Five Creatures

Five Creatures

Posted By: Cid Marie Rosario Quinones

Author:Emily Jnekins  Illustrator: Tomek Bogacki

Summary 

In the book Five Creatures, there are three people and two cats that live in a house together. Each member is distinct but also has something in common with one or more of the others. The fun comes from sorting out the similarities and the differences. A little girl in the story sorts and counts the five members of her household based on various characteristics, interests, talents, even food choices (ie: "Three who like to hide in boxes. / Four who have a knack with yarn." Or "Two who can read, and one who is learning.")  This brilliant book is full of math curriculum uses. This is one of our my favorite number books for kids who are comfortable with addition and subtraction.The Illustration style is amazing.

Recommended Grade Level: Pre-school - 2
Reading Levels:  DRA Level: 16                      Lexile Measure: 130L
                           Grade Level Equiv: 1.5          Guided Reading: I  


Common Core Content Standards
CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.3
Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way, e.g., by using objects or drawings, and record each decomposition by a drawing or equation (e.g., 5 = 2 + 3 and 5 = 4 + 1).

CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4
Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.

Common Core Standards for Mathematical PracticeCCSS.Math.Practice.MP1
Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP3 C
onstruct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

Rating:

This is definitely a 5-star book. It can be used in multiple grades and various classroom settings. Not only does it teach the mathematical concepts of sorting, making sets, counting, and diagramming, but it also teaches social skills. It reminds our readers that everyone is different in our likes and dislikes, appearance, skills, and habits whether humans or animals.

Classroom Ideas:

*The book Five Creatures can be used as a companion to math activities in sorting, making sets, counting, and diagramming. It is a great way to connect math and literature.

*In a kindergarten classroom one of the standards is sorting and classifying! Therefore the creatures can be sorted and classified by what their dislikes and likes are based on their interests and who they are.

*Ways to make 5 with the 5 frame can be a great lesson to teach the children. Making 5 and counting by 5 in kindergarten is important in their development. There can be laminated pictures with Velcro of the 5 creatures (2 animals and 3 humans) and the children can sort them out by placing the humans on one side and the cats on the other. They can also sort them out based on their likes and dislikes in interests and foods, similarities and differences. For example, 3 humans and 2 cats make 5, 4 of the creatures like milk and one of them is allergic and that makes 5, etc.

*You can also use Emily Jenkins’ book, Five Creatures, to talk about how many creatures are in each child's family. In other words, it can also be used as a starting point for discussing children's different family compositions, including pets. The children can make a list or a drawing of all the people and pets in their households. Have children count how many creatures there are in their household and then they can write the number and also color in the 10 frame based on the number of the creatures in their homes (some children may have more than 5 creatures in their homes). Then there can be a discussion about it in the classroom comparing one another's creatures in their homes.

*This books is a great to introduce the student with the terms "More and Fewer" which are important vocabulary words in mathematics. For example, on one page it said that there were three humans and two cats.  So I can ask the students "Were there more humans or more cats?"  On another page, it said four of them liked milk and one is allergic, so I can "Did fewer of the creatures like fish, or more?"