The Spider and the...Bee?

 Usually one of the first books I read to my students in a new school year is The Spider and the Fly. Tony DiTerlizzi illustrated this poem by Mary Howitt in a film noir kind of style.  Black and white photos, amazing use of shadows, titles to hold the text - just like in a silent film, and the perfect villain and victim.  The Spider and the Fly makes a great read aloud for the first week, not only because it is one of my all time favorite books, but also because it is sinister, the kids love finding all the intricate details DiTerlizzi has added to the book (Monarch butterfly wings as curtains, a bottle cap as a mirror, etc.), and the ending is not a happy one.  Generally after I read it, it doesn't see a book shelf for the first month at least, as kids read it and just pass it on to the next person.

This year, for the first in many, I did not read the book during the first week.  I "looped" with my kids, which means I was their teacher last year in 4th grade and I am their teacher now in 5th grade.  I read The Spider and the Fly last year to them so I debated whether or not I should read it again.  I decided to jump into our first read aloud, Wonder, instead.

Well, as the fates would have it, we needed to have that moment in our lives.  Yesterday, in what might possibly go down as the greatest school day in history, we had a bit of a lesson from Mother Nature.  There have been bees flying around our classroom door.  We have a "bungalow" classroom, which means no hallways, just the door that leads outside.  The bees have been bothering my kids all week and I've been trying to teach them the zen moment of not freaking out when a bee zooms near your face.  This, as you might expect, was met with mixed success.

Yesterday, the temperatures hit a roasting 100 degrees and we spent much time in our air conditioned classroom. (Thank goodness for that, by the way!)  During our afternoon snack time, one student stepped outside for a moment and upon returning, one of the pesky bees entered the room with him.  Maybe to get the nice cool air?  Either way, I told everyone to stay calm as I had just the thing for this.  I have a bee keeper hat in my closet, don't even know why, and I threw it on and grabbed a container and made my way to try and grab the fellow.  The kids thought I looked ridiculous, which I did, and laughed as I marched toward the window where the bee was hovering.

"IT GOT CAUGHT IN A SPIDER WEB!"  This was the shout from the amazed student who had accidently let the bee in.  I thought I had rid the classroom of all spiders and webs before school started so was a bit surprised to hear this.  We all turned our heads and, in one of those moments where the world moves in slow motion and the blink of an eye at the same time, we saw a black widow spider leap from a hiding space and start working her web around the bee. It was amazing.  Our entire class of 25 students, after shouting their PG rated versions of expletives, ran to the window to watch.  I calmed everyone down, said this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and let them know that we could watch the whole thing if they were quiet.

"That is disgusting!" "Meg grab your camera!" "This is amazing!"  "You should put this on YouTube!" "You can hear the bee!!"  "This is JUST like The Spider and the Fly!!!!!"  And it was.  I did grab my camera and was able to video tape the whole thing.  We watched as she spun the web to grab the bee.  We watched as she made her web around the bee, I'm assuming just in case he tried to escape, we watched her "insert her venom and wait for the bee to die" as one student narrated.  We waited until she came back, then watched as she finished wrapping her dinner and cut the bee loose and yanked it back to her hiding spot in the window.

It was truly, truly amazing.  Maybe not for everyone but this was a moment in teaching that I know we will all remember and tell over and over and over again.  We missed our spelling test and we were late for dismissal...but holy cow, what a moment. Next week, I'm bringing back The Spider and the Fly.

Here, for you, are the two videos I took.  You CAN hear the bee, as well as a variety of whispered student comments and my re-occurring attempts to shush the class, as well as telling students to back away from the black widow because they were getting a little too close for my comfort.  A warning, this is not for the faint of heart, it is graphic, an animal was harmed in this movie, and yes, we will have to get rid of the black widow.  But WOW, what a day!