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Ground Hog Day
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Directions: Fill in each blank
with the word that best
completes the reading comprehension.
What
do candles, woodchucks, and an early spring
have in (1) _______________________ ? Why, Ground
Hog Day, of course! That is the traditional day when a
ground hog is supposed to predict how long winter will last.
Can a ground hog really
predict when winter will
end?
Probably not. Hundreds of years ago, February 2 was
commonly known as Candlemass. It was an
(2) _______________________ Roman
Catholic festival marking the time when Jesus might have been (3) _______________________
in the Temple of Jerusalem as a baby. It is thought that the Roman
legions helped spread the
festival (4) _______________________ Europe.
In England, they made up a song to
help them remember what to look for on February 2 every year:
If Candlemass be fair and bright,
Come, winter, have another flight;
If Candlemass brings clouds and rain,
Go winter, and come not again.
Europeans began to (5) _______________________
the weather with the badger. If the badger saw his shadow, it would mean
six more weeks of winter. It was like having two winters.
So, how did the badger (6) _______________________
a ground hog? Some of the first settlers in the Pennsylvania area were
German. They found large numbers of ground hogs. The animals reminded
them of the badger in Europe because of the way they
burrowed in the ground.
That is how ground hogs came to be linked with February 2.
Before the (7) _______________________
century it was (8) _______________________ for farmers to
remember Ground Hog Day. They would probably have many kinds of animals
that ate hay. February 2 was considered to be the middle of the winter.
They could judge how well the hay (9) _______________________
was holding up. If they still had at least half of the hay left, they
were in good shape. If there was less, they would have to cut back on
the animals' feed so they could (10) _______________________
until the grass began growing again.
So now we know why Ground Hog day
came into existence, but have you ever wondered what a ground hog is?
It's really a large (11) _______________________ related to
squirrels and beaver. (12) _______________________ of living
in trees or the water, though, the ground hog lives in the ground. They
eat tender green plants that grow near their burrows. They are (13) _______________________
known as woodchucks, whistle pigs, or marmots.
While there are at least three famous
ground hogs that predict the weather on February 2, only one is really
famous. A Punxsutawney Phil has been predicting the winter's end since
1886. The current one lives in a special climate controlled home in the
Punxsutawney library.
So, (14) _______________________
the day is bright or cloudy on February 2, you had (15) _______________________
be wearing a coat. You can expect it to be cold a little bit longer.
Even an early spring day can be chilly!
Ground Hog Day
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Crack the code!
Write the real word that each of the codes represent. Each letter in the
real word has been changed to another letter. For example, a B in the
code might really mean C. Once you figure out the code for one letter,
the same code is used for all the words on this sheet.
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Code: |
A |
B |
E |
F |
G |
H |
I |
J |
K |
L |
O |
P |
Q |
R |
T |
U |
W |
X |
Y |
Z |
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Letter: |
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V |
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I |
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L |
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G |
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C |
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W |
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