Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for The Spider and the Fly will find this post helpful. It includes resource recommendations, free teaching ideas, and information about the book. You’ll have everything you need to deliver engaging interactive read aloud lessons based on this story.
With themes of peer influence and self-regulation, this The Spider and the Fly picture book by Mary Howitt and Tony Diterlizzi is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. It will be a big hit in your classroom too! Learn more about this book below!
Engage Your Students with The Spider and the Fly Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of The Spider and the Fly. You can find it in the section below.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with The Spider and the Fly reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY SUMMARY
The story, The Spider and Fly, is about a cunning spider who is trying to trick Fly into his web. Spider tries many things to get Fly into his web. He says that he has a pretty parlor, that he cares for Fly, that he wouldn’t harm Fly, and serves her a meal. Through it all, Fly doesn’t let herself be tricked into his web.
However, Spider doesn’t give up and eventually starts giving Fly lots of compliments. He is finally about to trick her into his web and Fly learns an important lesson about not being vain.
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for The Spider and the Fly, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based The Spider and the Fly reading comprehension questions focus on:
- analyzing character
- identifying theme, message, and moral
- rhyme, rhythm, repetition
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- peer influence
- self-regulation
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- quotation marks
- synonyms
- types of sentences
THE SPIDER AND THE FLY ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for The Spider and the Fly?
- Lexile® Measure: NP0L
- Guided Reading Level: N/A
- DRA Level: N/A
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): N/A
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Mary Howitt and Tony Diterlizzi. It was illustrated by Tony Diterlizzi.
What genre is The Spider and the Fly?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 40 pages long.
