Be Nice to Spiders, by M. Bloy Graham

Helen the spider comes to the zoo and happily lives among the animals, until it’s time for the Mayor’s visit. What happens when all of Helen’s webs are knocked down? After reading the story children will be more aware of the benefit of spiders.

Materials

Play dough that is getting too dry for daily use.
Pipe cleaners in many colors cut into 3-4 inch sections.
Contact paper cut into 12-inch sections
A bag of plastic spiders or a bag of black beans to pretend to be spiders

Vocabulary

Matchbox (little tiny box, maybe it could hold one matchbox car or a piece of jewelry)
Ventilator (the vent, chimney like thing that you see on roofs)
Satisfied (feeling happy and contented)
Paradise (the perfect place for a spider to live)
Arachnid (animals that have two body parts)
Prey (the next victim for lunch)
Sticky (when something gets stuck to something else upon contact)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children if they help do chores at home? Let them share anyway that they help out at home. If they do not respond to your question ask if anyone is responsible for making their bed, taking care of a pet, brushing their teeth before bed? Ask the children to help name some of the jobs you have at school to do (sweeper, plant watering, book straightener, etc. Talk about jobs, why do we have them? Why is it important to keep our room clean? Do you have a custodian who comes in after hours? Talk about their job. Take a moment and help the children write a short note to the custodian that you can hang by the door. (Thank you for cleaning our room, it looks pretty. I like when our room smells good. You wash the floor, my Mommy washes the floor at my house). Explain to the children that today’s story is about a helper at the zoo. Show the children the cover of the book and point to the spider. Say this is Helen and she is the helper at the zoo. Ask the children if they can guess how Helen helps? Read the title and begin the story.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities;develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Literacy/Early Writing; develops understanding that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes.

Reading the Story

On the very first page when the zookeeper reads the note from Billy, stop and ask the children if they can guess what kind of pet might be in that little tiny box? When Helen runs like lightning, use your hand to show how quickly. When you get to the part that says, “the lions were annoyed but Helen was delighted”, stop and ask why they think Helen was so happy to see all those flies? (Spiders eat flies). When the zookeeper tells the men to get rid of all the spider webs, stop and ask the children what they think is going to happen?

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; tpo act out stories on dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they remember why we should all be nice to spiders? (They eat flies). Talk to the children about some spider facts and safety. 1) Spiders belong to the family called Arachnids because they have two body parts. Who knows how many body parts insects have (3)? The world is full of many different kinds of spiders. Some are poisonous and dangerous to people but many are not. Spiders will bite if they are scared so please do not touch spiders. Spiders have sticky feet that they can use to climb up trees and walls.

Science/Science Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Discovery

Put out your old playdough today and many pipe cleaners cut in quarters. Explain to the children that you are going to be making spiders. Have them roll the play dough into a ball and then slightly flatten it. Ask the children if they can remember how many legs a spider has (8)? Have them count out eight legs and stick them into their spider. Spiders also have 8 eyes. The child can either poke 8 holes to represent eyes of add 8 googly eyes. When the playdough dries, the children can paint their spiders. Or, make spiders from pinecones.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; develops growing abilities to collect, describe, and record information through a variety of means, including discussion, drawings, maps, and charts. AND Creative Arts/Art; progresses i abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic.

Music and Movement

Sing The Eensy Weensy Spider. Change it up by making a Teeny Tiny Spider and a Humongous Giant Spider.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied spoken vocabulary.

If you have a spider puppet or stuffed toy spider you can do the poem, Little Miss Muffet.

Choose a child to be Miss or Mr Muffet. Put a pillow in the center of your group circle and have the child sit on it. Begin the poem. At the “along came a spider”, allow another child to put the spider in front, behind, beside, on her head, in her lap. The children must say where the spider is and the Muffit child can jump away. The child who put the spider in a position is now the new Muffit and another child gets to place the spider.

