Spider Unit - Spider Facts Flip Book

Two of the mainstays I stuck with while teaching public school were:  1) If you can, no matter the subject, share a book, and, 2) If you can, no matter the subject, have students demonstrate their knowledge by making a book.  This way, no matter if you are in science, social studies or math, you are integrating both reading and language arts.  One of my favorite ways for students to publish their knowledge (especially in nonfiction areas of study), was a flip book.  Flip books can be as simple or complex as you need them to be. They can be used for sequential information (life cycles, how to's, relating the scientific process), and for lists of facts, as we did here.

Lesson:  Spider Facts Flip Book

Objective:  Child will be able to identify the number of body parts, legs and eyes a spider typically has.

Materials:  2 sheets of construction paper.  1 sheet lined writing paper.  Pencil  and crayons.  Scissors.  Stapler.

Process:

*Note:  At this point, I had already spent a while reading several nonfiction books about spiders with Sophie.  We looked at different pictures of spiders, and identified the 2 body parts, 8 legs and 8 eyes over and over again, until she was secure in this knowledge.  Then, the next day, we reviewed the books and information, then proceeded to create the flip book.  We kept one of the books open while we completed the activity, to reference when we needed to.

1.  First, make the flip book.  Offset one piece of construction paper about 2 inches from the other.  Fold both pieces, creating four flaps (see picture below), and staple twice along the top to keep the papers together.

2.  Set the flip book aside.  On a piece of writing paper, have child write the facts about spiders she learned from the books.  In this case, we talked about spiders having two body parts.  Then I wrote 'Two body parts' on a separate sheet of paper, and she copied onto her own paper.  I wanted her to practice her handwriting, which is why I didn't just write it for her.

3.  Child cuts out each fact she wrote on the paper.  I drew a dotted line so she would know where to cut.

4.  Child glues one fact on each flap of the construction paper flip book.

5.  Child illustrates each page.  Be sure you point out that in books, the pictures always match the words.

6.  The finished product!  Don't forget to write your title on the top flap.

KWL Chart - Spiders

We finished the map unit before going on vacation, so I've been looking for inspiration about what to do next for Sophie's school.  She had a conversation with a little friend a week ago about tarantulas, and ever since then, has been fascinated with them.  So, I thought, since we did insects last year, I could piggy back on her interest in tarantulas and do a little unit on spiders.  Which is kind of funny, because my friend Stephanie is doing spiders with her daughter right now, too.  What's up with little princesses who are fascinated with bugs??!


A great way to start any unit is by using a KWL chart.  The 'K' stands for 'What I want to Know', the 'W' stands for 'What I Want to know', and the 'L' stands for 'What I Learned'.  This simple activity is great for accessing prior knowledge, and establishing a base upon which to build new information and concepts.  It also gets the child to start asking questions about the topic, and gets those brain juices flowing!  I put a little twist on the KWL chart by turning it into a flip book, because I thought it would be more fun for Sophie than just a basic, 3-column chart.


Lesson:  KWL Chart - Spiders

Objective:  Child will list what she already knows about spiders, and will formulate some questions about them.

Materials:  2 pieces of construction paper.  1 piece of white printer paper.  Glue.  Writing utensil.   Scissors.

Process:  

1.  Instruct child to glue the white paper to one of the pieces of construction paper.  Set aside.

2.  Draw two lines down the other piece of construction paper, leaving off about 1 inch from the end, thus dividing the paper into three columns.  Instruct child to cut on the lines.  Make sure she doesn't cut through, but stops about an inch from the end.

3.  Have child glue the uncut strip over the white paper, then fold up the three flaps.  Draw lines on the white paper, delineating three columns.

4.  Fold the flaps back down, and write, 'SPIDERS' along the uppermost, glued strip of construction paper.  Write, "What I know" on the first flap, "What I want to know" on the second flap, and "What I learned" on the third flap.

5.  Now comes the fun part!  Lift up the 'What I know' flap.  Ask child what she already knows about spiders.  Write down what she says in this column even if you know it's wrong.  This is about her accessing her own prior knowledge.  As she begins to learn about spiders, you will have the opportunity to correct her misconceptions.  If she is having trouble coming up with things she knows, ask leading questions:  "Do you know any kinds of spiders?"  "Do you know where spiders live?"   Older children can fill out this space on their own, instead of you writing it for them.

6.  Now lift up the 'What I want to know' flap.  Ask child what she wonders about spiders.  What does she want to know about them?  What are some things she is interested in learning about spiders?  Your child may have more trouble with this one, but it's a great way to get her to start thinking about the topic.  Leading questions are also helpful here:  "Do you know what spiders eat?  How would you say that using a question?"  Point out that everything in this column has a question mark at the end, because they are all questions.

