Practice sorting and graphing with a lesson in candy graphs. Buy a sack of "autumn mix" candies at the grocery or drug store. Candy corn with yellow or brown colored tops and candy pumpkins are included in the "autumn mix." Before class, fold a piece of copy paper into thirds and draw lines on the folds so there are three equal columns. Draw a picture of a yellow-topped candy corn at the top of the first column, a brown-topped candy corn at the top of the middle column and a pumpkin candy at the top of the third column. Make enough copies for the children in your class. Pass one graph paper and 10 or 20 random pieces of candy from the "autumn mix" to each child. Ask the children to lay their candies on the paper in a row under the picture that matches each piece. Count and compare the different amounts on the individual graphs, then compare graphs among the class. Place the candies in a zipper baggie and send them home with the graph paper so the children can recreate the activity at home.
Visit the library to borrow a selection of non-fiction children's books on the subject of spiders. Read the informational spider books to your class and make them available for the children to look through at their own pace. Point out that spiders have eight legs and are classified as arachnids instead of insects, which have only six legs. Teach about spiders' web weaving ability and method of catching food. Go on a spider hunt, inside and outside your building, armed with magnifying glasses for observation. Use caution if you live in an area with harmful spiders.
Teach your class a popular counting rhyme called Five Little Pumpkins. The DLTK website offers a felt-board version of the rhyme. Five Little Pumpkins features ordinal numbers--numbers expressed in reference to their placement, as in first, second and third--and a rhyme with definite possibilities for hand motions and body movement.
The Itsy Bitsy (or in some cases, Eensy Weensy) Spider is a classic preschool song and rhyme that also features hand movements and is tailor-made for the Halloween season. Find the words to a version of this at the Enchanted Learning website in their Nursery Rhyme section.