Why Anansi has Eight
Skinny Legs.
A print and keep sensory resource to support
teaching and learning with pupils achieving at P
levels 1-8.
An Akan story
Adapted by Joanna Grace
In conjunction with Worldstories.
1
Contents
Welcome
3
Safety
An Introduction to Sensory Learning
4
Guidance notes for Delivery
7
Resources
10
How to make an Anansi shield
13
Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs, A Sensory Story
16
Lesson Plan
18
Assessment Ladder
23
Additional Learning Activities
24
Movement Sequence
26
Key Signs
27
Key Symbols
30
Worldstories Symbols
31
Display
33
Feedback Target
34
2
Welcome
Welcome to Worldstories’ sensory learning resource for the Akan
story ‘Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.’ This pack is designed to
help you enable your students to get as much enjoyment and
understanding out of the story as they can.
This pack contains everything you will need to teach an
outstanding lesson. Extra material is included for teaching a
sequence of lessons or developing learning in other curriculum
areas.
You don’t have to do everything, but everything is here if you need
it!
Safety
Be aware of your students
when working with sensory
stimuli, and any allergies
etc they may have.
Choose stimuli that is safe
for your students.
3
An introduction to Sensory Learning.
Stimulating the senses whilst learning means that more areas of the
brain get involved, which is a great aid to memory.
Having a life that is rich in sensory experiences is important to everyone.
Our senses operate on a ‘use it or lose it’ agenda, and for most of us we use
our senses all the time. However some of our students may need support to
access the kinds of stimulation most of us get in daily life.
We all know how vital sensory stimulation is to learning, from giving
babies interesting toys to play with as their brains develop, to the devastating
effect of being sat looking at the wall in a care home in later life. We implicitly
understand the importance of sensory stimulation.
As teachers we can use sensory stimulation to support learning in our
students at various levels. Some students may also have particular need of
sensory learning, for example autistic students who find day to day life over
stimulating can have their anxieties reduced by being introduced in a
predictable manner to a range of sensory experiences, as afforded by a sensory
story.
This resource is aimed at students operating at P levels 1-8 so it is
learning at these levels which is discussed here. However there is great scope
for using sensory learning at all levels, so do sniff the shampoo to remind
yourself that you need to buy some later, and tell your GCSE student to revise
using multi coloured pens to get all of their brain involved.
4
An introduction to Sensory Learning at the P levels
At P6-8 adding a sensory element to story telling can generate interest in
the activity of reading and encourage students to develop their vocabulary as
they find words to describe that sound, or that sensation or smell. In the same
way it can extend their writing as they add sensory inspired adjectives to their
sentences.
At P4-7 using sensory stimulus when story telling can help elicit
responses from students, encouraging them to combine concepts together e.g.
“wet spider” or “hot food.” Having the sensory elements available to students
can help them re-tell the story, especially where spoken communication is
difficult, students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of what comes
next by indicating the correct sensory resource. Having sensory stimulus also
generates curiosity and may motivate students to take part in group work.
Sensory learning is vital at P1-3. Encountering a wide range of
experiences enriches students lives and stimulates their minds. Providing
students with diverse experiences gives them more to react to, for example a
student may show a dislike of cold water, by moving their hand away, or a like
of a certain smell by turning their head towards the smell, where as if all they
had experienced was a sequence of pictures they would not have been given
the opportunity to express themselves in this way.
5
An introduction to Sensory Learning, continued.
By working with one sensory story on several occasions students are
giving the opportunity to develop consistent responses to the events in the
story. Their confidence at experiencing the different sensations will improve and
they may become more proactive in their exploration of the experiences.
If the story is presented in a consistent manner then students will have
the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the story. For example, if on
the first telling of the story the student hears: “Anansi dragged himself to the
river and jumped in” and then experiences their hand being plunged into cold
water – and dislikes this. Then maybe on the third or fourth time they hear the
story, and hear those words they will show that they know what is about to
happen by withdrawing their hand. For a student with PMLD this can be their
way of answering the question “What comes next?” Reactions of preference can
be developed into responding to options and choices. Having a range of
stimulus available to use with a story gives students a whole sensory world to
explore as they explore the story with you.
6
Guidance notes for delivery
 Arrange the stimuli so that they will be within easy reach as
your deliver the story.
 Place the text somewhere where it will be in clear view as you
read the story.
 Decide ahead of delivery when you will share the stimuli with
students, will it be as you read, or after?
