March 14 was Save A Spider Day. For our weekly Ready Readers lesson, I decided to teach my group the word mercy; that just because we are bigger and stronger than someone we should show them kindness and compassion. To teach this I used the book Awake by Mag DeRoma; where a girl is awakened by a spider and tries to come up with different ways to get rid of it. Following the read-aloud students were invited to attend a “Spider Relocation Workshop” that trains them on how to safely catch and release a spider, using the method illustrated below.

For our workshops we used pom-poms instead of real spiders. We also tried to use different materials around the classroom to replace the glass used to catch the spider and found that those sliding plastic pencil cases work very well too. Students were also asked to bring a kind heart and some courage; to remind them to treat every living thing with kindness even though they might be afraid of them.

Upon successfully completing the workshop, kids became official members of the Spider Protection Squad (SPS) and were awarded badges that they could personalize and decorate. They were also encouraged to cut out their badges and to go home and tape them to their wall so that all critters that might be passing by through their house, will know that they are a friend.