On the Road with Punxsy Phil
By Jeffrey J. Kuntz and John Snyder

What happens when you combine one substitute teacher traveling the United States as a meet intern with USA Track and Field, a classroom teacher with an eager group of fifth graders, one stuffed Punxsy Phil groundhog, the Pennsylvania Academic Standards and a digital camera? I got a terrific classroom travel project that my students and I called, "Where in the USA are Punxsy Phil and Mr. Snyder?"

Start at the beginning. I first teamed up with John Snyder when he was an undergraduate working on his degree in Elementary Education at Clarion University of PA. He adopted my class while he was employed with the USA Track and Field Golden Spike Tour and became an extra set of hands in my classroom. John was a huge help with our special projects, at the beginning of the school year preparations and field trips.

Jeffrey Kuntz (above) asks if anyone can figure out the day's location for Mr. Snyder and Punxsy Phil.

After graduating from college in 2003, John continued to volunteer in my classroom. One afternoon we were discussing a "Searching for Santa" project that had students using teacher-created clues and reference materials to determine Santa's location each day in December. I told John about our Flat Stanley projects based on Jeff Brown's timeless book Flat Stanley (HarperTrophy, 2003 – 40th Anniversary Edition) that we had completed earlier in the year. This sparked the idea for John to take a class Flat Stanley with him as he traveled to the different cities as part of the Golden Spike Tour.

As we began planning this project, we hit upon the idea of using a stuffed groundhog instead of a Flat Stanley. What better way to showcase Punxsutawney, PA, the "Weather Capital of the World," than by taking a replica of the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil?

Get a clue. While John traveled over 7,000 miles through 13 states to track meets in Boston, New York City and Fayetteville, AR, Punxsy Phil joined in on the action by e-mailing photos and postcards back to our class. The students also received daily clues to try and determine where exactly Phil and Mr. Snyder were.

Addressing the standards. In addition to the daily clues, the students were involved in a variety of activities to help meet the Pennsylvania Academic Standards. To meet standards such as "Learning to Read Independently," "Reading Critically in All Content Areas," "Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature" and "Research," students read and discussed newspaper articles, nonfiction passages, as well as informational articles from appropriate Internet sources to find out about the various track meets and the cities in which they were located.

To address the standards dealing with "Types of Writing" and "Qualities of Writing," students wrote persuasive letters with clearly-stated positions in order to persuade John to take Phil on a journey not related to the tour. Students had to choose a location and describe why their destination should be chosen next.

John Snyder shows fifth graders some photos from his travels.

While in New York City, John had the opportunity to meet Bill Cosby, which was then turned into a teachable moment back in the classroom. After reading a short biographical selection about Mr. Cosby, students wrote to a specific prompt as to why Mr. Cosby is an admirable person. Over the course of a week, students refined their work into a well-developed, organized paragraph.

When John visited the class on several occasions, students had an opportunity to develop appropriate communication skills related to the "Speaking and Listening" standard and participated in group discussions related to John's most recent stops.

The students were given daily clues and used maps and the Internet to determine the exact whereabouts of Phil and Mr. Snyder.

An opportunity of a lifetime. Students collected data based on the results of the various races to practice computation skills, convert measurements and find mean, median, mode and range. The students also created word problems based on John's weekly travel adventures. One example was, "Phil and Mr. Snyder stopped for gas six times in two states. Gas costs $1.65 per gallon. Since Mr. Snyder's truck has an 85-gallon tank, how much will it cost him to fill up the truck one time? All six times?" They used the class problem solving strategy to solve each other's problems.

In addition to the daily map clues such as, "This state borders the Mississippi River," and "This state has a city that's also known as 'The Big Apple,'" students practiced describing and locating places that were part of the tour. Students also completed map puzzles and scavenger hunts using library materials based on the cities Phil and John visited. These activities were based on the Academic Standards for History and Geography.

This project was one of those rare instances that an educator can truly call an opportunity of a lifetime. Although the project was planned from the beginning of John's trip, it took on a life of its own as the journey progressed. As student interest changed, so did the focus of the project. When unexpected things happened to John, the project took unexpected turns as well. This is a project that could easily be replicated using any school or community mascot and easily integrated into the existing curriculum.

"Where in the USA are Punxsy Phil and Mr. Snyder?" proved to be a successful, motivating, real-life project that integrated many curriculum areas, met the standards and gave us all a healthy dose of hometown pride. We hope it does the same for you and your class!

Jeffrey Kuntz teaches fifth grade at West End Elementary School in Punxsutawney, PA. John Snyder teaches fifth grade at nearby Parkview Elementary School.