The text has been distilled into just 10 sentences, read the original story
yourself prior to delivery so that you will be able to add appropriate feeling
and emphasis to the simple phrases in the sensory version of the story.
Extra guidance for those working with
students achieving at P levels 1-3
Consistency
Ensuring consistency of delivery is paramount when working with
students achieving at P levels 1 – 3.
Make notes, or better still have someone watch you and make notes,
about how you deliver the story when you first share it with the students.
This will help you to ensure consistency when you next tell the story.
Keeping notes on delivery with the resource will also mean that if someone
else is going to be delivering the story when the students next encounter it,
they will stand a chance at delivering it in the same way as you. Similarly if
you are able to keep all the resources related to the story in a single box or
bag this will further help ensure consistency.
7
Repetition
The P level descriptors for levels 1 – 3 contain phrases such as
‘remembered responses’ and ‘consistent reactions.’ These sorts of
achievements cannot be attained without repetition. Aim to deliver the story
in the same way on at least four consecutive occasions.
Time and clarity
Allow students time to react to experiences. Don’t be tempted to fill
this time with words. You are aiming for a clear crisp delivery of the story
and the experiences. Consider: if the first time the student encounters the
story they hear “Anansi jumped into the river” and experiences their hand
being plunged into water, but the next time they share the story they hear
“Anansi ran and jumped into the cold river and, gosh wasn’t that a surprise,
it will be your turn next, wait whilst,...could you pass me...” and then their
hand goes in water it will be hard for them to learn and remember a
response to this. If delivery is clear and consistent, then perhaps on the third
or fourth time of sharing the story, when they hear “Anansi jumped into the
river” they will know that their hand is about to go into water, and will be
able to demonstrate that learning to you, for instance by moving their hand
away or towards the water, or by making a facial expression. This can be a
very hard skill to master, and if you are asking other members of staff to
deliver the story try to choose people who won’t feel the need to ‘fill’ as
experiences are delivered.
8
Logistics
Give some thought to how you will go about delivering the
experiences. What you will do will depend on the number of students you are
working with, and their particular needs.
Ideally you would be delivering this story to one or two students, this
would mean you could say the sentence, and then deliver the experience to
each student within reasonable time.
You may be working with a larger group of students, but have the
support of teaching assistants or volunteers who can deliver the experiences
as you tell the story. Consider whether you are all going to deliver the
experience in the same way, or whether you will be able to ensure that the
same staff members work with the same students each time.
If you are delivering to a group alone then you have to choose
whether to repeat the sentence for each student, and share the experience
with them personally, or whether you are going to say the sentence and then
deliver the experience to each student in turn. If you opt for the latter you
may want to note down which student you deliver the experience to first,
second, etc. Order of delivery can be important, imagine you are student,
and on the first telling of the story you hear “Anansi jumped into the river”
and instantly your hand is plunged into water, then there is a pause as those
around you have their hands plunged into water, and then you hear the next
sentence. This is a very different experience from hearing “Anansi jumped
into the river” and then experiencing a pause as those around you have their
hands plunged into water, then yours is plunged into water and you hear the
next sentence.
9
Don’t worry!
Consistency isn’t as complicated to carry out as it is to describe, with a
little forethought and planning you can optimise your students’ opportunities
to learn.
Of course, once students are achieving at higher levels then
embellishing the story, even using the original wording is entirely
appropriate.
Resources
Ensure the story is told using the same stimulus each time. Collecting
these resources together in a bag or box can be a good way of maintaining
consistency. For perishable resources – such as the food – keep a note of
what you used so that you will be able to use the same thing next time.
You will need:
Anansi shield or suitable alternative
Tupaware with food inside, [Gravy granules, stock cubes, herbal tea, or
similar].
A washing up bowl, water, and cotton or cooked spaghetti
Two metal items
A balloon
10
Optional resources:
o
Anansi animation
o
Balloon pump
o
Ribbon and elastic band
o
Instrument to ‘twang’
Extra resources for role play and exploration of the story:
(You do not need these resources to tell the sensory story)
o
Cooking pot for each student
o
Animal toys to represent the different creatures in the story.
o
Animal sounds for each of the creatures in the story.
Resource
suggestions
& tips.
Smell of food
You may be able to source food smells that
match those in the original story, or you may want to
choose food you know will have a strong smell.
