Groundhog Day Lesson Plan: Change, Continuity, and Context
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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Groundhog Day, and supports the standard of describing historical developments as examples of change or continuity. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.
Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Prompt students to share what they know or wonder about Groundhog Day.
Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE
- Read the description on the Groundhog Day topic page.
- Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS
Assign Groundhog Day Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.
Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND
Students express what they learned about Groundhog Day while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.
- Make-a-Movie: Produce a news report for Groundhog Day describing its origins, and how it has changed over time.
- Make-a-Map: Create a concept map comparing and contrasting Groundhog Day myths and traditions in different time periods.
- Creative Coding: Code a game where players determine whether details about Groundhog Day are myths or facts.
More to Explore
Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of change, continuity, and context with these topics: Earth Day, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.
Teacher Support Resources:
- Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas.
- Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
- Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.
