Groundhog's Day and Division

Groundhog's Day always seems to sneak up on me. We are super busy this time of year. The midyear assessments are in and the realization of how far we still need to get in half a year is sinking in. It is pedal to the metal-full steam ahead; so who has time to stop and acknowledge Groundhog's Day??  It is tempting to ignore it all together but third graders are still kids and they still get into these little holidays.  So here I am trying to  work it into what we are currently learning about.

Here are two books I have used as read alouds before.  They contain good tier two vocabulary words and are great to use to review the use of organizational patterns like cause-effect and sequencing flow maps. 

I've also worked the groundhog into math.  We've introduced divsion recently.  Students are learning how the four operations are related and connected.  We made this bridge map to organize this new knowledge.

Now I'm always on the lookout for activities for my third graders to use during the "By Myself" or "Partner Practice " guided math times. 

Here is a math activity centered around groundhogs and division.

Here students are exploring the idea that division is really repeated subtraction.  Students cut out the little groundhogs and place groups of them into a certain number of burrows. 

They show the repeated subtraction and then relate it to division by writing the division equation.

Let me know if you are interested in this one.  I'll send it your way.

youngdor8@gmail.com

Here's to hoping the groundhog doesn't see his shadow.  I am ready for spring!