With February just around the corner, I wanted to share one of my favorite Groundhog Day activities to go along with the story “Ten Grouchy Groundhogs.” To act out the story, the students use “groundhogs” (aka pinto beans) and this Groundhog Day subtraction book freebie!

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TEN GROUCHY GROUNDHOGS

One of my all time favorite books for Groundhog’s Day is Ten Grouchy Groundhogs by Kathryn Heling. I just love the adorable illustrations and humorous tone, as well as the describing words the author chooses to use to portray each of the groups of groundhogs. It’s such a perfect use of alliteration.

Plus, this book lends itself perfectly to counting backwards and taking away one.  I always love when I can integrate literacy into my math instruction!

First, I simply read the book aloud to the students. This is merely for enjoyment, so that we can become familiar with the text. I take time to point out the words that rhyme.

As we get closer to the end of the book, the students are able to finish the line of rhyming text. They even like to chorally recite the repetitive parts of the story!

The ending of the story is my absolute favorite, especially if good ol’ Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow!

Groundhog Day Activities for Math

During our math instruction, I reread the story and we complete the following Groundhog Day activities. This time, I have the students act out the story using a ten frame and groundhog counters (pinto beans).

I stop after each page so that the students can model the story. Then, we orally recite the number sentence that fits this story problem…such as ten minus one equals nine.

During our literacy block, we read our Ten Little Groundhogs emergent reader. One of our focus words for the week is “play,” so I have the students highlight this word in the text. We also circle the word “out” since that is another one of our newer word wall words.

On the second day, we complete the math portion of the reader. First, we look at the ten frame to determine how many groundhogs there are. Then, we reread the text and cross off the last groundhog. Last, we complete the number sentence at the bottom of the page.

Groundhog Day Freebie

If you’d like to give this Groundhog’s Day activity a try in your classroom, you can grab it for FREE!

I was lucky enough to get Ten Grouchy Groundhogs from Scholastic a couple years ago. If you are unable to find it there, you can always grab it from Amazon using this affiliate link.

More Groundhog Day Activities

Predict whether the groundhog will or will not see his shadow with this simple graphing activity and craft!

You might also love these interactive groundhog activities!

DON’T FORGET IT… PIN IT!