Literacy

* Group students in pairs (by passing out tongue depressor or color bracelets and have them locate their partner) and read story and have students share their thoughts on questions asked (click here) before, during and after reading the story, plus narrative questions (click for pdf)

* Things to share after reading book, singing and chanting song.

a) Say two words (one word from the song and another word that rhymes and a non-rhyming) and ask them if they rhyme. Ex. spider – house; spider – wider (Use other words from song – rain, out, cat, sun, etc.)

b) Tell me a word that rhymes with _____________(repeat this exercise with different words from the song) 

c) I am going to say a word from the song and you tell me what letter it begins with (select word from song)

d) Listen to the word I say and lets count the syllables (clap, snap, pat or stomp syllables with the class)

e) I am going to say a sentence from the story / song and you fill in the word that is missing

Example: The Itsy Bitsy spider went up the water  _____________  (continue with song leaving out last word)

f) I am going to say part of a sentence and you finish the sentence.

Example:

                    (teacher) The Itsy Bitsy spider

                    (students) went up the water spout.

                    (teacher) Down came the rain

                    (students) and washed the spider out 

g) Once they are able to accomplish the task by phrases you can now do it by word. (T = Teacher  and S = Students)

Example: (T) The (S) Itsy  (T) Bitsy  (S) spider  (T) went  (S) up (T) the  (S) water (T) spout  (continue with song)

* Complete a venn diagram comparing a spider to bird or cat with similarities in the middle (click for pdf)

* Complete a story map: title, setting, characters, problem, and solution.

* Use this song to practice echo reading, choral reading, buddy reading, and work on phonological awareness activities (click for example)

* Use pictures of characters to create a rebus chart reading (click for pdf)

* Create different ending to the story or talk about what happened to the spider when it reached the top of the water spout or why it wanted to get to the top of the water spout.

* As a class, create silly alliterative sentences.  Read and chant sentence:

Example:  The scary spider sang a silly song.  

Spiders spin spectacular webs in small spaces.

* Have student recite and chant this spider poem with movement:

I have a little spider, (bring hands and shoulder in to demonstrate little)

And I’m very fond of it; (hug yourself)

It climbs up on my shoulder, (use fingers climbing to your shoulder)

And then up to my chin;  (walk fingers to your chin)

It crawls down on my arm,  (walk fingers down your arm)

And then down to my leg;  (walk fingers down your leg)

Now it’s a tired little spider  (rock your spider to bed in your arms)

And it goes straight to bed. (place hands together next to your head and pretend you’re sleeping)

* Use this printout to sequence the story or to practice in reading, chanting and singing songs while holding up stick puppet. (click for pdf)

* Letter recognition (S)pider.  Write the word on the chart tablet and have children identify names and words that start with (S).

* Substitute words to introduce other similar meanings.  Itsy Bitsy can be the eency weency, itty bitty, super small, very little, etc.

Science

* Complete Venn diagram and compare characteristics of a spider and a person with similar characteristics in the middle.

* Compare spiders using this print out.  Talk about their differences and similarities.  Print two copies to create a matching game. (click for pdf)

* Discuss the spider and the anatomy of a spider and compare it to an insect: draw one of each using circles for body parts and lines for legs.

Legs
Insects: 6
Spiders: 8

Meals
Insects: a wide variety — some even eat plastic, paper, and lint
Spiders: mostly insects, but some even eat small frogs or mice

Antennas
Insects: yes — that’s how they smell
Spiders: no — they sense through bristles on their legs

Wings
Insects: usually
Spiders: never

Body Section
Insects: 3: head, thorax, abdomen
Spiders: 2: cephalothorax (seh-fuh-luh-THOR-ax), abdomen

* Print out multiple copies of the pdf and have children recreate the itsy bitsy song to match the insects.  Example:  The beautiful colored butterfly flew up the water spout, down came the rain….. or, The slimy and long worm crawled up the water spout, down came the rain…(click for pdf)

* Does the sun really dry up the rain? Introduce the three forms of water – solid, liquid, and gas 1) place water in ice cube tray; 2) once they freeze, lay an ice cube outside 2) see it melt 3) see the water evaporate  (you can also introduce mass and volume by tracing the ice cube and watching it melt and then tracing the puddle of water)

* Place the kids in a circle and have them pass the yarn across to different students until the yarn is finished…create a web and have students attempt to walk across the web without touching the web (yarn).  This is to reinforce how hard it is for insects to try to get out of a spider web.  You can also predict if items that teacher will toss into the web will be held by the web. (see illustration)

* Create a spider web using paper-plate, hole puncher, yarn, and black tempra paint to reinforce that spiders have eight legs and lives on a their web which catches their food (prey – great vocabulary). (click for illustration)

Math

* Use printout to cut and glue spiders on construction paper. Sequence size of spiders…small, medium, and large. (click for pdf)

* Use this printout to explore spatial words. Allow the children to tape their spider in different parts of the room.  Have students describe where the spider is climbing now.  (Example:  He’s under the table, behind the curtain, above the bookshelf, etc.) (click for pdf)

* Create a spider using 2 small circles and 8 toothpicks or pipe cleaners for legs and 4 pieces of black yarn for web. Trace and cut the circles and glue on constriction paper and glue 8 pipe cleaners / toothpicks for legs (you can try to break toothpicks to create a bent leg).  Get pieces of yarn to create a spider web on the top corner of the paper.  Count the 8 legs by chanting song of doubles:    2, 4, 8 who do we appreciate…spider, spider spider!

* Print and laminate these two spiders and place in the math center and have students measure the spiders using uni-fixed cubes, paperclips, and any other non-standard unit of measurement. How many cubes long is the spider? (click for pdf)

Social / Emotional

* Act out the song using stick puppets, masks or by assigning roles. (click for pdf)

* Ask kids if they like spiders.  Discuss what’s “cool” about spiders.  For example, they create beautiful webs, they eat other pesky bugs, and they are found in all parts of the world.  Discuss spider safety as well.

* Discuss emotions/feelings that deal with story situations.  Was the spider happy that he worked hard and climbed up the spout?  How did he feel when he got washed out?  What did he do after the sun dried up all the rain?  Is there something you tried to do that didn’t work out?  Did you try again?   Did you feel proud that you tried again and did it?

* Create a spider snack using two large marsh-mellows for the body and 8 pretzels for the legs.

Physical / Outdoor

* Sing or chant “Itsy Bitsy Spider” while incorporating movement to the song (visit movement link)

* Go outside and walk like a spider and for every step you take spell s-p-i-d-e-r, after spelling spider then walk faster and chant spider, spider, spider.

* Place masking-tape in a circle or a straight line and encourage children to use one foot in front of the other and balance as they walk on the tape lines and repeat the rhyme / song or the alliteration above or your own alliteration created by the class.  Change movement, criss-cross over the tape.

* Use yarn to create a huge web on the playground or in the classroom.  Kids need to crawl under it.  Lower the web once all the students have gone under the first height.

* Use the water table, straws and plastic spider rings to experiment with how much water it takes to “wash the spider out”