A House for Hermit Crab

In groups, children created a chart of four sea creatures and were asked to think of describing words and action words of what the sea creature could do for their shell.

We compiled the charts to make a master list of all the words.

Children highlighted the sea creatures that they would incorporate in their stories.  Children wrote their own stories the beginning and ending were up to them, the middle followed the framework of "In February (the crab's name) met a (describing word) (sea creature).  He/She asked the (sea creature) to move in (and be ___ for the shell).  For example: In February, Lisa the crab met a really funny clownfish.  She asked the clownfish to move in and be entertainment for the shell.  Each new idea became a page in a book.  The children illustrated their book using a collage technique with construction paper and black marker inspired by Eric Carle.

Another art extension is to write a spiral story, children draw the shell (spiral), using permanent marker and wrote their story, only as much as the spiral allowed and then added ...  They made sea creatures from construction paper and glued them around the shell, and made the crab's antennae with pipe cleaner.  For the finishing touch, children painted the entire shell with a light pastel tempra paint wash.

Another story extension, children created a crab-in-a-box decorating the sides of the cube with the creatures they wrote about in their story.

Submitted by Lisa and Kathy