Keep the food in sealed tupperware, this will prevent the smell from
escaping when you don’t want it to, but also, especially with hot food, the air
within the container will take on the scent of the food and be there to waft
around when you open the lid, for this reason you may choose to store the
food in containers that are bigger than the food needs them to be.
Suggestions for smelly food: egg, tomato soup – heat in the microwave prior
to use, curry, bacon, smelly crisps, melted chocolate, mint tea.
Handy tip: Buying herbal teas and keeping the tea bags (and suitable
tupperware) with the resources for the story can be a simple way of ensuring
the same scents are used each time the story is told. To have savoury
flavours source things like gravy granules or stock cubes.
11
Clank of cooking pot
Any metallic clank: a spoon banged against a pan, two metal bars from a
glockenspiel.
Leg tug
Use your hand to gently tug on a student’s leg, or have an elastic band tied
onto the end of a piece of ribbon – in the story when Anansi ties himself to
the cooking pot slip the elastic band around a student’s ankle or wrist – be
sure the band is not too tight – when it comes to the ‘tug’ section of the story
you can pull on the ribbon and the student will feel what Anansi feels when
his friends tug on the web attached to his leg.
Twang noise
The physical tug stimulus may not be appropriate for every student, create a
twang sound using an instrument from the music cupboard, a low note of a
guitar would be suitable, or create your own instrument: a large elastic band
stretched around a shoe box, with a hole cut in it’s lid, will make a good
twang noise. If you are using this stimulus play it when you say ‘Tug’ when
Anansi feels the first tug and then when you say ‘another’ when Anansi feels
the other tugs – this will help let students know that ‘another’ refers to the
same thing as ‘tug’ referred to.
Balloon stretching
This stimulus is intended to really give students an experience of something
stretching. Have students, or assist students to, rest their hand on top of a
balloon as you inflate it. Using a balloon pump will make this easier for you,
and choosing black modelling balloons will emulate spiders’ legs well.
12
A bowl of water with cotton threads or cooked spaghetti
Having a pot with a lid can keep this resource safe whilst you tell the rest of
the story, when facilitating the experience with a student find a container that
is big enough for them to easily plunge their hand/foot into – an ordinary
washing up bowl should do it.
How to make the Anansi shield
1
2
This is one
option, others
are available.
3
Take an old pair of socks, chop the tops off and cut into four slices. Stuff one sock
foot with the other, add more fabric, or stuffing to make a fatter spider body. Glue
on googly eyes.
5
6
13
Fold the strips of sock over on themselves and stitch or glue to form legs. Choose a
sturdy piece of card to be the shield. Cut four holes in the centre. Pair the legs and
attach them to ribbon.
7
8
Thread the ribbon through the holes and tie together at the back. In this way all the
legs can be pulled at once. Tie Anansi’s body to the front of the card.
9
10
When all the legs are pulled Anansi will have eight short stubby legs. Now attach
the other ends of Anansi’s legs to the outer edges of the card, you can use ribbon
for this also, or elastic. Elastic will be easier, as when you cease pulling the legs
from the back of the card all will spring forth to give Anansi his eight skinny legs. If
you use ribbon you will have to pull them yourself, or you might be able to get
students to pull them gently.
14
This photo shows everything I needed for a test run of the story: I have a mug with
a rubber band over it for the ‘twang;’ my Anansi shield made out of a pair of socks
and a piece of cardboard; some tupperware with noodles (for webs in the water);
vanilla essence; stock cubes and herbal teas for the smells of the various cooking
pots. You can use simpler resources or more elaborate ones, the most important
thing is to be consistent in what you use.
Alternatives to making the shield:

A piece of black ribbon. Let it poke out the top of your fist to indicate a
short leg, pull it to reveal a longer length.

The Anansi animation on Worldstories website.
The resources listed here are suggestions only, they are not
Note
prescriptive. You are best placed to choose what to use with your
students.
If you are able to gather a collection of resources together to use with the story
and use these consistently, then your students will have a great time learning
with you.
15
Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs
A Sensory Story
Anansi was a greedy spider
Use this sentence as a auditory warm up to ready students for listening.
Show students the Anansi shield.
One day Anansi’s friend Rabbit said, “Wait and help, and you can
have some dinner.”
Smell of food.
“No,” said Anansi. He used some web to tie his leg to Rabbit’s
cooking pot. “Pull my leg when dinner is done.”
