Skip Counting Crabs by 10's

Today we will begin a unit study on crabs and since crabs have 10 legs we will be focusing our math lessons on learning to count by 10's. Blue Crab is our mascot for the day.

The children gather on the rug. Blue Crab is hidden down inside a brown paper bag. I explain to the children that the bag represents sand and that something is hiding inside the hole. We then play "I'm Thinking of Something..." or "Twenty Questions" until someone guesses what is inside.

We look over the crab very carefully and notice that a crab has 10 legs. We share our experiences with crabs and record this information on chart paper. We then talk about Blue Crab's habitat and begin to read stories about crabs. After reading each crab book, we go back through and count the number of crab legs shown in the book. We write the multiplication problem for that number on a post-it and attach it to the front of the book.

As we finish the books we place them on the chalk rail in numerical order. Children are encouraged to re-read these books during silent reading time later on in the day. Some children naturally begin by leafing though the books skip counting the crab legs by 10's.

By now the children are anxious to learn what activities I have set out for center time. Naturally the activities are related to crabs and skip counting by 10's. These are activities that will naturally prepare the children for learning the 10's Times Tables.

Years ago I found a set of plastic crabs that I use in my sensory table. I have searched for them recently but have not been able to find them, however, I just ran across these beautiful Maryland Blue Crab Christmas Ornaments. Since a set of 5 costs only $3 apiece and they will last for years these crabs would be wonderful to use in the Sensory Table Learning Center above.

Crab Dice!
Available on Amazon

Create a Crab Legs Skip Counting Center with a couple of rubber stamps, strips of paper, dice and a couple of pencils.

1. Roll the dice
2. Stamp that number of crabs onto a strip of paper
3. Write the skip count numbers under the crabs
4. Write the multiplication problem on the other side of the paper

If you make the paper strips from card stock you could later use these strips as flashcards.

Children learn to read and spell the new Crab Unit Study vocabulary by selecting words from the word wall and spelling them with letter link crabs.

Set up the Letter Link Crab Words Learning Center near the Crab Word Wall.

Children choose a crab word from the word wall and spell it in Letter Link Crabs.

The children take pictures of their crab words and then take them apart to create another crab word.

Note: You will need to buy more than one set of Letter Link Crabs in order to have more than one of each letter.

Make these crab word pictures into cards on cardstock.
To practice skip counting by 10's have children count the letters in the word by 10's to give the value of each crab word.
To practice multiplication, have the children write the multiplication problem for each crab word.

Note: These pictures can be used to create sentences in the Crab Sentence Learning Center.

Here is a cute bag for storing all of your skip counting crabs.

If you have a classroom you might like to turn this bag into a Crab Counting Literacy Bag. Literacy Bags consist of two books, one fiction and the other non-fiction on a particular subject, a stuffed animal and several games and activities which children take home to share what they are learning in class. I like to include a journal for the plush crab to record it's adventures while visiting the children's homes.