The flower bulbs under the snow hear the Groundhog Day forecast; write what they say to each other.First line: Did it say six weeks, or did it say now?
Six more weeks of winter or an early spring: which would you pick on Groundhog Day? Write your opinion.Angle: say what you would miss about the one you did not pick.
Be the forecaster on Groundhog Day: write a prediction about your school instead of the weather.First line: I see six more weeks of the same lunch.
A groundhog keeps a diary for the week of February 2; write three entries.Angle: the day before, the day itself, the day after.
A groundhog's burrow has more than one door; write the Groundhog Day it slipped out the back way.Fact: a burrow usually has two to five entrances.
A young groundhog asks why everyone stares at the family once a year; write the old groundhog's answer.Fact: baby groundhogs are sometimes chucklings.
Describe the groundhog's burrow on the morning of Groundhog Day, room by room.Fact: dead leaves and dry grass line the nest chamber.
The groundhog cannot talk, so write its Groundhog Day speech in whistles, with a translation.Fact: a groundhog whistles when alarmed, which is why it is also called a whistle-pig.
The groundhog wants to retire from Groundhog Day; write its help-wanted sign for a replacement.Angle: must dig well, stay calm in a crowd and be honest about shadows.
The groundhog would rather sleep through Groundhog Day; write the excuse note it leaves at the burrow door.Fact: most groundhogs hibernate from October until March or April.
List the complaints of a groundhog who was woken up on February 2.First line: One: it is dark. Two: it is cold. Three: I had not finished.
On Groundhog Day the groundhog meets its shadow and takes it for another animal; write what it says to it.First line: You again. You were here last year too.
Tell the morning of Groundhog Day from the point of view of the groundhog's shadow.First line: I only get to come out when the sun does.
To get away from the cameras on Groundhog Day, the groundhog swims a creek and climbs a tree; write the escape.Fact: groundhogs are good swimmers and sometimes climb trees.
What does a groundhog dream about in the weeks before Groundhog Day? Write the dream.Fact: clover is a favorite food of groundhogs.
What does the groundhog think of the crowd waiting outside on February 2? Write it.Angle: from down there it sees boots, hears cameras and smells coffee.
Write a letter from the Groundhog Day groundhog to a cousin who has an ordinary job.Fact: the groundhog is a marmot, one of the large ground squirrels.
Write Groundhog Day from the groundhog's side: the minute before it pokes its head out of the burrow.First line: It is too early, and somebody is knocking on my roof.
Write what the groundhog does on February 3, when nobody is watching.Angle: back to bed, or out for a walk? Decide, and give it the whole day.
Six more weeks 16
A snowman hears the Groundhog Day news of six more weeks of winter; write what it says.First line: Six more weeks? Then I will need a new carrot.
A sunny Groundhog Day means more winter and a cloudy one means spring; explain why that feels backward.Fact: the lore is related to a saying that clear weather on Candlemas, February 2, means a long winter.
Early spring is announced on Groundhog Day and your whole town believes it; write what people do too soon.Angle: shorts in the snow, a lemonade stand in mittens.
The flower bulbs under the snow hear the Groundhog Day forecast; write what they say to each other.First line: Did it say six weeks, or did it say now?
The groundhog saw its shadow, so six more weeks of winter are coming; write your plan for all six.Angle: one thing to do each week before the snow goes.
List ten things you can only do in the six more weeks of winter after Groundhog Day.Angle: then do the one you have not done yet, and write how it went.
Make a calendar for the six weeks after Groundhog Day, with one sentence for each week.Angle: let the sentences get warmer, or do not.
No shadow on Groundhog Day means an early spring; write the first warm afternoon.Fact: in the tradition, a groundhog that sees no shadow means spring will arrive early.
The old German rule gave four more weeks of winter and the American one gives six; write the argument over two weeks.Fact: in the German tradition a badger that cast a shadow meant four more weeks of winter.
Six more weeks of winter or an early spring: which would you pick on Groundhog Day? Write your opinion.Angle: say what you would miss about the one you did not pick.
Six weeks have passed since Groundhog Day; write the morning you check whether the groundhog was right.Fact: studies have found no consistent link between the shadow and when spring weather arrives.
What do six more weeks of winter mean to a child, a snowplow driver and a gardener? Give each a paragraph.Angle: decide which of the three cheers at the groundhog's news.
Write a letter asking the groundhog to change its mind about six more weeks of winter.First line: Dear Groundhog, I am writing on behalf of my bicycle.
Write a poem of six lines for six more weeks of winter, one line for each week.Angle: end on the first green thing you expect to see.
Write a story that begins on Groundhog Day and ends exactly six weeks later.Angle: something has to change in between. Decide what before you start.
Write a thank-you note to winter, to be handed over after the groundhog's six more weeks.First line: I complained about you, but I will miss the quiet.
My own forecast 16
Be the forecaster on Groundhog Day: write a prediction about your school instead of the weather.First line: I see six more weeks of the same lunch.
Design a fair test of the Groundhog Day forecast: write how you would decide whether it came true.Angle: what counts as spring? Pick one sign and one date.
Follow your shadow on February 2 in the morning, at noon and in the afternoon, and write what it did.Angle: where it pointed and how long it was each time. Go and look.
For Groundhog Day, write about a prediction of yours that turned out wrong.Angle: what you were sure of, what happened, what you say now.
Give the Groundhog Day forecast in the voice of someone who is never sure of anything.First line: There may be a shadow. Or it may be a cloud. Let us not rush.