Clank of cooking pot, watch leg being hooked onto first pot on the Anansi
shield.
Anansi’s friend Monkey said, “Wait and help, and you can have some
dinner.”
Smell of food.
“No,” said Anansi, and tied his leg to Monkey’s cooking pot. “Pull my
leg when dinner is done.”
Clank of cooking pot. Visual of leg being connected to next pot on the Anansi
shield.
16
Options:
Anansi tied each of his eight legs to a friend’s cooking pot.
Visual of legs being connected to cooking pots on the Anansi shield and
the sound of pot clanking.
Or continue the story in full, adding each of the following animals into
the blank space: Tortoise, Hare, Squirrel, Mouse, Fox, Hog.
Anansi’s friend ________ said, “Wait and help, and you can
have some dinner.”
Smell of food.
“No,” said Anansi, and tied his leg to ________’s cooking pot.
“Pull my leg when dinner is done.”
Clank of cooking pot. Visual of leg being connected to next pot on
the Anansi shield.
At dinner time Anansi felt a tug on one of his legs. ‘Mmm, dinner’s
ready!’ thought Anansi, ‘and I didn’t have to wait or help!’
Tug on student’s leg – this can be done gently by hand, or by using the
ribbon and elastic resource.
Option : Twang noise.
Anansi felt another tug, and another, and another, and another, and
another, and another, and another!
Repeat tug multiple times. Repeat twang noise each time you say ‘another’.
17
Anansi’s legs began to stretch and stretch.
Touch the surface of a balloon as it stretches.
Visual of Anansi stretching on his shield.
Anansi dragged himself to the river and jumped in.
Plunge hand (or other body part) into bowl of water with cotton or cooked
spaghetti floating in it.
Option: spritz water onto student’s face.
The webs washed away. Anansi had no dinner...but he did have eight
skinny legs!
Use this sentence to lead you out of the story, so that the sharing of the story
begins and ends with just your voice.
Lesson Plan
Worldstories objective:
To share a story that helps us to understand more about
other people.
18
Possible objectives for literacy learning at different levels:
Choose and tailor objectives to suit individual student’s needs and provide
them with a learning challenge.
P1 To encounter sensory experiences relating to the story of Anansi.
P2 To react to sensory experiences relating to the story of Anansi.
P3 To participate in sharing the story of Anansi, concentrating on aspects of the
story for short periods.
P4 To use single words, signs or symbols in relating to the story of Anansi, e.g.
“Wet,” “Spider.”
P5 To respond to the story of Anansi by combining two key ideas or concepts
together, e.g. “Spider dinner,” “leg pull.”
P6 To initiate and maintain a short conversation with a peer or adult about the
story of Anansi.
P7 To contribute appropriately to a discussion about the story of Anansi.
P8 To link four key words, signs or symbols together when talking about the story
of Anansi, e.g. “Spider hungry, no wait.” or “Water washed the webs away.”
Sign ‘more’
If you want to explain to your students what greedy means
the sign for more will be helpful.
To sign more make a fist with one hand and cover it with the palm
of the other hand, allowing the fingers of the hand covering the fist
to curl down over the fist.
19
Lesson cue
Objects of reference and/or music.
Ideas for objects of reference
can be found after this lesson
plan

Choose one of the stimuli to act as your object of reference.

Youtube has ‘Anansi’s music’, or you could try ‘The Spider
Dance,’ there is even some violin music played on spiderweb
strings.
http://www.rmc.edu/academics/sociology/ghana%20website/
akanwebsites/akanindex.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcWvLsB18Es
Circle
“Today we are going to share a story which will help us understand
more about other people.
This is a traditional Akan story.”
You may want to show photos to explain who the Akan are.
Share the sensory story.
Moving activity
“We can remember the story using our heads, or using our bodies.
Let’s try remembering the story using our bodies.”
Students can act out the story as you re-tell it, or they can join you
in performing the movement sequence which accompanies this story.
20
Focus activity
Options:
o
Re-explore the sensory story in a small group.
o
Order symbols relating to the story.
o
Re-tell the story to a peer or adult, use the sensory stimulus if
you want.
o
Record the story; tell the story to a video camera or vocal
recording device.
o
Identify what happens in the start, middle and end of the story.
