Summary
Una, Jiro and Spot stop to visit a restaurant. The food smells delicious but the chef inside is too busy to serve them. While lending extra hands they learn about the number 8.
Number focus
Eight
Before reading
What happened in the last chapter? Una, Jiro and Spot stopped to visit an empty and dull art gallery. They met the artist ‘Arty the Great’ and helped to brighten the place up. They had so much fun that by the end of the story everyone was smiling.
Key themes
Eight-legged friends: Ask your students if there is a way to find out that Ms Spider is a spider, that doesn’t involve her name. Count the number of legs together. Many people think that spiders and insects are the same, but they are different for many reasons, one of which is the number of legs. Ask students about the difference. Discuss that all spiders have 8 legs, which makes them different to insects which have only 6 legs. Some spiders are often seen as scary or dangerous and therefore it’s best to stay away. However, most spiders do not harm humans and actually play very important roles in the ‘web’ of life, some even protecting us from more dangerous spiders or creepy crawlies. Speaking of webs, spiders are often amazing architects too, building intricate and beautiful webs to catch their dinner. Ask students if they have ever seen a spider web with a spider, or an abandoned web — a cobweb. Explore other 8-legged creatures that are not spiders such as scorpions, ticks and octopuses. Use the spider’s legs and other images in the story to explore two sets of the same number that can be referred to as ‘doubles’. Use dice to identify and record other sets of doubles.
Many hands make light work: When Una, Jiro and Spot first meet Ms Spider, she is frantically working away in a busy kitchen, moving her many legs and juggling multiple tasks. She is tired, stressed and unfortunately too busy to serve the hungry adventurers. However, even with their tummies grumbling, they offer to help Ms Spider and lend some extra hands. As they say, ‘many hands make light work’ or in this case, ‘many legs and hands make light work’. Even those with 8 legs might need an extra hand every now and then, so don’t be afraid to ask someone if they need help because they just might say yes. Ask students about a time they helped someone and discuss how it made them feel.
Numbers in food preparation: Look out for the miscounted dumplings in this story. Talk about strategies for ensuring that items are counted correctly, such as placing items in a line, rather than a circle. Create a shop or restaurant with your students and role play with the various numbers involved in food preparation, such as table numbers, order or ticket numbers and/or buying a number of food items.
