The Smart Little Crab Written by Kerrie Shanahan Illustrated by Susy Boyer
The Smart Little Crab Text type: Narrative Level: K (20) Word count: 725 Content vocabulary crab octopus sea snail sea star sea seawater seaweed shore tide tide pool Uncommon phonics great listen/ing/ed trouble Curriculum link Science: Living things habitats, interdependency of living things Key concepts Tide pools contain animals and plants that depend on each other and a healthy tide pool for their survival. People s actions can impact on the health of tide pools. Possible reading strategy Recognizing cause and effect in a story Paired book Looking After Tide Pools The Smart Little Crab 2010-2014 EC Licensing Pty Ltd. This work is protected by US copyright law, and under international copyright conventions, applicable in the jurisdictions in which it is published. All rights reserved. The trademark Flying Start to Literacy and Star device is a registered trademark of EC Licensing Pty Ltd in the US. Purchasers of this book may have certain rights under applicable copyright law to copy parts of this book. Purchasers must make the necessary enquiries to ascertain whether and to what extent they have any such right in the jurisdiction in which they will be using the book. Developed by Eleanor Curtain Publishing Designed by Derek Schneider Printed and bound in China through Colorcraft Ltd, Hong Kong Distributed in the USA by Okapi Educational Publishing Inc. Phone: 866-652-7436 Fax: 800-481-5499 Email: info@myokapi.com www.myokapi.com www.flying-start-to-literacy.com ISBN: 978-1-74234-609-0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 Written by Kerrie Shanahan Illustrated by Susy Boyer
Contents Chapter 1 Home by the sea 4 Chapter 2 Sea star s bright idea 6 Chapter 3 Trash or treasure? 10 Chapter 4 An exciting new tide pool 16 Chapter 5 Trouble in the tide pool 20 Chapter 6 The little crab speaks up 22
Chapter 1 Home by the sea On the rocky shore next to the sea, there was a tide pool. In the tide pool lived many plants and animals. It was a good place to live because the tide pool was clean and healthy. All the animals lived happily with each other in their tide pool. That was, until the sea star got bored. 4 5
Chapter 2 Sea star's bright idea I m bored with our tide pool, said the sea star. It s always the same. The tide comes in. The tide goes out. Day after day. Our tide pool is boring and I m bored, too! The animals looked around and started nodding. I have an idea, said the sea star. Let s fix up our tide pool. Let s make it look sparkling and new. Yes! said all the animals. Let s fix up this boring old place. 6 7
But no one was listening. All the animals had gone to find new things to put in their tide pool. But wait, said the little crab. Our tide pool is not boring. This is how a tide pool is meant to be. We have everything we need. We can hide in the seaweed. We have fresh seawater coming in. The seawater brings lots of little animals to eat. Don t change it! 8 9
Chapter 3 Trash or treasure? When the animals came back, they had new things for their tide pool. Look, I have a shiny new tin can, said the sea star as he put the can on top of some seaweed. Now we have somewhere to sit. But the tin can is squashing the seaweed, said the little crab. We need the seaweed for food and for a place to hide. Where will we hide and what will we eat when the seaweed is dead? But no one was listening. 10 11
The sea snail family arrived with an empty plastic bag. Wow, said all the animals. We can make a roof out of that. So the animals put the plastic bag over the tide pool. The little crab just watched and shook his head. That plastic bag is dangerous, he said. Our baby animals could choke on it. But no one was listening. 12 13
The fresh water brings us lots of little animals to eat, said the little crab. What will we eat instead? But no one was listening. Then the octopus pulled a big box into the tide pool. Look, she said. This will be great fun to play in. The little crab was shocked. That will stop fresh seawater from coming into our tide pool, he said. 14 15
Chapter 4 An exciting new tide pool The animals gathered more and more bits and pieces to add to their tide pool. They dragged and lifted and pushed and pulled all the new things. They worked hard to make sure that their tide pool was not boring anymore. Look at our tide pool now, said the sea star. We have so many new and interesting things to play with. Yes, said the other animals. It looks wonderful. 16 17
But the little crab did not think their new home was great. He looked around the tide pool. He wondered how this could have happened to his beautiful, healthy home. Our tide pool is very different from how it used to be, said the little crab. I m worried that it will not keep us healthy anymore. But no one was listening. 18 19
Chapter 5 Trouble in the tide pool For some time, the other animals were happy in their new home, but then the tide pool started to change. The water got dirty and the seaweed stopped growing because no fresh water came into the tide pool. Finally, the other animals could see what was happening. Our tide pool is dying, they all cried. What will we do? How can we save our home? 20 21
Chapter 6 The little crab speaks up LISTEN TO ME! said the little crab in his biggest, loudest voice. I know what to do. We must clean up our tide pool. We have to get rid of the things that do not belong here. At last, the animals listened to the little crab. They began to clean up their tide pool. It was hard work, but the animals were determined to have a beautiful, healthy tide pool again. They dragged and lifted and pushed and pulled until all the trash was gone. 22 23
FLYING START TO LITERACY It took time, but eventually the tide pool was clean again. And from then on, whenever the animals had a new idea, they always checked with the little crab first. Level K (19 20) Level K (19) Paired books Amazing Gardens Polar Bears FLUENT STAGE Chapter books Level L (21 22) Level M (23 24) Level N (25 26) The Giant's Garden A Bear Called Trouble FLUENT PLUS STAGE Chapter books Level O (27 28) Level P (29 30) Level K (20) Paired books Looking After Tide Pools The Smart Little Crab Driver Ants Killer Ants Level L (21) Paired books Animals That Store Food A Tale of Two Squirrels I Am an Inventor Gabby's Fast Ride Level L (22) Paired books The Right Tools for the Job Arnold Saves the Day The First Flight The Balloon Adventure Level M (23) Paired books Body Works The Mystery Trip Built By Hand Dr. Zardos and the Mind Stone Level M (24) Paired books Living in Space Space Camp Marathon Journal The Marathon Man 24
Flying Start to Literacy: Level K (20)