You can use symbols, pictures, objects from the story to
facilitate this activity.
o
Identify happy/sad parts of the story. This can be done by
matching symbols of the stories to the symbols for happy or sad,
or by responding to the question “When was Anansi happy?”, or
by drawing happy/sad faces onto pictures from the story.
o
An activity from the additional learning activities suggested in
this pack.
Adults working with students need to be aware of their individual
objectives so that they can facilitate their achievement, as well as the
achievement of the Worldstories’ objective, through these activities.
Asking questions such as “What happened in the story?” “Can you
tell me the story?” “What happened next?” “What happened at the start?”
etc will encourage students to focus on communicating and retelling the
story.
21
Circle:
Share and celebrate you work. Ask students about the story.
“Which bit was your favourite part?”
“Was Anansi happy or sad when he felt a tug on his leg?”
Draw out significant learning: “This is a story Akan children enjoy,
did we enjoy it?” Anansi didn’t like to wait, do you like to wait? Do you
think other people like to wait?
Give each student the opportunity to respond in a way appropriate
to them, for some students this might be reaching for a particular object,
to demonstrate their favourite part of the story, for others it could be
selecting a symbol from a choice of 2 or 3, for others it may be a verbal
response.
Share the sensory story again, allow greater student
participation if appropriate. For example by pausing and asking “What
happens next?” or “How does Anansi feel?” or “Would you like that?”
Objects of reference.
For students operating at P levels 1 – 3 you may want to use objects
of reference to let them know what they will be learning about. An easy
way to do this is to buy a pack of toy spiders, prior to starting the lesson
hand each student a spider. This is a way of telling them through an object:
“Come over to the circle, because next we’re going to be doing the Anansi
story.”
For students operating at P levels 4-8 if you buy a pack of toy spiders
you can use these as a way of signalling the start of the lesson and of
signalling change within it. To start the lesson give each student a spider,
they must then bring these and place them in a bag (or better still on a
spider web) in the middle of the circle. You could add an auditory cue to
this to make it more fun, e.g. everyone has to have their spiders in the bag
and be sitting down before the music finishes.
You can then re-use this cue throughout the lesson to gather
students back into the circle.
22
Assessment ladder
Use this ladder as a guide when assessing your student’s learning.
The statements in this ladder are indicative of possible learning at each
P level. Actual learning will be personal to each student.
P8
I used four symbols to tell a section of the story: “Anansi, wet, legs,
long.”
I used a possessive saying: Anansi’s legs.
The statement
P7
I used simple phrases to tell the story, “No wait and help.”
I can use ‘and’ to tell you more. “Got wet, and long legs!”
P6
I asked a simple question about the stimuli, “What’s that?”
When asked where my hand was I said “In water.”
P5
I combined two words together, saying, “Wet hand!” in response to the
water stimuli. I said it again when I wasn’t understood.
P4
I copied the sign for ‘Wait.’
I said ‘No’ when offered the water, expressing my dislike of getting wet!
P3
I reached for the water to splash my hand into it.
I explored the balloon as it stretched by focusing my attention on it.
P2
I was happy to have help to explore the stimuli.
I was interested in the Anansi puppet.
P1
I encountered the smell of cooking.
I reacted to the cold water.
23
Additional learning activities
Science:
Stretch or Snap – What would happen if Anansi’s legs were made of ....?
Paper, Elastic bands, twigs, fabric, tin foil etc – explore the properties of
different materials.
Dissolving – Anansi’s web washes away in water, discover what things
dissolve or wash away in water.
Food – Find out what the animals in the story really eat. Compare what you
find to what the animals eat in the story, are there any similarities?
Art/Technology:
Junk model Anansi – choose stretchy materials for legs.
Model Anansi with clay – choose whether you are modelling Anansi from the
start of the story, or from the end. Roll the clay for Anansi’s legs according
to your choice.
Maths:
Look at counting to eight. Count the number of legs on the other animals in
the story. How many legs in the whole story?
Food technology:
Cook the different meals featured in the story, explore the different tastes.
Make Anansi biscuits – roll the dough for the legs to show whether the
biscuit is Anansi before or after his adventures in the story.
24
PSHE:
Look at the concepts of ‘Wait’ ‘Help’ and ‘No.’ Have students experience
simple situations where they have to practise waiting – e.g. before playing
with a toy. Do the same with ‘Help’ and ‘No.’ Have a student ask for help
and another student say No – how does it feel? Repeat the situation but this
time help. Think about the story, would Anansi’s friends have felt happier if
he had waited and agreed to help?
