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A Busy Spider

A Busy Spider

Explore emotions and descriptive words through Eric Carle's book about a busy spider.
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Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Construction Paper
  • Construction Paper Crayons
  • Paint
  • Paper Plate(s)
  • Paper Scraps
  • Washable Markers
  • Washable No Run School Glue

Steps

  • Step 1

    Read "The Busy Spider" by Eric Carle. Discuss the illustrations and the story and encourage students to explore the way the illustrations show emotions.

  • Step 10

    Glue the spider on the web.

  • Step 2

    Each student will create a spider using half a paper plate for the body. They will use accordion folds on eight strips of black construction paper to make the spider's legs. Then they will glue the legs to the body.

  • Step 3

    Students will decide their spiders' emotions and create facial features to show if each spider is happy, sad, grouchy or perhaps hungry.

  • Step 4

    Ask the students to recall how the spider created the web. Have them draw a web on a piece of construction paper, then glue the spider to the web.

Standards

LA: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

LA: Develop real and imagined narratives.

LA: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events, challenges, and other characters.

SCI: Describe what living organisms have in common (eating, breathing, growing, and reproducing) and distinguish them from non-living things.

Adaptations

Explore other books about spiders, both fiction and nonfiction. Discuss the similarities and differences between the books' illustrations and fiction compared to nonfiction.

Explore Eric Carle's other books that deal with being grouchy or hungry such as "The Grouchy Ladybug" or "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Discuss how emotions influence facial expressions and behavior.