7.  Go over your chart one more time, reading each column to your child.  Then put it away, to be pulled out at the end of the unit when you will fill out the last column.  As the teacher, keep in mind the questions your child asked, so that you can be sure to address them as you study together.  

'B' Book

One of the things I want to do with this blog is share what other people are doing with their kids.  This is a guest post by my wonderful friend Ami (visit her blog here).  Ami is mom to an ever-increasing brood, now numbering at 8, with four of those kids at home.  Whew!  She also lives a double life, as her alter-ego, our town's children's librarian.  Shhhh!  Don't tell.   

My five-year-old started Kindergarten at the local two-room schoolhouse this week. Eleven kids in his class - which covers kinder, first and second grade! Not quite home schooling, but in some ways the best of both worlds. I still miss home schooling sometimes, though – especially at this time of year, when parents are coming in to the library where I work, happily discussing there plans for the year and selecting materials for their first big projects.

Fortunately, I have a 5yo excited about school, and a precocious 18mo who is already counting and naming colors (the wrong ones, usually, but they are color words), so I can continue the fun at home without having to worry about burn-out.

Kinder at the moment is all about letter sounds, with the class spending 2-3 days on each one. That lends itself so well to a million different activities that I had to rein my thoughts in a bit. My goal was to reinforce the letter sounds as well as letter recognition, and to keep things personal and fun. We (meaning I) decided to make a ‘book’ for each letter – just printed pages put in a 3-ring folder – and then incorporate the letter into our regular activities as much as possible. Here is a bit of my son’s “B” book:

big boy reading a book

baby brother

blonde-haired, blue-eyed beast with bruises, bumps and blood (nice of her to help us out this way, wasn’t it?)

brains and beauty

Batman!

For our first book, I did a lot of coaching while we walked around the house looking for “B” items. As we go through the year, I’ll expect him to come up with all the examples himself. For right now I want to give him the general idea and make it fun, not work. He did come up with the blood for his sister, and I suggested the rest of the caption. I couldn’t resist!

Of course, it needs to become as much his work as possible, as soon as possible. He wrote the title on the cover (simply, “My B Book”), and circled all the b’s on each page. Last night, when we did the letter “C”, I also had him pick one word to copy. Eventually I will just print the pictures and have him write the words himself.

The book completed, we sat down to supper:

BBQ beef on burger buns with baked beans

That night at the fair at the fair, then, we looked for things that started with the letter "B" (bunnies, babies, boats, and our friend's black bull), had the letter "B" on them, or were brown, black, or blue.

I have to warn you, this can easily get stuck in your head. Daddy and I kept stopping suddenly to point and exclaim to each other, "Backpack! Big ball!", or to tell our teen, "Bad boys are banned!" (She was less than amused. Or should I say, she finds our babbling boorish.)

Some other simple letter activities:

• Cut out or draw a large version of the letter, and see what you can turn it into with a little artistry.  For example, the open part of the capital "A" can become the mouth of an alligator. There are lots of websites such as enchantedlearning.com with templates to steal. 
•  Make a separate shopping list of items that start with that letter, and put your little learner in charge of finding those in the store.
• Take a letter walk – as we did at the fair, look for things that might start with that letter. Bring a camera and take pictures to add to your book. Adjectives can be helpful here!
• Go through an old magazine and cut out all the “B”’s. Glue them on a paper at random, or into an outline of the letter.
• Write the letter in shaving cream foam, sand, the dust on the back of the car, wherever.
• Glue beans, macaroni, whatever, to an outline to create a tactile letter.
• Blow bubbles for the letter “b”. Make a marble maze for “m”. Try to find one surprise game or activity like this for each letter – maybe end with it, and keep them guessing as to what it will be each time (their guesses may give you inspiration if you are stuck!)
• Check out starfall.com – fantastic free web site that starts with the alphabet and moves up to reading stories, with activities included. Easy to use for those just learning to maneuver the mouse.
• Play with your food! In addition to eating things like alphabet soup or Scrabble Cheeze-Its (love those!), you can push your corn into an “L” shape, or bite your sandwich into a “C”.

Don’t try to do all of these with every letter, though, or your learner will burn out. Find one activity you do with each letter at the start (like the book), then throw in different other things each time to keep it new. Don’t feel like you have to go in order through the alphabet, either – consonants with only one sound (b, d, m, etc.) are of course easier to learn. If you are sounding words out, you won’t want to wait two months to get to the letter “t”! You also don’t have to teach every sound of a letter – short vowel sounds are fine to start with, as well as the ‘hard’ sounds of “c” and “g”.

Speaking of burnout, I’m always looking for more ideas, so I’m hoping to see some good ones in the comments. Let’s brainstorm together!