Geography:
Find out about the Akan: Where are they from? How do they live? What do
they eat? What is the same, what is different, about our lives?
PE:
Warm up by moving like the different animals in the story. Retell the story
using movements. Develop the movement sequence into a dance.
Literacy:
Compare the story to other stories we know about Spiders: e.g. Incy Wincy
Spider. Compare the story to other stories with similar themes: e.g.
Kipling’s Just So Stories. What is the same? What is different? Which story
do you like best? Why?
Literacy-Role play/Technology:
Use a black glove to form the basis of a spider puppet, add extra legs from
the other glove in the pair and stick a black pom pom or fur ball ontop to
make a spider’s body. Add eight googly eyes.
Now you have your own Anansi puppet use it to act out the story. The
puppet could walk in turn to each animal featured in the story and then
jump into a river. Have fun! Look up other Anansi stories – he got up to a
lot of mischief!
25
Movement Sequence
These movements have been designed to be possible to do seated. Moving
whilst telling the story assists memory, it also means that students who aren’t able
to express themselves verbally have the option of telling the story through
movements.
You may choose to develop and embellish these movements to form a dance
piece.
Anansi was a greedy spider
Place both your hands on your belly.
One day Anansi’s friend Rabbit said, “Wait and help, and you can have
some dinner.”
Hold both your hands up, elbows level with shoulders, fingers straight.
“No,” said Anansi. He used some web to tie his leg to Rabbit’s cooking pot.
“Pull my leg when dinner is done.”
Keep your hands where they are, and shake your head vigorously.
Repeat these three movements for each animal: Belly, Hands, Head!
A great way of developing this sequence of movements would be to add an
action in for each animal to distinguish these sets of movements.
At dinner time Anansi felt a tug on one of his legs. ‘Mmm, dinner’s ready!’
thought Anansi, ‘and I didn’t have to wait or help!’
Extend one limb, as if it has been tugged straight.
Anansi felt another tug, and another, and another, and another, and
another, and another, and another!
26
Extend each remaining limb in turn, ending up in a star shape. This can be done
seated with legs extended forward. You can even try and lengthen your neck!
Anansi’s legs began to stretch and stretch.
Staying in your star shape stretch to reach as far as you can.
Anansi dragged himself to the river and jumped in.
Drop suddenly into a small ball.
The webs washed away. Anansi had no dinner...but he did have eight
skinny legs!
Uncurl yourself slowly and check you limbs.
Key Signs
The following descriptions are based on Makaton and British sign
language and are intended as guides.
To sign more accurately please look at Makaton, or British Sign
Language resources.
If you have students whose main form of communication is sign
language then you may want to sign the entire story.
With students who are not using sign language as their prime mode of
communication using a few key signs can highlight meaning and encourage
attention on pertinent parts of the story.
27
Dinner
Hold your forefinger straight against your middle finger on both
hands, ball up the rest of your fingers, now mime eating using your
pairs of fingers as cutlery.
Fox
Hold you hand in front of your nose in the shape you would make if
causing a sock puppet to have an open mouth. Move your hand
away from your face, downwards, and bring your fingertips
together. This indicates the fox’s pointed face.
Greedy
Hold your hand in a fist, so that if you opened it the palm would
face you. By twisting from the wrist graze your knuckles in small
movements against your chin.
Hare
Hold your forefingers straight against your middle fingers (these
are the hare’s ears). Hold your hands near your head (but not
touching) and, keeping your fingers straight, move your fingers
back and forth.
Help
Hold you fist on a plate made by your other hand and raise both
hands together, towards you.
Hog
You could finger spell Hog, or use the sign for pig.
To sign pig, hold a fist in front of your nose and make small circles,
brushing your nose with your fist on each loop.
To finger spell hog, hold your flat palms together at 90 degrees
from one another and slide the upper hand along and off the
fingers of the lower hand – H
Hold all five fingers on your left hand open and straight, use your
right hand to point to your ring finger – O
Make two fists and move them so that they touch (in the manner
of one potato two potato – if you are familiar with this playground
rhyme). – G
Jumped
Stand two fingers on the palm of one hand and ‘jump’ them off.
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Monkey
Mime monkey by curling your arms under each other as if to
scratch your own arm pits!
Mouse
Point with your forefinger, hold the tip of the finger against your
nostril at 90 degrees to the upright of your nose, twist your finger
in the movement it would make were it a screwdriver screwing a
screw into your nostril!
