Spider Week!

If I were in the classroom next week I'd be teaching all about spiders! I'm not really a fan of these creepy, crawly creatures but I LOVE teaching about them.  To help with the littles learning I'd definitely be pulling activities from my spider unit.

*Side-note: The spiders here in England this year are HUGE!  I about scream every time I see one and am crazily spraying them with bug spray in hopes that they stop crawling. YUCK!  

So Spider Week... Do you do one?  I find that kids love learning about these creatures and their excitement gets me pumped to teach about them.  I like to start spider week off by placing fake spiders all over the classroom to get the chatter started on the first day!  Then right away we'd sit down and begin discussing all we know and want to know about spiders.  It cracks me up to listen to students responses when you ask "do you like them?"

From there the week is filled with bits and bobs of spider themed activities.  One of my favorites is making this spider glyph craft.  It's so simple!  I start by writing the glyph questions out on a large chart and then we get to work answering them and gathering our materials.  Next we build our spiders.  The spider body pieces are made from squares and I guide students in cutting off the corners to make the body round.  We add 8 legs, eyes, and a bow or bow tie and Tadaa!  Spiders!  For glyphs I like to write the questions out on a large chart that can then be displayed next to our craft on a bulletin board when finished.  And as a follow up math activity we'd discuss and tally our data.

To help students learn about spiders we'd read a ton of nonfiction books!  The week is spent talking about facts and opinions, the parts of a spider, the difference between spiders and insects, and learned information is added to "our learning" on the K-W-L chart.  We'd also address any misconceptions the students may have had.  This is a simple printable emergent reader about spiders that I like to include in students book baskets for the week.

My centers for the week would be filled with spider themed activities.  Not only do I like to include activities like those shown below but I also like to hunt the local dollar store for fake spiders that lead themselves to be included in fun counting and phonemic awareness activities. 

Measurement Center Activity 

Follow Up Activity to a Beginning Sounds Center

And of course my nursery rhyme for the week would be the Itsy Bitsy Spider!  This is a great nursery rhyme that all kids know so I like to put in a pocket chart and use it for simple sequencing practice.

Spider week can be so much fun and I hope that if you do spider week it's filled with lots of creepy, crawly activities!

Here's my Spider Unit if ya want to check it out :)

Have a wonderful weekend!