Arachnid wrangler

Today we started the Arachnid unit in our science curriculum. I had pulled a bunch of books about spiders to show the children the eight legs and two body parts that make up a spider. I was excited about this unit but the photos were about as close as I wanted to get to the real thing. I begin the lesson by explaining that we are going to look closely at a spider to identify it's body parts and start to get out the books and photos I had collected.

BirdMan leaps up and says, "I know where there's a spider!" He walks about two feet from where he is sitting and says, "See, mom, right here!" Sure enough, in the corner of the room was a spider and its web.

At this point I'm seriously considering what this means about my housekeeping skills and nothing positive springs to mind. RocketMan brings me a container and hands it to me expectantly.

That's when it hits me. They want me to PICK UP this spider and place it in a container! I notice my heart rate has just skyrockted as I say to myself, "Well, I'm a grownup, surely I can do this without freaking out and embarrassing my children."

A few minor squeals later, the spider is in the container and three children are armed with magnifying glasses excitedly counting legs and body parts. Not the way I had planned our lesson but forget the photos and books, a real live critter is MUCH better.

Meanwhile, I'm dreading Thursday's lesson on ticks and scorpions. If BirdMan leaps up and declares he knows where one of those can be found, I'm bolting.