Possible Written Outcomes or Incidental Writing Opportunities
  • Sentences based on model in text - Look at me! I can…
  • Thought bubbles
  • Retelling of story oral or written, as appropriate
  • Labelling spider or other mini-beast or creature
  • Captions as above
  • Fact box on spider or other creatures
  • Write story with another creature wanting to be a family pet
  • Spider poems
  • What I would like to have as a pet
  • Instructions - how to look after a …
/ YEAR 1
/ 1. Responding to the Text
  • Use front cover to predict what might be happening
  • Read up to page with the spider invasion and predict what they think may happen
  • Book talk: What did you like about the story? Was there anything you did not like?
  • Book talk: Does the story remind you of anything? Does it make you think of any questions?
  • Join in with repeated phrases in the book
  • Look at the double page of the silver spider webs. How does it make you feel? Can you think of any adjectives? What does it remind you of?
  • Read other spider stories and rhymes

Hook
  • Pets visiting school with owners
  • Visit from “zoo man” or to a zoo
  • Go on a web or spider hunt
  • Turn role play area/book corner into a web

2. Capturing Ideas
  • What might the world look like from a spider’s point of view? Draw classroom or other room from spider’s point of view
  • Think of questions and hot seat spider and/or family members
  • Think about why people are afraid of spiders?
  • What other creatures might people be afraid of Why?
  • Gather facts about spiders for display
  • Story map - annotate with key language. Use for oral retelling
  • Create story map for story with different creature - annotate with key language. Use for oral retelling
  • Role play story using puppets, small world resources etc
  • Choosing an animal the y would like as a pet and saying why. Sentence structure identified - I would like a … because …
/ Sentence Games (use throughout unit)
  • Sentence not a sentence game
  • Human sentences
  • Action verb game - children act out movement verbs and rehearse sentences
  • Chain writing with spiders/webs as starting point, using features appropriate to year group
  • Conjunction game with identified conjunctions as appropriate
/ 3. Contextualised Grammar Teaching
  • Concept of a sentence
  • Joining extending sentences with identified conjunctions as appropriate
  • Using well-chosen verbs and adjectives to describe spiders/webs/movement

Guided Reading Possibilities
  • Look at non-fiction texts about spiders and other mini-beasts
  • Read other books about mini-beasts - The Very Hungry Caterpillar and others by Eric Carle, The Snail and The Whale by Julia Donaldson and the Anansi stories
  • Identify and discuss features of text type for final written outcome. Level of text can be pitched at each groups’ level, ensuring both access and challenge.