No
Hold up a hand with the flat of the palm facing away from you,
move it sharply along the horizontal plane away from your body.
Rabbit
The sign for Rabbit is the same as that for Hare.
Spider
Claw the fingers of one hand and hold them above the wrist of
your other hand. Twisting from the wrist waggle the clawed hand
whilst moving it upwards along the arm until it above the elbow.
Squirrel
Hold you right hand at your hip as if it’s fingers were resting
around the base of an imaginary tail, draw it upwards, arching over
at shoulder height so that it ends palm up, as if stroking your tail
into place.
Tortoise
Make one hand into a fist, extend the forefinger but keep it slightly
bent. Place the other hand over the top of this hand like a blanket.
The extended finger is the tortoise’s head, the hand over the top is
his shell.
Wait
Hold up a hand with the palm facing away from you, as if saying
stop, keep it there. You can let it move forward and backward
gently in a pulsing movement.
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Key Symbols
If you have access to a symbol bank you may wish to support student’s
comprehension by printing/selecting some key symbols to support the telling of
this story.
You could support understanding by having a Velcro strip on display whilst
you are telling the story, and velcroing on story symbols as you tell the story.
You could equip individual students with symbols relating to the story for
them to order (showing their ability to re-tell the story) or use to answer
questions, e.g. if you ask what comes next the student could respond by giving
you the next symbol in the sequence.
Suggested symbols are given in the table below, you may wish to tailor
your choice of symbols to suit the needs of particular students.
For students who can manage a small
Spider. Dinner. Wait. No.
symbol vocabulary.
For students who can manage a larger
Spider, - The other animals: Rabbit,
symbol vocabulary.
Hare, Hog, Squirrel, Tortoise, Fox,
Mouse, Monkey.
Dinner. Wait. Help. No.
For students who can manage a more
As above, but include connectives as
complex symbol vocabulary.
well as symbols representing concepts
e.g. stretched.
If you do not have access to a symbol bank you may choose to use
photographs or the Worldstories symbols instead.
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Photographs – If you are able to enact the story using props, as you will when
telling the story, you could take photographs of key points of the story and use
these in place of symbols.
Suggested photos:
Spider
Rabbit
Cooking pot
Web being tied
The other animals:
Stretch
tortoise, hare, hog,
squirrel, monkey, mouse,
fox.
River – your spider in a
Fat legs
Skinny legs
bucket of water!
Worldstories symbols.
We have created a few simple symbols for you to use. You may prefer to
create your own. Please don’t use these symbols if you have access to a symbol
bank that students are already familiar with.
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Spider (with skinny legs)
Spider (with fat legs)
Tied
Cooking pot
River
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Display
The Anansi shield can make a great interactive centre piece to a display.
Creating a classroom display can reinforce learning and encourage students to
re-tell the story to others whilst celebrating the work they have already done.
Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.
Pictures of the animals and their cooking pots
The story written by students
Student's work/
Photographs
Threads available to pull
 Mount the Anansi shield in the centre of a display board, you might be
able to do this so that the threads were available to pull and people could
interact with the display making Anansi’s legs stretch.
 Students could write out sections of the story, these could be added to the
shield to create a web effect.
 Photographs of students sharing the story and any work they have
produced could be displayed around this centre piece.
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Feedback target
This activity is designed to enable your students to let you know how much
they enjoyed the story of Anansi.
You can prepare the target for your students, the benefit to doing this is it
will make the time spent giving feedback quicker.
Or
You can prepare the target with your students, the benefit to doing this will
mean students have a greater understanding of the tool.
Preparation:
Place a photo of the student in the centre of the target, where the face
symbol is currently..
Select images of items the student loves, likes, knows about, and is completely
disinterested in. Place these appropriately on the target.
Try to use things that are similar to the story of Anansi, e.g. books and
activities in school, so that students aren’t confused into thinking items are being
grouped by topic e.g. all people in the middle, all toys on the outside.
An example of a pre-prepared target has been provided.
To use:
Show your students their personalized targets. Allow them time to look at it,
and talk about where things are to be placed.
Give students an image representing the Anansi story or a photo of
themselves engaging with the Anansi story and ask them to stick it onto the target
where it belongs.
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Feedback target
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(The author’s feedback target)
We hope you’ve
enjoyed sharing
Anansi’s story.
Please let us know
how you got on!
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