Non Fiction 2

A House For Hermit Crab

Carle, E. (1987). A house for hermit crab. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers.

ISBN 0-88708-056-1

This is one of the classics from Eric Carle. It’s a New Year and Hermit Crab has outgrown his home, the story follows Hermit crab throughout the months of the year as he decorates his plain home with the sea creatures he meets and how along his journey they become his friends. By the end of the year he has outgrown his home again gives his shell to a smaller Hermit Crab who promises to take good care of his new friends. He finds a new shell and is excited about the endless possibilities! Both children and adults love the colourful art work of Eric Carle with its many different textures and the rich, descriptive language. I chose this story as it is one of my children’s favourites. Children can relate their experiences with new homes and friends and share experiences from the beach and the sea creatures they have found. Imagine what sea creatures they might use to embellish their shells if they were Hermit Crab.   

Provocation:

(1) Have a small and large seashell out on the table with a large desk calendar preferably with a beach theme open to January.

(2) Have sea creature books out in the book area and shells and crabs in the water and sand table area. 

3 ways to present the book:
(1) Show the cover image like a gift and tell the title and author.  Making note that the author who wrote the words is also the illustrator and created the pictures too, so he is really creative!

Before reading tell the class that a hermit crab lives on the ocean floor and has a soft spot on his belly so he has to protect that spot by living in a hard seashell.  Read pausing to say “Oh, Hermit Crab needs to find a new shell to cover his belly!” Pause after reading starfish page commenting “How friendly Hermit Crab is giving starfish such a nice compliment!” I wonder if any of you have ever seen a starfish or seastar. Pause at sea urchin page. “Hmmm, I don’t think I’d like to pick up one of those! They look sharp, would that be good protection for Hermit Crab?” Pause after reading November page, “Oh Hermit Crab has to move again, I wonder how he feels.” Pause at ending. “Wow, Hermit Crab wasn’t afraid anymore. I wonder why.” I really liked how Hermit Crab made friends; he said such nice things about all the creatures!”  

(2)Have premade characters enlarged and laminated and retell the story later on that day with a story line, have the children participate and put up the character and if they’re comfortable giving the compliment from Hermit Crab. Oh, it’s starfish next, does anyone remember what Hermit Crab says when he meets starfish? “How handsome you are!” see below for templates http://www.twigglemagazine.com/June-activities/hermit-crab-bookactivity.html#hermit

(3)Go through the calendar from provocation with the children, showing the 12 months and how Hermit Crab outgrew his shell in January at the beginning of the year. Have small stick on characters and go through the story per month. “Do you remember what happened in February? Who did Hermit Crab Meet in March?” Have children stick on the characters to the corresponding month. Show the difference between the small and large shell from provocation so the children telling he started out small here in January and after 11 months he grew so much he needed a new shell. Could measure the children and write down on the calendar on each month tracking how much they grow in the months at school.

3 possible extensions for learning.

(1) Investigate more on the sea creatures in the book, take a field trip to the Vancouver Aquarium or local pet store.

(2) Have the children create stick puppets of their favourite character to later have a parade of creatures. Give out specific compliments using the text much like Hermit Crab and see if any of the students follow along. “How colourful your anemone is!” “How sharp and pointy your urchin looks!”  See below for templates

http://www.twigglemagazine.com/June-activities/hermit-crab-bookactivity.html#hermit

(3) Go to the beach and look for crabs and shells. Children can look for items that they might decorate Hermit Crab’s shell with. Use language from text. Draw some hermit crabs in the sand and have the children decorate the shell with their findings.