SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

Lesson Plan Template

TOPIC DETAILS CK
Name Miss Ellsworth
Subject Social Studies- Groundhog Day
Grade Level 2nd grade
Date/Duration 04/05/2017 for 60 minutes
Big Ideas Groundhog Day is celebrated by many people to predict
if there will be 6 more weeks of winter or if spring is on
its way.
Essential What is Groundhog Day?
Questions Why do we celebrate Groundhog Day?
Who is Punxsutawney Phil?
What happens if he sees his shadow?
What happens if he does not see his shadow?
PA/Common 5.1.3.F: Identify state symbols, national symbols, and
Core/Standards national holidays.
8.2.1.C: Identify holiday and cultural celebrations in a
community and why they are celebrated.
CC.1.4.2.M: Write narratives to develop real or
imagined experiences or events.
Objective During a classroom lesson, all second grade students
will be able to explain why people celebrate Groundhog
Bloom's Day and what the purpose of the holiday is by looking
Taxonomy for their own shadow to see if winter is ending, 8 out of
10 times.
Webb's Depth of
Knowledge
(DOK)
Formative & Formative Assessment: Before, during, and after the
Summative lesson, students will verbally explain what they know
Assessment about Groundhog Day and the history behind it, the day
Evidence it is celebrated, and what happens on the day. I will
assess them with a rubric.
Summative Assessment: At the end of the unit, I will
give students a lab sheet where they answer questions
on the holiday.
ISTE Standards 3 Knowledge Constructor: Students critically curate a
for Students variety of resources using digital tools to construct
knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make
Framework for meaningful learning experiences for themselves and
21st Century others.
Learning This ISTE standard will be met as students watch an
online video to learn about the holiday of Groundhog
Day.
Accommodation Disability: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
s, Modifications Accommodations and Modifications:
Breaks are given when needed
 Student is given extended time
Hard copy of directions is given
Working with a classmate they are comfortable with
SUPERVISING
TEACHERS
SIGNATURE

Seton Hill University Lesson Plan Template Step-by-Step

Procedures
RATIONALE for Earlier in the week, students in the second grade class learned CK
the Learning how there are many different holidays celebrated throughout
Plan the school year, including Groundhog Day. Now, students can
take this piece of knowledge and apply their learning to the
lesson on why Groundhog Day is celebrated and what happens
on Groundhog Day. This lesson ties into PA SAS standards
because they can learn about a national holiday and how it is
celebrated in this community.
Introduction Activating Prior Knowledge
Earlier in the week, we learned that there are a lot of
holidays that are celebrated while we are in school.
We learned that one of them us Groundhog Day. When is
this holiday celebrated? Why do we celebrate it? What
happens on this day?
Hook/Lead-In/Anticipatory Set
As a class, we will read the book Groundhog Day! By
Gail Gibbons to give students the background on the
holiday and to learn a little bit of information about the
holiday. Students will be engaged with the lesson as
they are told the history of the holiday and what
happens on the holiday.
Explicit Big Idea Statement
Instructions Groundhog Day is celebrated by many people to see if
there will be six more weeks of winter or if spring is
coming.
Essential Questions Statement
What is the holiday Groundhog Day?
Why is Groundhog Day celebrated?
Who is Punxsutawney Phil?
What happens if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow?
What happens if Punxsutawney Phil does not see his
shadow?
Objective Statement
During this lesson, you [the students] will be able to
explain why Groundhog Day is celebrated and how it is
celebrated by looking for your own shadow to see if
winter is ending.
Transition
Students will get up and out of their seats to go outside.
There, they will stand and record if they see their
 shadow.
Key Vocabulary
Groundhog Day
Punxsutawney Phil
Shadow
Winter
Spring
Lesson PreAssessment of Students
Procedure Independently, all students will complete a KWL chart so
I can see how much information they know about
Groundhog Day on their own and what they want to
learn about the holiday.
Modeling of the Concept
From reading the book Groundhog Day, we now know
that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be
6 more weeks of winter, and if not, spring is on its way.
The groundhog is like a meteorologist since he is
predicting the weather. Today, you will get the chance to
be like the groundhog by looking for your shadow and
predicting if spring is on its way or if winter is here to
stay.
For this lesson, you will work with a partner. You can
move around to different parts of the classroom (near
windows, not near windows), and with the help of your
partner, see if your shadow is seen or not. Make sure to
record your answer. Do the same thing with your
partner.
Then, compare and contrast your results. Did you and
your partner get the same result? What happens if you
see your shadow? What happens if you did not?
As you now know from the book, Punxsutawney Phil has
his own story every year on Groundhog Day. You will see
him on the news and in the paper! Now, it is your turn to
be that news reporter. Using your partners results, write
a story about whether or not they saw their shadow and
what the result is based off of what they saw. We will
share these stories in small groups.
As you write your story, make sure to include the facts
that you know and learned about the holiday.
Guiding the Practice
While students are working in pairs and independently, I
will be walking around the classroom. While I am doing
this, I will be answering any questions the students
might have, while I am asking them questions about if
they saw their shadow or not, why they think the result
happened, and what will happen because of the result. I
will look to see if students know what happens if they
see their shadows or not and look for key information
about the holiday of Groundhog Day as they write their
 newspaper article.
Providing the Independent Practice
The writing activity will be completed individually, and
students will be working in pairs to guide each other in
the activity and to assist each other when they are
looking for their shadows. PA SAS standards will be met
once the lesson ends since they are learning about a
national holiday and why and how it is celebrated. The
product at the end will be the newspaper article they
write about Groundhog Day. This product itself does not
have a rubric, but the assessments in the lesson do.
Transition
Students will up and stretch as they watch this short clip
on Groundhog Day.
https://wqed.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/83dfbd1c-ef5b-
4925-a225-ff835bef4496/groundhog-day-all-about-the-
holidays/#.WOE0tXg-Cu4
Reading Groundhog Day! by Gail Gibbons
Materials Paper
Technology Pencils
Equipment Room with a wide variety of windows and shade
Supplies
Evaluation of Formal Evaluation
the Students will complete a graded exit ticket, where they
Learning/Master write why Groundhog Day is celebrated, how it is
y of the celebrated, and 2 other facts they know about the
Concept holiday.

Informal Evaluation
I will take running records while the activity is being
completed. I will be recording what students are saying
during discussions and as they write their stories. The
information I record will focus on the objective and
essential questions. With the evidence collected, I can
see if the students understand the lesson and which
parts might need retaught.
Closure Summary & Review of the Learning
Students in the class will look at the objective of the
lesson again, which was, during this lesson, you [the
students] will be able to explain why Groundhog Day is
celebrated and how it is celebrated by looking for your
own shadow to see if winter is ending.
To see if the students have met the objective, they can
fill out a paper writing the information that they learned
and questions and challenges they had throughout the
lesson. As a class, we can have a discussion and give
each other suggestions. I will also look over the exit
tickets and review them to make sure students met the
objective.
Homework/Assignments
 There will be no homework or assignments at the end of
the lesson.
Teacher I will know what students learned during this lesson by
Self-reflection reading their articles, looking at their KWL charts, exit
tickets, and looking at the formative and summative
assessments.
Students who did not listen while we read Groundhog
Day as a class appeared to struggle with this lesson.
To address this, the book could be read in smaller groups
so students do not have as many distractions and more
focus can be given to make sure all students are
comprehending the information being read.
There is evidence that the students have learned
through the different forms of assessment, running
records, and the KWL chart.