Teacher Bulletin | Volume 11
Appropriate for grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Return to Volume ContentsAll About Spiders
Spiders are a lot more than large, creepy tarantulas and Halloween decorations. They quietly eat thousands of insect pests that carry diseases and damage our crops.
Every year I taught about arthropods, I always lightly ID brushed on everything else and focused on insects. This time, I decided to look at arachnids, and focus on spiders. Was I surprised! I found that I didn’t know much about spiders at all, except that a spider had eight legs and an insect had six.
Spiders turned out to be quite fascinating. Studying them sharpened my eyes and awareness of my surroundings. The students who helped me found a wide variety of sizes and colors and types of spiders that I had no idea existed in the very small area we searched.
This unit is suitable and adaptable for everyone from toddlers to great grandmothers. It will fulfill the requirements for the Pathfinder Honor “Spiders.” It also fits into the S.M.A.R.T curriculum.