Little Miss/Mr Muffet

Sat on a tuffet (another name for pillow)

Eating her curds and whey (kind of like cottage cheese)

Along came a spider

Who sat down _____________her/him

And frightened Miss/Mr Muffet away.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

Blocks

Use masking tape to make a large spider web design on the floor. Challenge the children to use blocks to cover the spider web. Are they able to find the correct sized blocks to fit upon the tape? Can they make a pattern using several types of blocks? Add any plastic insects that you might have today, or add several flies from the resource pattern. The children can pretend to fly their insect and get caught in the web.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area of objects.

Art

Explain to the children that spider webs are sticky so that insects, like flies, get stuck in the web and cannot get out. The spider then eats the insect for lunch or dinner. Give each child a 12-inch section of contact paper that you have taken the backing off of. Put it on the table sticky side up. Give the children collage materials and let them make a sticky collage. These are fun if you add small 3D items such as buttons, bottle caps, feathers, etc.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes. AND Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Sand and Water

Fill the table with sand today. Add spiders and tongs/pincers and small containers. The children use the tongs/pincers to dig through the sand and pickup the spiders. How many spiders did you capture? Who found the most spiders? As the children dig for spiders you can review with them spider facts that you have learned. If you do not have small plastic spiders to add to the table today, you could use of black beans.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer. AND Mathematics/Number & Operation; begins too use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, and equal to.

Library and Writing

Get books or pictures of real spiders that the children can look at. Notice how all spiders do not look the same however all have 8 legs and 8 eyes.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; progresses in learning how to handle and care for books; knowing to view one [page at a time in sequence from front to back; and understanding that a book has a title, author, and illustrator. AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Dramatic Play

In the story, Helen was helping to keep the zoo clean by eating all the flies. Give the children damp paper towels and a broom and allow them to help clean the dramatic center or any center. Have them wipe the shelves with the damp towels and look for broken toys that should be tossed out. If you have a non-electrical vacuum (sweeper brush), let the children use it to get the lint off the carpet. (The children in my room loved using this piece of equipment and I had to finally put it up as a helper job).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Math and Manipulatives

Attach tape to a hula-hoop making a simple web type of design. Turn the sticky side out and hang it against, or lean it against the wall. Give the children puff balls (spiders) which they can throw at the hula-hoop target. Let them count how many spiders stuck to the tape.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; demonstrates increasing abilities to coordinate movements in throwing, climbing, kicking, bouncing balls, and using the slide and swing. AND Mathematics/Number & Operation; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Outdoor Play

If you have a large cemented area, draw a giant spider web with chalk. This does not have to be fancy (see resources). The children can then move from side to side by hopping or jumping on the triangles. Or the children can walk the lines forward, backwards, or sliding. This could also be done inside in your large group area using masking tape.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping,skipping, marching, and galloping.

Transitions

Play Bigger Than, Smaller Than. Ask the children to tell you if something is bigger than or smaller than an object or animal. Is a cat bigger than or smaller than a cow? Is a spider bigger than or smaller than a bead? Is a cow bigger than or smaller than an Elephant? Is an Elephant bigger than or smaller than an airplane? Continue naming two objects and asking if the first is bigger or smaller than the second?

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; shows growth in matching, sorting, putting in series, and grouping objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Resources

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping. AND Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.

Good Night Gorilla, by Peggy Rathmann

This is a cute story told with few words. As the zookeeper puts the animals to bed, something fishy is going on. Children will delight in the silliness of the story. This book is almost wordless and children will delight in retelling it over and over.

Materials

1-2 flashlights.
A liquor store sized box with a hole cut out on one side big enough for a child to shine a flashlight in and see.
Animal cards
Old keys (ask at a place that makes them)
Several bath or dishtowels
Zookeeper maze, 1 per child

Vocabulary

Before Reading the Story

Look at the cover of the book. Can the children tell what time it is? Ask them what the gorilla is holding? What do they think the story might be about? Introduce the book.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Reading the Story

As you read the story, stop on each page and ask a question about the illustration. What is the gorilla taking out of the zookeeper’s pocket? What do you think the gorilla will do when the zookeeper says goodnight to the elephant? Where are all the animals going? What do the two eyes say in the picture? What do you think the zookeeper’s wife will do? Look who is still following the zookeeper’s wife, what do you think will happen next? Look at the banana, whom do you think ate it?

