Spider Gets Wider
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Objective
Read and write words that end with the r-controlled vowel combination -er.
Lesson Plan
Target Words:
- wider
- rider
- spider
- slider
- strider
- creeper
Materials:
- A balloon
- String
- Picture of a spider*
- Word-building cards*
- A Spider Gets Wider and Wider target text*
- A Spider Can be a Rider target text*
*Items included below.
State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will watch a spider get wider and read and write words that end in -er, such as spider, wider, rider, glider, slider, and walker.
Literacy Activities
Introduce target words
- Display a list of target words that end in er.
- Read the words with the children.
- Read A Spider Gets Wider and Wider target text (see below) with the children and have them underline words that end in -er.
Watch a spider get wider
- Draw a picture of a spider on a balloon.
- Blow up the balloon little by little and show how the spider gets wider and wider.
- Have the children write “The spider gets wider and wider.”
Watch the spider be a rider
- Read A Spider Can Be a Rider (see below) and have the children act out the text using the following prompts:
- Rider: Hold the string for the spider and make the spider ride a child's shoulder.
- Flyer or glider: Make the spider glide through the air.
- Slider: Make the spider slide along the ground or slide down a child’s arm or leg.
- Strider or walker: Make the spider walk or stride along a piece of paper.
Identify and make words with -er
- Write words that end in -er for the children to see (e.g., spider, wider, strider, glider, slider, rider, ripper creeper; slipper, snapper, fatter, patter, splatter, matter, faker, maker, striker, and strider).
- Have the children put word-building cards together (see below) to recreate words ending in er (e.g., fa + ker → faker and pat + ter → patter).
SEEL Target Texts
A Spider Gets Wider and Wider
There was once a spider who loved peach cobbler.
It loved it so much that it became quite a gobbler.
It ate and ate and grew fatter and fatter.
It grew wider and wider.
Oh, what was the matter?
The poor spider needs to get thinner and thinner.
It should not eat peach cobbler for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
A Spider Can Be a Rider
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http://education.byu.edu/seel/library/
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Spider Gets Wider