Introduction to Spiders

Objectives

Students will complete a K-W-L Chart.
Students will identify things a spider can accomplish.

Time Required

2- 45 minute periods

Arachnid- a group of animals that spiders are classified to, other animals include ticks, mites and scorpions.
Spinnerets- a special part at the end of a spider’s abdomen. They are tiny tubes where the silk comes out to spin the web with
Spiderlings- baby spiders

Amazing World of Spiders by Janet Craig, Troll Associates, 1990.
I Love Spiders by John Parker, Scholastic, 1988. (or similar children’s book may be substituted)
K-W-L Chart
Computer with Internet access
Paper and pencil

1. Start a K-W-L chart with the students. K-W-L Chart.
2. Give each child a copy of their own chart to complete.
3. Discuss with the children What they know about spiders….. Then what they want to know
    about spiders. Save the part of What I learned about spiders for the end of the unit.
4. The teacher will then read the book I Love Spiders. This story introduces students to the world
    of spiders in simple action describing words. The story catches the children’s interest that leads
    into reading the story Amazing World of Spiders. This story discusses the number of different
    species of spiders in the world, body parts, spinnerets, types of webs, as well as spiders that
    do not spin webs. This book gives a lot of information and will be referred to throughout the unit.
5. Students will visit Web Spinning Spiders.
6. Students can visit Enchanted Learning for pictures, stories and information about spiders
7. Students can take a pretest about spiders. Spider Quiz

Teachers will evaluate students' answers to questions on the K-W-L Chart.
Teachers will evaluate the student’s answers to the Spider Quiz.

Home Learning Activity

The student’s will locate a spider at home or in their yard. The students will keep an observational log about the spider. Day 1 will be locating and describing the spider. This activity will take place over several days: Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.... The teacher will help the students put together a log book with construction paper and several blank pages of copy paper or students can maintain a computer-generated log. The students should number the pages in ascending order. The pages should be labeled as the observations occur. For example, Day 1- Location and Description. Let the students decide how the cover of their log should look, this may evolve over several days.