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they thought the gorilla was being good or naughty, why? (He let all the animals out so they could play. He sneaked. My Mom would be mad. Me and my sister sneak to watch t.v. when we sleep) What happens when you disobey your parents? Why do you think your parents, and teachers, make rules? (To be safe, to be mean, to make me go to bed).

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Put the pictures of the animals where the children can see them. Cover them up with a cloth and take one away. Can the children remember which animal is missing? After you have done this several times, challenge then to recall the order in which the animals appeared in the story. What was the mouse carrying throughout the story?

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; grows in recognizing and solving problems through active exploration, including trial and error, and interactions and discussions with peers and adults. AND Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Discovery

Provide flashlights for the children to use today. Bring in a box and cut a hole in it. The children can take turns putting something under the box and then using the flashlight to look through the hole and see what is inside.

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.

For older children start with the flashlight totally disassembled. Can they figure out how to put it back together so they can shine the light into the box?

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the finger play, The Mouse.

Here is a mouse with ears so funny, Make a peace sign with fingers

And here is a hole in the ground. On other hand make a circle

When a noise he hears,

He pricks up his ears Pop up fingers of peace sign hand

And he runs to his hole in the ground. Put peace sign into circle hand

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Play Monkey See, Monkey Do.

Start in a large circle and sing or chant the following. he children can take turns choosing an action that the other children imitate. Make sure you have plenty of room as it seems jumping, twirling, and running in place are popular actions.

When I clap, clap, clap, my hands, Choose an action for the children to copy

The monkeys clap, clap, clap, their hands. Children copy action

Monkeys see and monkeys do

Monkeys do the same as you. Switch out a child’s name for next round

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Blocks

The story takes place in a zoo. Challenge the children to make a zoo. Where do the animals go, where can the people walk? Put any book you may have depicting a zoo in the center for the children to use as a guideline to their building.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Community; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the context of the classroom, home, and community.

Art

Roll play dough out into pretend bananas and give the children plastic knives to practice cutting. Can they cut in slices? Can they cut the long way? Can they cut it in half? Can they cut 4 pieces?

Physical Health Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, dressing, washing hands, brushing teeth, and toileting. AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways?

Put dark paper and light colored paints at the easel today and let the children paint night time pictures.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Sand and Water

Add hard plastic baby dolls and water to the table. Tell the children since the story took place at night that you thought it would be good to bath the babies before bedtime. Give the children several dish towels or bath towels to dry the babies.

Creative Arts/Dramatic PLay; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex. AND Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Library and Writing

This story is available on YouTube.

Literacy/Book KNowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest in reading related activities, such as asking to have a favorite book read,; choosing to look at books; drawing pictures based on stories; asking to take books home; going to the library; and engaging in pretend-reading with other children.

Give children a copy of the Zookeeper maze and a pencil. Are they able to follow the maze and get the zookeeper to the bed without going over the lines?

Literacy/Early Writing; experiments with a growing variety of writing tools and materials, such as pencils, crayons, and computers.

Dramatic Play

Add stuffed animals to the center today and encourage the children to prepare the animals for night. Add several naptime blankets so they can tuck the animals in.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; progresses in understanding similarities and respecting differences among people such as genders, race, special needs, culture, language, and family structures.

Math and Manipulatives

If you can get old keys, they are great for sorting and counting.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; develops increased abilities to combine, separate, and name “how many” concrete objects. AND Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; begins to determine whether two or not two shapes are the same size and shape.

Make two sets of the animal eyes cards and put them out for the children to match. You can use this like a Memory Game.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as color, shape, or size.

Outdoors Play

Play follow the leader with a twist. Have the children line up behind you and follow you as quietly as possible around the playground. Go around the tree, behind the sandbox, under the cover, etc. At intervals say “Do I hear a noise”? This is the signal for the children to freeze and you to turn around. If all are frozen still, turn back around and continue. If someone is still moving when you turn around, they go to a designated area and wait until the next freeze cycle.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.

Transitions

As the children move to the next activity tell them to move so quietly that no one can hear them. (My children used to like to do this as we passed by the offices on the way to the playground).

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple-step directions.