Bugs/Insects - Day 2 (spiders and ladybugs/beetles)

Over the weekend we had a good start to our next bug unit - I was actually able to show Georgie a live spider.  He was black, about 1 1/2" long and sitting in our bathtub.  Since our tub is white, it was real easy to see the two body segments and eight legs.  Georgie thought it was really cool.  Mommy was less thrilled and after we were done studying the spider, including touching him slightly with a tissue so he would move, we called in Daddy to take care of him.

We started with Spiders.  First we discussed how they were not insects (8 legs instead of 6, 2 body segments instead of 3).  We did a Fact File coloring page and a spider-themed connect-the-dots from the Learning Page.   Georgie is getting really good at coloring within the lines and loves making colorful drawings.  Even Vicki did a little bit in the lines this time instead of just scribbling.

We read Little Miss Spider by David Kirk and The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Bugs.  We read the Magic School Bus book on Day 1 but I'm going to re-read the sections on the individual types of bugs each day as we cover them.   Today we just re-read the section on Spiders.

We painted styrofoam balls to look like spiders and added pipe cleaner legs.  I used a large and medium sized ball to give the spiders two body parts.  I ended up attaching them together using a craft stick broken in fourths since the glue wasn't holding very well.   Georgie gave his spider a smiley face.

We did two magnet/dot pages from Making Learning Fun.  The kids enjoy doing these and they usually cover a letter or number so provide a little extra for Vicki.   I decided to pull out the dot painters to do them this time.  Georgie was very careful doing his.  Vicki kept squeezing the dot painters and making globs of paint.  Thankfully she's not too strong since we still have blue paint on the ceiling of the dining room from when we first bought these and Mommy squeezed one trying to get the paint started.

We watched The Magic School Bus Spins a Web.  The kids love Magic School Bus and we have all 52 episodes DVR'd so we can watch them when they fit in to our themes. 

After watching the MSB and discussing webs, we made our own spider webs.  We laced string through a paper plate with the center cut out and holes punched around the edge. When they were done, we glued a spider on the web.

After Spiders, we discussed Ladybugs and other beetles.   First we read the Scholastic First Discovery - Ladybugs and Other Insects.   Then we looked at a page on Ladybugs in one of our Your Big Backyard magazines (June 2009 issue).   We also read the section on Ladybugs in the Scholastic Encyclopedia of Animals.

We did a color matching page from Teacher Book Bags (available from Currclick) and attempted another magnet/dot page from Making Learning Fun.  This time we went for gluing on punched circles.  Vicki had so much glue on her page, it looked white.  Georgie kept sorting the punched circles by pattern (I made a bunch of different ones from scrapbook papers).

We made a ladybug with movable wings by using two paper plates and a pronged fastener.  We also made a ladybug by gluing together parts cut out of construction paper.   I think they were starting to get tired by this point since neither of them showed that much interest in these projects.  This was pretty much the end of "school" for the day.

Since kids were starting to get tired, I pulled out the stampers. They both love using these and they can be as creative (or not) as they want to be. Georgie usually tells stories as he's stamping. Today's was about a butterfly chasing a dinosaur.   I again made the mistake of leaving the room while they were working and returned to find Vicki had once again decorated her face.  She's always so proud of herself.

Planning Ahead(?):  Anyone paying attention will notice that I'm no longer following the plan I had on Bugs/Insects Day 1, which was to do a bug-type a day.  We ended up a little behind due to our museum trip on Friday.  We also don't do too much on Mondays since we spend the whole day running back and forth to the YMCA for classes and we have to go out early to take Steph to dance.  We have classes again on Wednesday so I think the new plan is Spiders/Ladybugs-Beetles on Tuesday (Yeah! we stuck with our plan for one day, LOL); Ants on Wednesday (it's a pretty short unit so should fit in okay around our classes), Bumblebees and start Caterpillars/Butterflies on Thursday and finish Caterpillars/Butterflies on Friday (this is probably our biggest section).

Next week we'll be doing a Colors/Artists unit.  These were originally going to be a week each but Georgie is leaving the end of that week for a week's vacation with Granny Franny.  When he comes back we're going to do St. Patrick's Day/Ireland.
I just wanted to share something I overheard the other day between the two kids.   I thought that it was a pretty sophisticated conversation for a 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 year old besides being hilarious:

Vicki: "knock knock" George: "who's there" Vicki:"duck" George: "duck who?" Vicki: "Quack quack" George: "that's not funny ducks are supposed to go quack".

Vicki:"knock knock" George: "who's there" Vicki: "apple" George: "apple who?" Vicki: "hen" George: "ha ha ha apple hen that's so funny!!!"