Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk, reflection by Emma Peel

"Miss Spider's Tea Party" by David Kirk is a brilliant children's book that could be incorporated into the classroom. Miss Spider is having a tea party and wants very badly for everyone to come and join her. She watches all of the insects flying around and wants them to be her friends. She begins by asking two beetles to stay at her tea party, they are afraid and quickly dash away. On each page she asks another type of insect to stay with her, but each one says that they do not want to have tea with a spider, for they are afraid that she will want to eat them! Finally a twist in the story leaves Miss Spider with a tea party full of friends. This book is not only a wonderful storyline, but the pictures are vibrant and beautiful. I would incorporate this book into my classroom in a number of ways. First, the entire book could be used as a counting book. The opending line of the book is, "One lonely spider sipped her tea" and then the first set of bugs are two beetles, next are three fireflies, and continues on until there are nine moths. The students could help count the bugs and to guess how many bugs Miss Spider will invite to her tea party on the next page. The book is also written as a poem. I would use this book to teach rhyming words to younger students, and for older ones I would use it as an example of poetry. "Miss Spider's Tea Party" could also be used to teach the value of acceptance of differences. I would read this book in the beginning of the school year and talk to my students about how each and every person is different, but no matter where the other students come from, or what they look like, we should never refuse to be their friend just because of their appearance. "Miss Spider's Tea Party" is such a wonderful children's book, I think it could be used on a number of levels in the classroom!