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Unit contents:

• This part deals with the End of the book, and involves launching a Balloon Journey
  
• Here's a Writing Activity involving the students' Favorite Parts
  
• This section is on the Main Characters and Quoting
  
• This portion is on Acting Out portions of the book
  
• This lesson is on Predicting with Charlotte's Web
  
• This part uses a Crossword Puzzle to learn Scientific Facts about Spiders
  
• This section is on Finding Spiders' Homes
  
• A similar section - Finding Where Spiders Live
  
• Here's More on Finding Where Spiders Live
  
• This portion is on writing Haiku Poems about Spiders
  
• Here students take on the roles of Arachnologists and Interview each other
  
• The Spider's Life Cycle is the subject of this lesson
  
• Graphing the Lengths of Spiders is the subject of this part
  
• More Graphing, this time with Facts about Spiders
  
• Here students Plot Facts about Spiders
  
• Another Math lesson, this one using Spider Math Problems
  
• This part involves doing Research on Spiders
  
• A fun activity for developing Spider Webs out of cold Spaghetti
  
• This portion is on Spiders' Venom
  
• A Writing Activity about Wilbur's First Day
  

Instructional Objective:
Students will do a hands-on investigation to see what geographical factors influence where spiders live.

Supplies:
* magnifying glasses

Anticipatory Set:
* I will tell the students to pretend that they are spiders. I will ask them where they would like to live as a spider. What kinds of places might you look for? Is there anything you would want to avoid? Is there anyplace in particular that you would want to go?
* I will tell the students that we are going on a hunt to find out where spiders live.

Activities:
1. I will tell the students that, just like humans, spiders like to live in certain places rather than others. I will explain that our mission today is to figure out where spiders like to live, and what kinds of environmental factors influence where they do or do not live.
2. I will tell the children that it is very important that we be safe when we go on our spider hunt. I will go over some safety rules, and stress that they absolutely do not touch any of the spiders, insects, or other animals they might find.
3. I will pass out small magnifying glasses to each student. I will tell students to use these magnifying glasses to search for spiders. They should lift up rocks and logs, and look everywhere they can within a specified area. I will tell them to, as they search, think about why the spiders live in certain places.
4. Children will be instructed to line up, and I will take them to a forestry area. Depending on the school, we may be able to walk there or we may need to take a bus. I will lead the children to an area and I will stress the boundaries. I will tell the children that they may go explore!
5. We will explore for about twenty minutes. I will point out areas that seem to homes to spiders. I will point out the geographical features that make spiders want to live in these areas.
6. When we are done exploring, I will ask the students to line up again, and I will lead them back to the school. Once we are in our desks, I will ask the children where they saw a lot of spiders. Where did you see absolutely no spiders? Why? I will point out that the kinds of spiders that live in our area tend to like cold, dark places, so we would probably find spiders hidden under things. They are more likely to be found in forests or jungle areas than in plain areas.

Adaptations:
Cassie (LD)- Cassie will be able to participate with the group for this fun activity.

Closure:
* Based on what we found out today, I will ask students where, in the United States, do they think that many spiders live. Consider the whole world - where do you think the most spiders live?
* I will tell them to continue to think about this. I will tell them that tomorrow we will find out where Tarantula spiders live in the United States.

Evaluation:
Students will not be graded on this activity. It is designed to be a fun exploration, so I don't believe that a grade is necessary.

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