Bees and Bugs (and worms and spiders) and Mother's Day ("week" 25)

Bugs and Mother's Day sounds like a strange combination, but it worked very well. 


In PreK and Kindergarten,  I introduced the students to David Kirke and "Miss Spider".  We read (and watched an animated version afterward) Little Miss Spider because of Mother's Day.  This book is about Miss Spider when she was little.  After she was born, she went looking for her mother and ended up adopted by a beetle because this beetle "loved her the best".  The book is entirely rhyming and the last page says: 

For finding your mother,

There’s one certain test.

You must look for the creature

Who loves you the best. 

After reading Little Miss Spider, I handed out Mother's Day cards with this poem inside so that they could make cards to give their Moms.  They really liked being able to make something to give as a gift for Mother's Day.


The first grade watched a very funny reading of Eric Carle's The grouchy ladybug on youtube.  The constant refrain of, "Oh, you aren't big enough," was a real hit.  After this, we made Mother's Day cards shaped like lady bugs and attached wings with brads.

Tumblebooks (which I accessed via the Culpeper Public Library) had all three of Doreen Cronin's "Diary of a..." books.  Our library only has Diary of a Fly.  So, with tumblebooks, the 2nd grade "read"   Diary of a worm, Diary of a spider,  and Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Harry Bliss. The plan was to continue working on our book covers but there turned out not to be enough time for that and to do check out.

        

Due to SOLs and the lack of Miss Jennifer, plans for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade had to change.  I researched movies until I found one that met all of my requirements:  it had to be rated G and about libraries and books. The movie I chose was The Pagemaster with Macaulay Culkin. The movie starts and ends with live action but turns to animation in the middle. With the help of books named for genres (Fantasy, Horror, and Adventure), the main character delves into some literary classics like Moby Dick and Treasure Island and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.