Go outside on February 2 and look for your own shadow; write what you found and what you predict from it.Angle: where you stood, what time it was, which way the shadow pointed.
If your town chose its own animal to forecast spring, which should it be? Write its Groundhog Day.Fact: in German-speaking lands the forecasting animal was the badger, and in places the bear or the fox.
Invent a forecasting day like Groundhog Day for another month, with its own animal and its own sign.Angle: a frog and a ripple in May? Name the day and write its rule.
Is the groundhog a good forecaster? Write an opinion for Groundhog Day.Fact: studies have found no consistent tie between its shadow and the arrival of spring weather.
Make your own Groundhog Day forecast for the next six weeks, and write your reasons.Angle: use what you can see: buds, birds, the light at the end of the school day.
On Groundhog Day, write a note about the weather to be opened on the first day of spring.Angle: say what the sky is doing now and what you bet it will be doing then.
Turn your Groundhog Day forecast into a two-line rhyme, the way old weather sayings go.Angle: the first line gives the sign and the second says what follows.
Two friends disagree about the Groundhog Day forecast and make a bet; write the bet and how it ends.Angle: the loser carries an umbrella all day, rain or no rain.
Which signs of spring do you trust more than a groundhog's shadow? Write about them.Angle: mud, one certain bird, the day you leave your coat open.
Write a Groundhog Day forecast for your own family.Angle: who will lose a glove, who will plant something, who will say I told you so.
Write three Groundhog Day predictions and the date on which you will check each one.Angle: one about the weather, one about school, one about yourself.
The day itself 16
A groundhog is also called a woodchuck; write a Groundhog Day tongue twister of your own.Fact: woodchuck comes from an Algonquian name, wuchak, and has nothing to do with wood.
Announce the Groundhog Day result the way a town crier would shout it.First line: Hear ye, hear ye! The digger has spoken!
Compare Groundhog Day with another day when people watch for a sign: the first snow, the first firefly, the first robin.Angle: who watches, what they say, what it starts.
Describe February 2 where you live: the light, the ground, what people have on.Angle: find three things you could only see at this time of year.
Explain Groundhog Day in one paragraph to a visitor from a country that has no such day.Fact: it is kept on February 2 every year in parts of the United States and Canada.
Groundhog Day came with settlers whose forecasting animal had been a badger; write the day one of them picked a groundhog.Fact: the custom comes from the Pennsylvania Dutch, immigrants from German-speaking Europe.
Groundhog Day is a tradition nobody can prove and many people keep; write about one like it in your own family.Angle: a saying before a trip, a seat nobody else may take. Tell the year it seemed to work.
On Groundhog Day the groundhog does not come out at all; write what the town decides that means.Angle: give the mayor, a child and a baker one line each.
Put the rules of Groundhog Day on a poster for the classroom wall, in your own words.Fact: a shadow sends the groundhog back to its den for six more weeks of winter; no shadow, early spring.
Should Groundhog Day be a day off school? Write the argument.Angle: say what the class would do with the day.
Write a diary entry for February 2 that does not mention the groundhog until the last line.Angle: let the weather do the hinting.
Write a Groundhog Day card for someone who cannot stand winter.First line: Whatever the groundhog says, it is one day closer.
Write a Groundhog Day quiz of five true facts about groundhogs, with one false one hidden for the class to find.Fact: an adult groundhog can eat more than a pound of plants in a day.
Write a how-to for February 2: holding Groundhog Day in a classroom with no groundhog.Angle: what stands in for the animal, who announces, what the two answers are.
Write an invitation to a Groundhog Day breakfast.Angle: the hour (early), what is served, what happens if there is a shadow.
Write the news report from a Groundhog Day ceremony, starting before sunrise.Fact: the best-attended ceremony is held in a town in western Pennsylvania.
How it works
The groundhog did not ask to be woken, and a quarter of these Groundhog Day writing prompts let it say so. The others hand its job to the writer: look for a sign, then say what comes next.
Read the full guide
A groundhog writing prompt with a fact under it
Lines that start with Fact come from the Wikipedia articles Groundhog Day and Groundhog. A burrow usually has two to five entrances. A groundhog whistles when alarmed, and is also called a whistle-pig. In most areas it hibernates from October to March or April.
Writing prompts for Groundhog Day, shadow or no shadow
The tradition has two endings, and both make a page. If the groundhog sees its shadow, plan all six of the extra weeks of winter, one thing a week. If it does not, write the first warm afternoon of a spring that came early.
Take a side before you start: more winter, or an early spring. A forecast needs a reason.
Go and find your own shadow first. Where it pointed is a detail nobody else has.
Questions and answers
What are good Groundhog Day writing prompts for kids?
Ones with a job in them. Write the excuse note the groundhog leaves at its burrow door, a snowman's answer to the news of six more weeks, or three predictions and the date on which you will check each one.
When is Groundhog Day?
February 2, every year, in parts of the United States and Canada. The custom came with the Pennsylvania Dutch, immigrants from German-speaking parts of Europe, where the animal that was watched had been the badger.
What does it mean if the groundhog sees its shadow?
In the tradition, six more weeks of winter: the groundhog goes back to its den. No shadow means spring will arrive early. Studies have found no consistent link between the shadow and the weather that follows.
Is a groundhog the same as a woodchuck?
Yes. Woodchuck is another name for the groundhog, a marmot and one of the large ground squirrels. The name comes from an Algonquian word, wuchak, and has nothing to do with wood.