[ THE SPIDER AND THE KEYHOLE ]
AUTHOR: LEONARDO DA VINCI
AUTHOR: LEONARDO DA VINCI
Embedded Files
Here you will find: ► Illustration ► Fable (text, audio, video) ► Lesson plan
Having explored the whole house, both inside and outside, a spider decided to hide in a keyhole.
“What a perfect hiding place!” she thought. Who would ever imagine that there was a spider there? Also, it could peep outside and see everything that was going on.
“Up there,” the spider said to herself, looking up at the top of the door, “I’ll make a web to catch flies. Down there,” it added, examining a step, “I’ll weave another web for the little beetles. Here, beside the door, I’ll set up a tiny little web for the mosquitoes.”
The spider felt overjoyed. The keyhole brought her a wonderful new sense of security. It was so narrow, so dark, and it was coated in iron. It seemed to be more impenetrable than a fortress, more solid than any armor.
Immersed in pleasant thoughts, the spider heard the sound of footsteps approaching, so she ran back to the depths of her hideaway.
However, she had completely forgotten that the keyhole was not meant to be her home. The legitimate owner of the hole, the key, was inserted in the hole, and our poor friend was evicted.
[ LESSON PLAN AND RESOURCES ]
[ LESSON PLAN AND RESOURCES ]
PEDAGOGICAL AIMS
PEDAGOGICAL AIMS
Self-Management
[ Setting personal and collective goals ]
SPECIFIC ABILITY
To take others’ perspectives
MAKER CAPACITY
Building the maker’s identity - Being aware of the projected dimension of objects and systems, their purposes and intentions
THE ENVIRONMENT
The school as a space of self-care
1) ACTIVATE TO ENGAGE
1) ACTIVATE TO ENGAGE
As soon as the students arrive, do an emotional check-in and record how they are feeling. Devote time to active listening and allow them to explain the reasons why they are feeling that way. You may write down some of the things they say and post them in visible places. The idea is to relive this moment later.
Scatter spider webs around the room and invite students to play with them. You may place the webs on the door, or make railings where to hang them using chairs, or even place them on tables. When the students arrive, ask them: “Who do you think did this? Why do you think so?”
Images: 1. BUGGY AND BUDDY | 2. MESSY MOTHERHOOD
Let the students explore the webs for a while. Then gather them together and ask them: “How are you feeling now?” Note down their answers and compare them to the check-in done earlier. Do they feel the same way? Different? Then ask: “Why do you think this happened?”
Refer them back to the spider webs and ask: “What kind of animals make webs? What kind of animals make white webs? What kind of animals make thin white webs? That’s right! Spiders!”
2) PLAY TO CREATE:
2) PLAY TO CREATE:
ASK: “How does a spider weave its web?” ”
Show them a video and ask them to pay attention to the movements. Are they random or repetitive? Do they go in a specific direction?What shapes can students see? Do the movements begin in the center or in the corners?
Give your students a set of pieces of cardboard with holes for them to try and sew on using wool and needles, as if they were spiders. Check this great reference HERE.
After the students have played spider for a while, making their own webs, do the emotional check-in again. Ask if they felt delighted or frustrated, happy or sad. Always take notes in order to compare and reflect on the emotions displayed at every stage of the lesson.
Next, give your students a collective goal. Get them together and ask if they can make a web connecting all the students. Say: “Could we make a spider web that contains an object? Something to trap insects and toys among other things?” The students will then take it in turns to play the role of spider and dance to the song “Ms Spider”.
Have your students share with the group how this experience made them feel. Then tell them that they are going to listen to a story about a spider that was homeless and was looking for the perfect place to build its web.
Get ready for the story!
Ask your group if anyone has ever heard of the fable The Spider and the Keyhole. Next, show them the illustrations available on Aperte o Play. The teacher may either tell the story to the class or present the audiobook version of the fable. These are different reading challenges: while the former encompasses listening to an audiobook without the aid of images, the latter relies on the teacher performing a storytelling session of the fable, duly supported by illustrations. A third option allows the teacher to press play for the students to listen to the recorded story, either in English or in Portuguese, while showing scenes of the fable. Choose the one that suits your group best!
Image: Teach Preschool
Throughout the story use the following thinking routine to check comprehension: THINK - FEEL - CARE: THINK: What is the character doing? How do you know that? | FEEL: What is the character doing? How do you know that? | FEEL: If you were the character, how would you feel? Why do you think you would feel that way? | CARE: If you were the character, what would you want? What would be important to you?
“What if we could make a safe place for the spider?” Give your students a few cardboard squares and ask: “How can we make a super spider web? What can we build to make the spider feel safe and protected?” Get the children to work in pairs.
Image: Fun at home with kids
3) REFLECT TO SHARE
3) REFLECT TO SHARE
Ask your students where they go when they want to feel safe. Do they feel safe and protected in school? Why? Why not?
Ask the children to draw their “safe haven” on a piece of cardboard, using a black crayon. After they have finished, they can hang their drawings on the spider webs they created in the previous activity. They can also draw webs on their own work. In order to do that, they can punch holes on their drawing with a Phillips-head screwdriver, a drill, or a Dremel tool. Alternatively, they can use a thick-point marker to draw on a piece of buckram.
Images: 1. IHANA | 2. TODAY’S CREATIVE LIFE | 3. CHILDHOOD 101
What if we could create a space in our classroom or in any other place where we could feel safe and protected? Where would this place be? Should we hang a few drawings on the walls in this place to remind us of what makes us feel protected? What would this place need to have? Let’s create our Zen Zone.
ASK
“What did you know before? What do you know now?”
Image: Bored Teachers
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