On another voyage through our home state of Pennsylvania, we happened upon a groundhog named Phil. As in Punxsutawney Phil!
So how did Groundhog’s Day begin? What is the history of this day? Do other countries have a Groundhog’s Day or a similar type day? Why is the legend that if he sees his shadow on February 2nd, there will be six more weeks of winter? If he sees his shadow, that means the sun is out, so shouldn’t there be an early spring?
The project could easily turn into an authentic project about what effect Groundhog’s Day has had on the economy of Punxsutawney. Driving around the small town you could see that the impact has been significant. The tour guide up in Gobbler’s Knob, where the official day is held, told us that everything changed after the movie Groundhog’s Day, which ironically was not filmed in Punxsutawney. What other cities have dramatically increased tourism due to a movie? Lots of authentic driving questions could come from the photos above and below.
Punxsutawney Phil lives in a glass enclosed burrow at the Punxsutawney Library. There were actually two groundhogs in the burrow and they looked very snuggly on a cold March day. When it was explained to us that 40,000 people show up at Gobbler’s Knob at 2am on February 2nd to wait until that morning to see Phil, we thought that sounded like fun – NOT! We will stick to seeing him at the library.
The Educational Journey 