Spiders get kids attention. A super simple spider art accent inspired this writing prompt. Remember that the easy art accents are highly motivating to students and reward them for their work!
Because of that, they’re meant to be completed AFTER the child has finished his/her piece of writing.
Spiders From Thumb Prints
For this spider art accent, all you need is an ink pad (or black paint), a child’s thumb and a marker!
HERE ARE THE STEPS
- The child puts his/her thumb on the ink pad and then makes 10 thumb prints around the border.
2. The child uses a marker to draw 8 legs on each spider.
3. Done! Here’s a sample for you to print out and hang.
You can use any color you want for the spiders and the legs. I completed this writing prompt with my 1st Grade son. To keep it simple, I got out a black ink pad and a black marker. No questions asked, my son was excited! But, you can certainly offer other colors if you’d like.
Accompanies Any Writing Prompt About Spiders
Also, this art accent can accompany ANY writing piece about spiders (non-fiction, creative story, opinion piece etc.). I decided to use it with poetry for this blog post.
Common Core State Standards:
NOTE: This lesson can address the following Common Core State Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.A.
NOW FOR THE RHYME!
Okay. Kids love rhyme. They like to hear it and they like to read it. But, in all reality, it’s tricky for them to write.
This writing lesson spells out the steps that I use to help kids write poems that rhyme. I completed this particular lesson with my 1st Grade son (see images below).
I use this same format in the Calendar Page-Rhyming Couplets and Quatrains lesson.
Tell the Story Line:
- First, explain to your writers that they’re going to write a rhyming poem about 10 black spiders.
Brainstorm
2. Second, ask the children to give you a list of things that the spiders crawl up, down, on, through, behind, around, in or under. Encourage them to think of things that are easy to rhyme with. Write their responses on the board.
3. Now, ask the children to tell you which words are easiest to rhyme with. List those words horizontally. Draw a rectangle around them.
4. Fourth, have the children tell you words that rhyme with each word. List their responses under each word.
5. Fifth, have the children create a two or 4 line poem using two words that rhyme.
Younger Children
This is where the younger children will need help. Many older children need guidance as well. The children will easily come up with a poem using two rhyming words. But often times their poem is way too long and lacks rhythm.
For example, my 1st Grade son originally said, “10 black spiders crawling up the door. 10 black spiders crawling down the door, slip and roll on the floor.”
I could have let my son write that. It was his very own creative idea and super cute for a first grader! And you can stop there with your young writers also!
Older Children
Simply for the sake of teaching and telling you how I teach older writers, I took it a step further when conducting this lesson with my son.
I pointed out that he was using the word door twice. Then, I asked him, how can we just use door and floor one time each? How can we shorten the poem so it has rhythm with the rhyme?
He thought about it, then came up with:
“Ten black spiders crawling up the door. Ten black spiders slip and fall to the floor.”
Great! That’s what he wrote.
Advanced Writers
If you want to get more technical with older or advanced students, you can have your writers maintain the same number of syllables in each line to create a steady rhythm. With older, more advanced writers I would do this. But with younger ones, my goal is to help them write two lines that rhyme.
Print the Lesson
Here’s the full lesson for you to print out and use.
EASY ART ACCENTS
For this lesson, I used bordered paper with no lines. Once the children are finished writing their poem, they can thumb print their 10 spiders! (Scroll back to the beginning of this post)
Student Samples
Here’s my son’s completed work. He took it a step further and added the webs.
Here’s another child’s sample:
GAMES TO PLAY!
Brainstorm. Erase. Guess. (Talking Game #3) Brainstorm kinds of spiders!
Have the categories be rooms where spiders are found (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room, garage etc.). Children list items found in each room.
Spider Science
Take this lesson a step further and incorporate spider science. For years, I’ve been following the master of all things slime and Science at Little Bins for Little Hands.
