Have students write a letter to Fern's father, Mr. Arable explaining why he should spare Wilbur's life. Write about the meaning of friendship. Brainstorm as a class what questions to ask a pig. Group students in pairs. One takes the role of reporter and one as the pig.
Students can give an oral report or write a newspaper article of their interview.
Make a story map to determine the setting, characters, problem, and solutions for the story. Make a character web. Have students choose a character from the story and put in the middle of the web. From the spokes of the web write words that describe that character. The underlying themes in these books are love and friendship.