Lesson Plan: Anansi the Spider, Folktales, and Literacy

Have I told you I love collaborating?

My 2nd graders are studying spiders in Science and folktales in English/Language Arts. The 2nd grade teachers and I have been actively collaborating all year. Here is a great little lesson that incorporates Science standards, ELA standards, and Visual Arts Standards.

PROCESS

1. Read Anansi the Spider: A Tale of the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott (available online here)

2. Review who, what, when, where, and why (slides 1-6 of companion presentation)

3. Examine the textile work of the Ashanti people and discuss repetition and geometric shapes (slides 7-14 of companion presentation)

4. Read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons

5. Examine the online resource / ppt about phases of the moon available here (focus on “full moon” slide 7)

6. Examine the purpose and shape of the moon (slides 15-18 of the companion presentation)

7. Review the shapes used for Anansi and his web (slide 19 of the companion presentation)

8. Go through the steps 1-5 to make the artwork (slides 20-26 of the companion presentation)

Here is the companion guide (reference and linked to above) that I made for this lesson):

Anansi the spider companion guide from ksumatarted

Here are pictures of the work in process (if you scroll through the companion guide it makes more sense!):

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