Spider Transport

This week we talked about trees and leaves at school.  For Show and Tell today, everyone had to bring in something that had to do with a tree.  Next week we're talking about spiders.  For Show and tell next week everyone has to bring in a spider.

No, just kidding about that Show and Tell part.  We are, however, talking about spiders.  Last night I was coloring a spider book that I'm going to use to teach some of the more basic spider facts.  While I was coloring I was reading the pages aloud to the family.  I didn't get any response from "Spiders are usually black, brown or gray."  However, when I read, "All spiders hatch from eggs.", Jacob said, "Right now the spider are drifting down from the mountains."  And I immediately knew what those silky clumps that I have seen floating around the past we days were.  The kids and I watched one floating high above the playground at the first of this week, trying to figure out what it might be.  Then yesterday, one was floating right down our street, as if obedient to all traffic laws.

Once I found out they were spiders, I got very excited and thought that it would be perfect to catch one and show the kids.  (I confess that I was thinking that the strands held a sac of eggs, and when I found one we could watch the spiders hatch.  Since then I've done a little Internet research and have realized that there is usually just one spider  with each clump.  You know, like the baby spiders in "Charlotte's Web".) 

So, on my way to work this morning I vigilantly kept my eyes open for any floating spider silk.  I didn't see any, but I came close to making multiple emergency stops for several peripheral sightings of a duck, an airplane, and a couple of white butterflies.

I will continue to keep my eyes peeled though.  Of course, after thinking about it, it's probably better that the silk only has one spider, and not a bunch of eggs.  Especially when you see a picture like this.   Actually, that one is not near as creepy as some of the other multiple-spider pictures I saw.  SHUDDER. 

Also, bringing in a deflated silk clump and one little spider to class is not near as impressive as seeing the wisps float through the air and imagining the little spider hanging on below..  Perhaps we could just find some spiders and let them crawl on some silky stuff and then go to a tall place and launch them ourselves.  Kind of like a "pumpkin drop", but instead it would be a spider drop...  

Okay, I digress.  Well, here's hoping you can see some floating spiders for yourself today.