragraph Worksheet
Starter:
Say:
Has anyone ever told you a story that had a lesson at the end of it? What was the story? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
There are some stories that have lessons at the end of them. Those stories are called fables.
A fable is a story that has animals as the characters. The lesson at the end of a fable is called the moral. The moral of the story teaches you something about how you should act or shows you a different way to think about something.
One fable that most people have heard of is called The Tortoise and The Hare. The animals race each other and the hare is so far ahead that he takes a nap. The tortoise keeps going and wins the race even though the hare is faster. The moral of the story is, “slow and steady wins the race.”
The story teaches us to keep trying and doing what we set out to do, even if it seems like there are people who may be faster or better than you are. If you keep going, you will finish.
Another fable is about a lion and a mouse. The mouse saves the lion’s life by chewing a net and setting it free. The moral of that story is, “little friends may become great friends.” That fable teaches us not look at how someone looks, but at what they can do and how they help you.
You are now going to read the fable “The Ants and the Grasshopper.” While you are reading, I want you to think about what the moral or lesson at the end of the fable is.
You should think about what parts of the story helped you to figure out the moral.
Then, you will write the answer the questions that are below the story.
Does anyone have any questions?
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share their answers? (Allow the students to share and go over the answers and where they came from.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2019 Education World
Subject: ELA- Reading
Grade: 3
Lesson Objective: To understand and identify literal and nonliteral language in a story
Common Core Standard: : CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
Materials:
Printable Paragraph Student Handout
Starter:
Say:
Have you ever heard someone way something like, “I could eat a horse,” or “I slept like a log?” Did you understand what they meant? (Allow the students to answer.)
Main:
Say:
There are two types of words and phrases. One is called literal language, which means that you say exactly what you mean. Examples of literal language are, “I am very hungry” and “I slept really well last night.”
The other type of words or phrases are called nonliteral or figurative language. This means that you use different words to say what you mean. Instead of staying “I am very hungry,” you would say, “I could eat a horse.” Both phrases mean that you are hungry, but the make different pictures in your head when you hear them.
By saying, “I could eat a horse,” you are making the person you are talking to understand just how hungry you are when they imagine you eating a whole horse.
Another example is “I slept really well last night,” and “I slept like a log.” Which phrase give you a better picture in your head of what happened? (Allow the students to answer.)
The phrase, “I slept like a log,” helps you to imagine someone sleeping so well that they didn’t move at all.
Can you think of any nonliteral language that you have heard or used? (Allow the students to answer. Make a list on the board of their responses.)
You are now going to read part of the book, Thank You, Amelia Bedelia. While you are reading, I want you to think about any nonliteral language that you are reading and what it means.
Then, you will write the answers to the questions that are below the story.
Does anyone have any questions?
Feedback:
Say:
Who would like to share their answers? (Allow the students to share and go over the answers and where they came from.)
Written by Kimberly Greacen, Education World® Contributing Writer
Kimberly is an educator with extensive experience in curriculum writing and developing instructional materials to align with Common Core State Standards and Bloom's Taxonomy.
Copyright© 2019 Education World
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