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Also TryLesson PlansNews
- Spider Lesson Plans (SEDL)
Provides lessons. 08-12
Papers
- Spiders and Scorpions (ExploringNature.org)
Provides resources on spiders and scorpions. 08-12
- Background on Spiders
"This unit will help children appreciate the place spiders have in the world and will lessen the fear of spiders caused by misunderstandings. They will begin activities such as building a spider habitat, constructing a web and reading about spiders to develop the theme. There are more than 30,000 different types of spiders known to scientists! Most of them are very tiny animals that help people by eating insects. The banana spider, the trap-door spider, the purse-web spider, the garden spider, and the grass spider are just a few of the interesting animals we're going to learn about." 08-12
- Dangerous Spider Identification (Termite.com)
"Spider identification of venomous and dangerous spiders most commonly found in homes, their habitat areas, venom toxicity and spider bite first aid procedures." 08-12
- Goliath Spiders (CBS News)
"Known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), the colossal arachnid is the world's largest spider, according to Guinness World Records. Its leg span can reach up to a foot (30 centimeters), or about the size of 'a child's forearm,' with a body the size of 'a large fist,' Naskrecki told Live Science. And the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. (170 grams) -- about as much as a young puppy, the scientist wrote on his blog." 10-14
- New Spider Identified (PBS.org)
"The Trogloraptor is at once a new species, genus and family of spider."
"The new discovery, published on Friday in the journal Zookeys, marks the first time any North American spider species previously unknown to science has required its own family since 1890." 08-12
- New Spider Species Found (National Geographic.com)
Describes a new species of spider that mysteriously weaves almost perfect webs. 08-12
- Spider 100 Million Years Old Found in Amber (CBS News)
"Like an old photograph, a 100-million-year-old fossil has captured something extraordinary from time: A battle involving a spider attacking its prey." 10-12
- Spider 49 Million Years Old Found in Amber (FoxNews.com)
"The latest computer-imaging technology has produce this stunning three-dimensional picture of a spider trapped for 49 million years in an opaque piece of fossilized amber resin." 08-12
- Spider-Man and Real Spider Powers (National Geographic.com)
"With Spider-Man, the world's most famous web-slinger returning to the movie screens June 30, spiders everywhere may be readying their webs for a bit more attention. But how do our red-and-blue hero's capabilities compare with the superpowers of real spiders?" 08-12
- Spiders (Wikipedia.org)
"Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms.[1] Spiders are found worldwide on every continent except for Antarctica, and have become established in nearly every habitat with the exception of air and sea colonization. As of 2008, approximately 40,000 spider species, and 109 families have been recorded by taxonomists;[2] however, there has been confusion within the scientific community as to how all these families should be classified, as evidenced by the over 20 different classifications that have been proposed since 1900.[3]"
"Anatomically, spiders differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel. Unlike insects, spiders do not have antennae. In all except the most primitive group, the Mesothelae, spiders have the most centralized nervous systems of all arthropods, as all their ganglia are fused into one mass in the cephalothorax. Unlike most arthropods, spiders have no extensor muscles in their limbs and instead extend them by hydraulic pressure." 08-12
- Virus Steals Genetic Code of Spider Poison (NewScientist.com)
"In one of the most unexpected genetic thefts ever, a virus that infects bacteria appears to have stolen the gene coding for the poison of the black widow spiders. The virus, named WO, probably uses the gene to help it attack its targets." 10-16
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