We begin our spider unit with the book, I Love Spiders by John Parker. This delightful story rambles along with rhyming text and a surprise ending.
We begin our spider unit with the book, I Love Spiders by John Parker. This delightful story rambles along with rhyming text and a surprise ending.
We also read a factual book about spiders from the Wright Group and a story from a book called Science Big Books. The pictures are black and white. One of these days, I'll get them colored. I think the book is published by Creative Teaching Press and contains other science stories too.
Spider art: Cut two circles from const. paper, one large for the body and one small for the head. Attach 8 strips of const. paper for legs (can be left straight, curled with scissors or pencil or accordian folded) and draw eight eyes on the head.
Make spider gliders. Just click on the link for illustrated directions.
Spider headbands: Prepare handout with pix of spider life cycle. Students cut these out, color them and order them on a 3 inch black strip. Add eight legs (straight, accordion folded or curled). Staple to fit heads and you have wearable spider art!!!
Edible Spiders: Cut a circle from bread, spread peanut butter, add 8 pretzel legs and 8 raisin or m and m eyes, eat!!!
Have students bring in spiders to observe. Be sure to caution students that some spiders are dangerous and they should have an adult's help with capturing spiders.
Make a Spiderweb Room: Use a ball of yarn. Tie the end of the yarn to a table leg and call a name and toss the ball to that student. That student winds the yarn around a table leg, calls a name and tosses the ball of yarn. Continue activity until everyone has had a turn.
Spider poems:
Cobweb Ride
Little spider likes to climb up a flower hill
Up and up and up he goes
Up and up until
He stands upon the very top
Then quickly down he slides
I think it must be lots of fun
To go on cobweb rides.
I run off the poems on a piece of tagboard with a large flower drawn on the side. A hole is punched near the top and bottom and student string a piece of yarn through the hole. They also make a small spider from two black circles and little const. paper strips. We punch a hole in the spider and string it on the yarn. Then tape the yarn to the back of the poem. The students can act out the poem as it is read.
We also use the itsy bitsy spider and make a manipulative to go with it. Students color a small spider, rain cloud and sun and cut them out. Glue each to a straw or popsicle stick. Then cut 3 small holes in an inverted styrofoam cup and run the straw or popsicle sticks through the holes. The children can work the puppets as the song is sung. And...here is the music!
More Spider Songs
Tune: I'm a Little Teapot:
I'm a little spider watch me spin
Tune: O Susanna
I was sitting in my room one day
Chorus:
I watched it crawl up on the wall,
CHORUS
Now bugs and flies do not scare me
CHORUS
(from the Creepy Crawlies unit published by Newbridge Communications, Inc.
If you'll be my dinner
I'll let you come in
Then I'll spin a web to hold you tight
And gobble you up in ONE BIG BITE!
When it came right through the door
A big spider sped right by me-
Went racing cross the floor
Oh that spider
Oh how it scared me so
But spiders can be good friends
And so I let it go
to find a spot just right
It spun a web so beautiful
And then went out of sight
For I know that its true
That a spiderweb is good to have
Bugs stick to it like glue
Thanks to my cyberbuddy, Babs, for these two songs!
More Spider Ideas!!!
Here's another spider song. The tune is to the Farmer in the Dell
The spider in the web, the spider in the web
Actvity:
Three great books:
Another idea-- I bought small medium and large rubber spiders on a string at Halloween. We act out Little Miss Muffet with the kids taking turns dropping the spider from different directions--- beside, behind, in front of.......
We also made an inpromptu song about spiders to the tune of "Alice the Camel".
spin , spin, oh watch him spin,
The spider in the web.
The spider eats a_____ ( any kind of bug)
The spider eats a_____.
Spin spin oh watch him spin the spider in the web.
I drew large spider webs on white tag and had the kids draw a spider in the middle. Each child was given a sheet of small bug stickers. We used large foam dice and rolled the dice. The children then put the correct number of bugs in the web for their spider to have lunch with.
Ms. Spider's Tea Party
Ms. Spider's Wedding
Spiders Everywhere (a counting story)
Sammy the spider has eight legs, sammy the spider has 8 legs
Sammy the spider has eight legs, cuz sammy's a spider of course!
Thanks to Sue Rotolo, another great cyberfriend, for these spider ideas!!!
Links to other sites on the Web
The Fire and the Spider legend
The best spider photos on the net!!!
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