Upper Prep Immersed in Spider Learning

Upper Prep pupils were excited when a garden spider took up residence in their classroom window this term, and their teachers took the opportunity to engage in some immersive learning about spiders. Giving their new friend the very fitting name ‘Spidey’, the pupils spent some time during the first weeks of school simply observing her appearance and habits. They then created a bulletin board that included a variety of spider-related artefacts they had created, along with facts that they learned about garden spiders either through their own observations (her stripy legs, sticky web, brown body, and spotty back) or through investigation. Did you know that many spiders have eight eyes, hear with their hairs, and make a new web every day? The pupils also noticed some of her interesting habits over time, like how she would hide when the children were noisy (a behaviour we can all understand). Spidey has since moved on—we suspect she is now teaching a classroom full of children at another school. But the real-life, experiential learning provided by her presence, and the new knowledge and ideas that she introduced to the children, are sure to be as sticky as a spider’s web!