Spiders Aren't Insects!

My kiddies walked into their classroom today and...

Spiders took over! Boy did they go NUTS for just a few cobwebs and plastic spiders. Gotta love 'em! 

Oh, and of course our new friend, Frankie (our giant classroom spider)...

(They are all convinced that Frankie is a girl spider because all of the little plastic spiders are apparently HER babies haha)

 Anywho, needless to say we are starting our mini spider unit! We have already learned so much about spiders (fun fact: did you know that spiders aren't insects?! Insects have 6 legs and spiders have 8). And surprisingly, despite my irrational fear of spiders, I'm totally fascinated by what we are learning, too! Did you know that most spiders make a new web every day? Cool!

ANYWAYS, we started off by learning the parts of a spider and what they each do...

(I saw a similar version of this anchor chart on Pinterest...let me know if it was yours so I can give you credit!)

 The kiddies are labeling their own spiders, too. I love to hear them chat with one another about what we've learned..."I'm putting blood on the fangs because my spider injected an insect with venom. Now the insect is paralyzed" Gross, but totally awesome! 

This is also the perfect unit to start talking about fiction and nonfiction texts. These are the two texts that we we will be focusing on during shared reading all week. My kiddies can already tell me that nonfiction texts have a table of contents, index, and sometimes a glossary. Smartypants!

Here are a couple spider-themed centre activities I created. 

Click the pics to download your FREE copy:

Have a great (4-day!!!) week! More spider fun to come!