Submitted by: Credit Cece/GA/1


I also plan to use Gail Gibbons Spiders in two weeks. I will use the 
book both during Guided Reading and during my theme time. I plan to 
focus on the text and how she uses pictures, labels and text to give 
information.

 

On the first day in Guided Reading I will focus on the fifth page of 
the text, where she labels the parts of a spider's body. At the bottom is 
the short text "Spiders are not insects." We will discuss how much 
information she gives on this page with the picture and labeling of a 
spider. That afternoon in science time I plan to have several spider 
books available, as well as reference books from the library. The 
students will work alone or in pairs to decide on a spider they wish to 
study. Then I will ask them to draw a picture and label their spider in 
the same way that Gail Gibbons does. They can also write a short 
sentence of text just as she does.

 

The next day I plan to focus on the webs she mentions that spiders make 
in the text (and also that some spiders don't make a web).  We will 
make drawings of each type of web. In science that afternoon, each child (or 
pair) will identify the type of web their spider makes (or if it 
doesn't make a web.) They will make a drawing of the web.

 

On day three we will focus on what the spiders eat. We will discuss how 
the webs they make and where they live determines the type of food they 
eat. That afternoon each child will find out what type of food their 
spider eats and where in the world it is located.

 

On day four we will look at the enemies of spiders. Each child will 
determine what the enemies of their spider are.

 

On the last day we will look at the interesting facts on the last page, 
and then each child will list interesting facts about their spider. 
Each child will put the weeks information into a poster or book format for 
display.

 

I think that if we focus on the way Gail Gibbons presents information 
in her books, it will help them better understand any Gail Gibbons book 
that they pick up. Sometime young readers don't really understand how 
much information they can get from looking at pictures and labels in a 
book. I hope that this week of lessons will not only teach them about 
spiders, but also how to learn more from informational books.

Cece/1/GA