Spider Choral Reading
| Author: | Cassie Walker |
| Year: | 2015 |
| Artform: | Theatre |
| Subjects: | Science |
| Grade: | Kindergarten |
| Duration: | 30 minutes |
| Overview: | Spiders: creepy crawlies, or amazing arachnids? Invite your kindergartners into the webbed world of our eight-legged friends as they adopt the characteristics and behaviors of spiders. |
SUPPLIES, EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCES
- Science Discovery Materials:
Non-fiction books about spiders
Photos or videos of spiders
A live spider in a clear container would be even better!
Poem “I’m a Little Spider”:
I’m a little spider
Watch me spin.
If you’ll be my dinner
I’ll let you come in.
Then I’ll spin a web
To hold you tight
And gobble you up
In one big bite!
Note: The teacher does not need a poster or physical copy for the class to look at. In fact, it is easier for memorization and better for phonemic awareness if the students are not trying to read the words.
Download PDF Lesson PlanStandards & Objectives
KINDERGARTEN UEN INTEGRATED CONTENT STANDARD 1, OBJECTIVE 3C:
Describe sounds in terms of dynamics (loud/ soft), pitch (high/low), duration (long/short; fast/slow), and timbre (tone of an animal, human, musical instrument, or machine).
KINDERGARTEN UEN 1997 THEATER STANDARD 1, OBJECTIVE 2A:
Plan and imitate the sounds and movements of animals.
KINDERGARTEN SCIENCE STANDARD 4, OBJECTIVE 1A:
Construct questions, give reasons, and share findings about all living things.
KINDERGARTEN COMMON CORE ELA CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.A:
Recognize and produce rhyming words.
Students will imitate the behavior and characteristics of spiders by adding character and vocal variation to the poem “I’m a Little Spider.”
Teaching and Timeline
Introduction
Attention Getter/Warm Up: Guess My Song?
(2 minutes) The teacher gives hints or performs the actions to help the students guess the song: “The Itsy Bitsy Spider.” When the students guess the name of the song, everyone sings and performs the actions together.
Demonstration
Science Discovery:
(8 minutes) The teacher introduces spiders using non-fiction books, realistic photographs or videos of spiders, and/or a live spider in a clear container. Using a variety of different materials will help the students compare and contrast different kinds of spiders using their own observations. Students will share their findings about spiders. The teacher may direct the discussion to cover the following facts:
- Anatomy: spiders have eight legs, 6-8 eyes, and two body segments:
- cephalothorax and abdomen. There are two extensions on the front of the
- cephalothorax that look like two tiny legs: they are called pedipalps. They help the spider to feel and smell, and sometimes hold their prey.
- Spiders spin webs using silk glands on their abdomen called spinnerets. They do not “spin” around in circles in the same way that kindergartners “spin.”
- Spiders catch insects in their webs and eat them by wrapping them in silk, then injecting poison inside with their chelicerae (fangs) and sucking the liquid out.
- Baby spiders are born from eggs in an egg sac, sometimes with hundreds of eggs inside.
Work Period
(10 minutes) The teacher teaches the poem to the Kindergartners, one line at a time, repeating from the beginning periodically. (Don’t miss this opportunity to point out rhyming words.) On each line, students apply what they’ve learned about spiders to vary the poem, by adding movement, or changing dynamics, pitch, or duration. Ideas for vocal variation, movement, or character should come from the students, but the teacher can coach using questions like “How can we make this line different from the last one?” or “Can you show how a spider ______ with your body?”
Closure/Summary
Performance
(10 minutes) Students perform the poem in groups. The teacher may divide the room half and half, boys and girls, by what color students are wearing, etc. Perform again and again!
