We watched an animated video about the way that a spider uses its web to determine whether or not whatever lands onto its web is prey or a potential mate.
I told a Cherokee creation story about Grandmother Spider, who brought sun to the dark side of the Earth. The students were able to make pinch pots just as Grandmother Spider did in the story.
We made a giant spider web by rolling a ball of colorful yarn back and forth, to and fro, between each other. This provided a great sense of team and community and the students loved it.
We finished by making glow in the dark spider art and later the students were able to paint their very own spider bodies made of clay.