As part of our 'Homes' topic this week we will be focusing on the story of 'A House for Hermit Crab' by Eric Carle. Parents/carers I have highlighted the key vocabulary in purple that you should encourage your child to use and have put questions you should ask them in bold.

Before starting the video/opening the book look at the front cover, here is picture of it below:

Point out the author, who is the author? What does an author do? Look at the illustration, what can you see on the front cover? What do you think the story is about? What do you think will happen?

This is a link to the story: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0UlGQUNLwAQ

Questions for parents/carers to ask about the story:

Why does the hermit crab leave his shell?

Where is the story set? How do you know?

Why is the hermit crab worried about not having a home?

Why doesn't the hermit crab like his new shell at first?

Can you remember the creatures that come to live with the hermit crab?

Why did the hermit crab need the snail?

What did the spiky sea urchin do for the hermit crab?

What was the forest of seaweed like?

How did the lantern fish help the hermit crab?

What does the hermit crab do with the pebbles?

Why didn't the hermit crab want to leave the creatures he found?

How did the little hermit crab feel when it was given the shell? Why?

What did the little hermit crab have to promise the big hermit crab?

Do you think little hermit crab will keep his promise? Why/why not?

Key vocabulary: author, illustration, front cover, character, event, beginning, middle, end, setting, ocean, plain, murky, dim, starfish, sea anemone, coral, spiky sea urchin, lantern fish, hermit crab, pebble, sturdy, smooth, outgrown

Building on the previous work you have done on story writing it's your turn to come up with your own ideas for a story. Choose one of the sea creatures from the story as your main character. Each day write a section of the story as follows:

Day 1: Write an introduction to your story including the main character and setting. It could start with 'Once upon a time'  or 'One sunny day' etc. Who is the main character? Can you describe them? Where is your story set? Is it at the beach? Under the sea? In a rock pool?

Day 2: Add an event to your story. Will they meet another character? Will the main character go somewhere?

Day 3: Add some conflict to the story. To make the story more interesting the character should have a problem or something bad or unusual could happen to them. What could happen to your character? What problem could they have?

Day 4: End the story. Will the character overcome their problem/situation? If so how? Will it be a happy or sad ending?

Depending on how challenging your child finds it to write choose whether they write one simple sentence each day, write a longer sentence (use 'and') or write more than one sentence. You can find more information about how to help you child with writing by referring to the 'How to write a sentence' information sheet in your "Home Learning" envelope. 

Key vocabulary: letter, word, sentence, Fred Fingers, gap/space, full stop, describe, character, setting, beginning, middle, end, events, conflict, problem, re-read, rehearse sentence

Go to the reading section and ask your child to read the information about houses and answer the questions.

Make an information booklet based on one of the houses or one of your own choices. An information booklet contains true facts about something. It isn't a story.

To make the information booklet fold an A4 piece of paper so it looks like a book, draw a picture of the house you have chosen on the front cover and the title of the booklet.

Inside the booklet write information about the type of house you have chosen and draw pictures. Continue on the back of you need to. What type of house will you choose? Why?  What is the house made of? What makes this house different from others? What information will you include? What will you draw? 

You may want to use the internet with the help of an adult to find out more about the type of house you have chosen.

Key vocabulary: information, facts, sentence, rehearse, re-read, letter, word, full stop

In 'A House for Hermit Crab'  the story talks about what happened to the crab through the months of the year. There are 12 months in a year, learn to recite the months of the year in order. Here are some exercises and dances which may help:

Do these exercises whilst reciting the months:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=omkuE6Wa5kQ

Learn the Macarena whilst reciting the months of the year:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=quQnfNcmVZA

Key vocabulary: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, month, calendar, year

Hermit crabs live in water, create your own music using water. For this you will need approximately four drinking glasses (must be made out of glass and the same size of possible) a pencil and some water. 

Fill up each of the glasses with varying amounts of water. One glass should be nearly full, one half full, one less than half full and one nearly empty. Adults instruct you child to fill each glass in this way and see how accurately they fill them.

Ask your child to line up the glasses in order from most full to nearly empty. Which glass comes next in order?

Tap each of the glasses with the pencil and listen to the sounds they make. Which glass makes the lowest sound? Which glass makes the highest sound? Why do you think it makes a high low sound? Which sound do you like best? Why? When you tap the glass you make vibrations that create sound waves that travel through the water. The vibrations are slower when there is more water, so the tone is deeper.

Now you have experimented with the tone of the glasses, come up with your own composition that you can play and remember. Which glass will you tap first? How many times will you tap it? What order will you go in? What does your music remind you of? Ask an adult to record or video your composition. Did you like it? Why?/Why not? Could you add anything? Is there anything you could have done better?

Extension activity: Using the video from the activity below of the hermit crab changing shells, tap your glasses with the pencil to play along as you watch. Which glass will you tap as the crab is trying to scare off the other creatures? Which glass will you tap when the crab is trying to get out of his old shell?

Key vocabulary: full, empty, half full, half empty, nearly full, nearly empty, order, capacity, tone, vibration, sound wave, tap, composition, slower, faster, deeper, higher, lower, sound, pitch

Our story is about a hermit crab Here is a video of a hermit crab changing shells: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7CXrASIsWWA

Here are some facts about Hermit crabs. Ask your child to read them with support.

Facts:

• Hermit crabs lives in old shells.

• Hermit crabs are yellow, brown, green and red.

• A hermit crab has 10 legs.

• Hermit crabs live in water.

• Hermit crabs eat plants, fish and worms.

• Hermit crabs lay eggs.

Use these facts to draw a picture of a hermit crab. Label the facts you have included i.e. The ten legs and the old shell. Feel free to use the internet to find out more facts about a hermit crab that you can include in your picture. What do you need to include in your picture? What colours do you need to use? How many legs does it need?

Key vocabulary: facts, hermit crab, shell, legs, worms, fish, plants, water, eat, live, eggs, label