When you set out to revamp your lessons, remember that nothing beats a week of learning set to the backdrop of a specific and intentional theme. Fun themes help increase interest, engagement, and comprehension. I like to have Spider Week during October or anytime during the fall!
Spider Week consists of a week of spider-themed activities in various subjects—math, reading, science, art, you name it. And of course, it wouldn’t be complete without spider books to anchor the lessons. Luckily, I’ve been doing this for a while so I have a ton of inspiration for you.
Disclosure: Affiliate links have been used in this post but I only share items I use and enjoy!
Start Spider Week off with a bang by sharing captivating spider-themed picture books.
Choosing a mixture of fiction and nonfiction texts will expose students to different genres. These read-alouds will spark interest, provide factual information, and engage students while building their background knowledge.
Here are a few of my favorites, but I’ve also compiled a complete list of Spider Books I Love.
I love targeting multiple skills while sticking with one common theme. Themed weeks make compiling lessons more seamless and build excitement for students.
After reading different nonfiction texts or watching videos about spiders, students can begin distinguishing fact from opinion using what they’ve learned about the 8-legged creatures. This will give students the skills to think more deeply about the information they encounter.
It also leads to a better understanding of how to evaluate information that is presented to learners through text, video, and other media.
Try implementing this fact and opinion lesson using our FREE spider fact and opinion slides. Grab a copy here.
Once students start learning about spiders, they simply can’t get enough. Use this to your advantage! Incorporate math into your spider unit by creating an interactive math activity. Students create spiders with equations written on each of their legs.
For example, each leg represents a different math problem. These numbers can be given to students, or you can up the engagement by having students roll numbers to include in their equations.
Sure, we could just solve 8 equations on a piece of paper, but why not make it a little more fun for students?! Check out this fall spider math craft.
Several of the spider books shown above have wonderful examples of nonfiction text features. One of the frequently used features is a diagram.
Allow students to make their own diagram of a spider by having them label the different parts of the spider’s body. Creating the diagram will reinforce what they’ve learned about the parts of a spider and teach students how to use diagrams and labels.
To assess students’ understanding, have them sort true and false statements about spiders. This spider sorting activity reinforces the information they’ve learned and encourages them to think about common misconceptions related to spiders.
Towards the end of your spider unit, wrap things up with spider research. Students can peruse a variety of spider fact sheets about some of the different species of spiders. Then, they can work individually or in groups to research information about a particular species.
This is a great introduction to research in the classroom. It provides parameters while also engaging students in a high-interest topic! Get started with this FREE spider test and research paper.
Do your students love spiders as much as mine always have?! There’s just something about these creepy crawly arachnids that just amaze us! During the fall (or anytime you are studying spiders), you can use this Spider Math craft activity to integrate what you are doing in reading and science with what you are doing in math! This can be used with: ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, OR DIVISION! That means it fits a variety of classroom and learning levels!
Total Pages: 25 pages
File Size: 7MB
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
