March 28, 2023 Skip Counting Safari: An Animal Adventure in Multiplication In the lush green forest, lived a group of animal friends. There was a wise old owl, a playful monkey, a curious rabbit, and a friendly elephant. They loved to spend time together and go on adventures. One sunny day, the animals decided to go on a picnic. They gathered all the food and drinks they needed and set off to find the perfect spot. As they walked, the rabbit realized they had forgotten something important – the picnic blanket! “Oh no, what shall we do?” said the monkey, scratching his head. The wise old owl came up with an idea. “Let’s skip count by fives to distract ourselves while we go back and get it,” he said. “Good idea!” said the elephant. So they started counting together. “5, 10, 15, 20, 25,” they chanted as they made their way back to where they had started. When they found the picnic blanket, the rabbit was thrilled. “Hooray, we found it!” he exclaimed. The animals were happy they found what they needed and could continue their picnic. As they walked back to find a spot, they kept counting by fives. “30, 35, 40, 45, 50,” they chanted happily. Finally, they found the perfect spot by a sparkling river, under a shady tree. They spread out their blanket and started to unpack their picnic. The rabbit passed out plates and cups, the monkey shared out sandwiches and the elephant poured out drinks. As they ate and drank, the animals realized that counting by fives helped them distract themselves and accomplish their task. They also realized that it was a useful skill to know for many different activities. From that day on, the animals made it a habit to count by fives whenever they needed to focus or distract themselves. And they never forgot their picnic blanket again! Mathematical concept in the story The mathematical concept in the story is skip counting by fives. Skip counting is a technique in which you count by a specific number that is not one. In this story, the animals use skip counting by fives to distract themselves while they go back to retrieve their forgotten picnic blanket. They count aloud as they walk and use skip counting to keep track of their progress. Skip counting by fives is an important skill for young children to learn as it lays the foundation for understanding multiplication and patterns in numbers. It helps children to develop strong number sense and helps with mental calculations. Primary