Integrative Dimension:
History:
Integrative Dimension:
Social Studies:
Biography of E.B. White by: Harper
Collins
Farming by: Gail Gibbons
Integrative Dimension:
Social Studies:
Community Helpers from A-Z by:
Robbie Kalman
Charlotte’s Web by: EB
White
“Each being in this world
has value and life
continues.”
Integrative Dimension:
Life Science:
How Spiders Make Their Webs by:
Jill Bailey
Integrative Dimension:
Life Science:
Amazing Spiders by: Alexandra
Parsons
Independent Dimension:
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Spiders by Gail Gibbons
Amazing World of Spiders by: Janet Craig
The Very Busy Spider by: Eric Carle
Spider’s Lunch by: Joanna Cole
Mighty Spiders by: Fay Robinson
Spectacular Spiders by: Linda Glaser
Integrative Dimension:
Music:
“The Spider in the Web” – to the
tune of Farmer in the Dell
GLCEs:
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R.CM.04.04 apply significant knowledge from grade-level science, social studies,
and mathematics texts.
R.NT.04.03 analyze characters’ thoughts and motivation through dialogue, various
character roles, and functions including hero, anti-hero, or narrator; know first
person point of view and identify conflict and resolution.
W.GN.04.02 writes poetry based on reading a wide variety of grade-appropriate
poetry.
P2.3 Know how to find and organize information from a variety of sources, analyze,
interpret, support interpretations with evidence, critically evaluate, and present the
information orally and in writing, report investigation results effectively.
Objectives:
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Students will be able to reflect on the biography of E.B. White through journal
entries.
Students will be able to build a character list as a class and add to it throughout the
book.
Students will be able to relate the characters’ feeling in the book to their own life
experiences through journal entries.
Students will be able to convey positive messages in one to three words.
Students will be able to explain a basic understanding of how spiders make their
webs.
Students will be able to identify the significance of all of the creatures on the farm.
Students will be able to identify the types of bugs that spiders eat.
Students will be able to infer character traits from character actions.
Students will be able to write poems to reflect feelings.
Students will be able to use available resources to do research.
Students will be able to assemble a chart of researched information.
Projected Activities:
Focal Dimension:
Integrative Dimension:
Opening Celebration: Show the cover of the Read a biography about the author, EB
story to the class and have them predict White. Students will write some facts they
what the story is about.
found interesting about the author in a
journal entry.
Chapter 1 and 2 (aloud-class): Students will
listen to infer character traits and the
teacher will start a chart about the Teacher will read Farming by Gail Gibbons
characters and will list their traits. Class will to the class and will discuss how it relates to
also discuss the setting.
the story.
Chapter 3 and 4 (aloud-class): Students will
write in their journal about a time when Students will write a poem on friendship, or
they felt alone in relation to Wilbur and give describe their best friend in a poem.
examples from the story why Wilbur felt Students will share poems with the class.
alone.
Chapter 5 and 6 (aloud-class): Charlotte will The class will add Charlotte to the character
be introduced in the story and students will chart.
need to look in the chapters and find words
that describe Charlotte.
Chapter 7 and 8 (share-pair): Students will
write a journal entry about a time they Social studies- Teacher will read Community
saved someone.
Helpers, and class will discuss people that
are important in the community.
Chapter 9 and 10 (aloud-class): Class will be
exploring characteristics of spiders and how Teacher will read How Spiders Make Their
they spin their webs to relate to Charlotte in Webs, and students will do a worksheet
the story. Class will also discuss why Wilbur about spiders with a partner.
was not able to spin is own web.
Chapter 11-13 (aloud-class): Students will
construct their own spider webs using paint Students will sing the “Spider in the Web”
and a marble and will add positive words to song.
them. Students will discuss why Charlotte
chose to write “Some Pig” as her first words
in her web.
Chapter 14 (share-pair): Students will write
a journal entry about a time no one believed
them, like how no one believed Fern that
animals talk.
Students will do a class activity, where the
students will sit in a circle and throw a ball
of yarn to each other and will have to say
different facts about spiders. At the end,
students will notice they made a spider web
with the yarn.
Chapter 15-17 (aloud-class): Students will Students will research fairs on the computer
write a journal entry about an experience and will write down interesting facts they
they had at a Fair.
found.
Chapter 18-20 (aloud-class): Students will Introduce, Amazing Spiders and will discuss
write a journal entry about a time they felt the characteristics of spiders. Students will
triumphant.
create a chart about spiders, from the
biggest type of spiders to the smallest.
Art Project- For students to understand how
Chapter 21-22 (aloud-class): Class will many baby spiders Charlotte had, students
reflect about the end of the novel. Students will create baby spiders with their thumbs
will also discuss their favorite parts of the using stamps. Charlotte had 514 babies and
novel.
the teacher will divide the number among
the class so each student makes a certain
number of spiders. They will each make
their spiders on a big poster and reflect on it
when finished.
Assessment
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Read and check journal entries for content and relevance to assigned theme. Student
work should demonstrate an ability to stay on topic and write comprehensively,
using complete sentences and paragraphs.
Meet with students in groups of four to share poems. Evaluate for ability to stay on
topic and use of poetic elements to reflect personal feelings.
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Maintain a student-organized list of story characters throughout the lesson and
assess character traits written by students for accuracy and level of description
Evaluate positive messages written on “webs” by students for attitude and emotion.
Words should convey attitudes of inspiration, motivation, self-value, appreciation,
and compassion.
Use unit resources to compare student explanations about how spiders make webs to
facts.
Keep an ongoing log of anecdotes during discussions and non-writing activities to
use for assessment of student understanding of value of farm animals, inferences
about character traits, and bugs that spiders eat.
Track student use of library and internet resources as they are used for research;
check for frequency and length of use as well as resulting information gathered by
students.
Keep track of students who contribute ideas and modifications to chart of big and
small spiders.