Spiders....the cute kind

I loathe spiders! I know, I know...if it weren't for spiders the Earth would be taken over by mosquitoes, well, that just doesn't change anything for me. The only thing worse than a big hairy spider for me is a centipede, super fast, waaaay too many legs and I'm fairly certain that when I try to kill one and I miss, it runs and gets its' posse of centipedes to haunt me. I digress. I do what I consider to be a mini unit on Spiders the first week of October. I wish it could be longer, but there are just too many fun and amazing things to do in October, plus the landscaping in the front of our building is usually full of cool spider webs and creepies at the beginning of the month.

Teaching my little Hoppers about Spiders is always fun. #1- other than the handful of non-fiction books, the rest are so darn cute! #2- The projects, books, and worksheets we complete are all pretty cute, as well. #3- I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching my cuties get so excited as they sing There's a Spider on the Floor or do The Itsy Bitsy Spider gently on each others backs. I like the cute aspects, as you can see.

As always, I greatly appreciate everyone's kind words and emails! I LOVE my followers and readers! I hope you can find something here to use. Leave a comment if you download, por favor.

Enjoy!
Shannon

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Books We Love

   

The Literacy Goods

These ABC Spiders can be used as a whole group to practice recognition or to put in order or of course, you certainly could use them as a center. I print them to cardstock and laminate them and velcro to the back so they can be used on the flannel board.
ABC Order Spiders

Beginning sound match ups to use more of your ink ;-). Cute center or whole group activity. I tried to coordinate it with the first set of Jolly Phonics sounds.
Spiders to Web Beginning Sounds


Worksheet to correspond with above activity. A good assessment for the second set of Jolly sounds.
Beginning Sounds Spider Match Up


I love this little book! I have a similar one in my Insect unit. Each student will need one copy of the book and one strip of spiders (5) to glue on each page. Great for positional words!
Little Spider Crawls Little Book (Positional Words)


These cards I copy on cardstock and laminate. I will make a few sets so that each one of my table groups can play at the same time.
Spider Sight Word Memory


It's usually around October that my Kinder-Hoppers fall in love with sight word finds. I create a table to make the actual word find and use words that correlate to our curriculum, but it is fairly easy to create. Now go open up PowerPoint and create a table word find of your own. Play around with it, your kids will love 'em!
Spider Sight Word Find


The template to this book is just like the one for Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Copy the title page and the last page on to white cardstock. The remaining pages are just copied on regular paper, sequenced, and then stapled to the bottom of the title page. The web page is then stapled behind the title page. Easy Breezy!
The Very Busy Spider


The Math Goods


I can't wait to use this! I am going to give each student a copy and then let them use stamp pads and their fingers to create the spiders for each page! After they have the spiders on the web, they will use black markers or colored pencils to give their spider legs and eyes. Great for reading and counting!
Counting Spiders Little Book



Simple worksheet to practice writing numbers 1-20. One number goes in each circle. It never fails that no matter how many times we practice writing our numbers, so many students will need additional practice ALL the time!
Spider Numbers 1-20


Simple graph to copy, cut, and glue to poster board. Have it laminated. Give each student a spider square, have them write their name on the dotted line, color, and cut. Sticky Tac it to the graph and go over the results. I love seeing how all the boys usually say they like spiders and then we get outside and about half the boys shriek when they see the spiders all over the landscaping in front of our school! Cracks me up every year!
Spider Graph


A graphing worksheet.
Spinning Spiders Graphing Worksheet


Lastly, the every popular I have/Who Has game for numbers 1-24...sorry for all the ink you will use! Print to cardstock and laminate...it will last you a long time!
I Have Who Has Spider Edition Numbers 0-24


For Fun
You must, must, must use the Raffi song Spider on the Floor! I bought these cheap wiggly spiders at Target last October, and I give one to each student to use while we do the song. I LOVE watching them and hearing them giggle as we approach the end of the song!


We also sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider, part of our Poetry Journals...after we learn it, students pair up and gently do the song on their partners back. So cute!!! Great for teaching how to gently touch!


Misc.
We use to make these spider headbands, but alas, our curriculum is too full now and doesn't afford us the time to do such projects! Pic taken from the old Little Giraffes website (how great was that site, Mrs. Flanagan...where are you?)



We also make these webs for fine motor development. The pic was from Little Giraffes. We make them using black paper plates, white yarn, and then a little orange or purple spider ring to hang from it. Just make small slits in the plate and have them weave the yarn back and forth through the slits. Tape the end down. Add the ring for the full effect :-)



A teacher on my team always does this, so I have no idea where the original idea came from. Anyway, I make a copy of this house on cardstock and have the kiddos color it. I give them a bendy straw and a spider ring. Tape the bottom of the straw onto the side of the house, so it's like a gutter. Put the ring on the straw and then tape the top down. Now the spider can travel up and down without getting lost.


The Itsy Bitsy Spider