The concept of using small skills to create a foundation for larger skills is done effectively in this book, using familiar animals and human attributes to allow the reader to see the math and math tools in any setting. Prior to reading, warm up with some number recognition and partitioning questions. “Play Guess my Number” with the hundreds board by choosing a “mystery number” in your mind and having students ask questions to narrow the search for the mystery number (Does it have a 2 in the ones column? etc.). Reverse the game and give clues that help them narrow the search for another number (for example: My number has an even number in the tens column, or My number is 4 more than tidy number, or My number is made up of a two digits that are the same, etc.) This task continues to use the book One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab. It introduces students to the patterns of our place-value system and the significance of 10. The key understanding of unitising is introduced by asking students to represent teen numbers using one crab, which is the same as using 1 ten. In doing so, students move from using 10 ones to 1 ten. One is a snail, two is a person, three is a snail and a person, four is a dog, five is a dog and a snail!

A perfect cross curricular book with strong links to numeracy. This story is all about counting with feet! "One is a snail, two is a person, three is a snail and a person, four is a dog, five is a dog and a snail!" By using pictures as an effective tool for counting in arrays, children can see the link to counting in multiples of 10 and can even use the pictures to help them come up with their own sums. I like the way the story builds up slowly with illustrations. This allows children, especially those who are mathematically weak, use visuals to count and make connections with number sums. Because this book is not littered with numbers and calculations it proves more engaging to children. After reading the book explain to students that they (or their pair) will each get to pull a number from the bag and make that number in 2 ways using the counting feet from the story.In providing numerous ways to conceive of numbers, the text and the illustrations give the reader critical repetition. “”30 is three crabs…. or ten people and a crab.”

I tend to agree more with Kristin Harris because I really felt that this book was creative and imaginative especially for a math book. I can remember reading very boring counting books, but this one would have actually kept my attention. I also agree that the illustrations are humorous and colorful. Throughout the book I would catch myself stopping and really taking the pictures in. I think that children would love this book. This sequence begins with a focus on developing students’ counting skills to work with numbers beyond 10, then continues on to build early place value understanding as students investigate teen numbers. The key understanding of unitising is introduced as students use a group of 10 and some more ones to represent numbers 11 to 19.

The numbers are printed in a font size that is significantly larger than the text, cueing the reader to their importance. The use of multiple examples for the larger numbers also provides multiple avenues to understand how smaller groups are combined to form one larger group. Prior to this lesson you can have created copymasters of your own children’s drawings of the “units” (snail, person, dog, insect, crab) by asking someone to draw one of each and then reproducing them on a photocopier to create sheets of units or you can use the copymaster of clip art “units” or you can have each child do their own drawings for the activity. have an understanding of the composition of numbers; for exampl, 7 can be made by combining 1 and 6.