Spiders, Spider, Spiders!

This week was all spiders... creepy, crawly, spiders :) Take a look at what we did, we had so much fun!

We started out the week with our spider poem/ finger-play: My Spider. I love this poem and so do the kids, since their hands get to be the spider crawling all around.

click to download

We read all about spiders in non-fiction format. My fave is Are You a Spider? by Tudor Humphries. The kids loved this book and it led us to compare ourselves with spiders.We did a venn diagram to share similarities and differences. I forgot to take a pic of the whole class version, DARN! But, it wasn't anything fancy, just on the white board. Then the kids filled out this one...

click to print!

Later we put all of our spider knowledge into a circle map to get us started on our spider writing.

I actually make a rough version on the white board with ALL of their ideas first, but for writing I narrow it down to some of the more specific details and add pictures to help my ELs.

The original circle map that we did as a whole class... so messy.. AHH!

In math we had some spidery fun too! The kids loved measuring in non-standard spider units with some plastic spiders that I got at the Dollar Tree. They actually started out as spider rings, but I snipped the ring part off, and tad-ah! Spiders to measure with. To download the measurement recording sheet click HERE!

They also did a web sums sort. Taking number sentences on spider and fly cards and matching them to the correct web.

We did a graphing activity with the story Miss Spider's Tea Party. First we voted weather or not we would have tea with Miss Spider if we were insects.They wrote their yes/no onto little tea cups.

ok, ok... I know she's a little creepy, but it sorta looks like the book's illustrations... right?

After we read through the story, we talked about why the insects changed their minds about Miss Spider and if anyone in the class who said "No Thanks!" before the story, would now have tea with her... of course they all would! We also had to discuss how the story is fiction, because as a few of mine were quick to point out, a real spider would have eaten the hurt moth...

Then we analyzed the graph. We have been working on reading graphs, interpreting data, and tallying, so this worked out perfectly. I wish I had gotten a pic of a kids, but we did it whole class so they looked about the same.

click to download

 And finally we finished up the week with a fun art project I got from Kacey over at doodlebugsteaching. It is a silly spider and is really, just so cute!

Okay, that was a lot..... so many spider things, so little time :) Have a happy weekend!

Happy Friday!

Well it is officially fall and I was expecting boots and sweaters to be entering my wardrobe rotation... but, I don't believe that will do in this 90 degree weather! Maybe with some wishing this weekend we can at least get the temperature down to 70... I mean really it that too much to ask for!

So even if mother nature isn't quite ready to celebrate just yet, I have begun to bask in the glory of fall and the anticipation of all things October...spiders, bats, scarecrows, pumpkins and so much more! To get me started I put together this sums matching math activity to go with my week on spiders. The kiddos sort the spiders and flies and match them to the correct web...isn't that simple :) Feel free to enjoy this activity along with us!

Check back soon to see how our weather unit gets going! Have a happy weekend!