Math Story : Skip Counting By 2,5 And 10

Making A Rocket Model

“Hello kids, I am organizing a rocket design competition for kids of the Fun Galaxy. The team whose rocket flies in the sky and crosses the red flag wins. I invite you all to take part in the competition. You will have to complete this by today. I assure you, it is going to be fun. All the best”, reads Mr Messenger. Who sent this message? 

Oh! The message was from Uncle Science. “Wow! A competition. I am really excited to take part”, says Cirho. “Yes! We will design a unique rocket”, says Squarho. The kids are thrilled. They decide to take part in the competition.

The kids first draw their rocket model on paper. “Do you guys have any ideas for the model?” asks Triho. They are brainstorming for various rocket designs. Come on, why don’t you also join them in making the rocket? 

Together they draw the design on paper first to see how it looks. Happy with the design, they decide to proceed with building the rocket now. “Hey, Uncle Math had given us his special blocks that convert the model into a real one once completed. Remember? We should use them today”, suggests Cirha. 

Everybody loves the idea. Quickly, they go and get all the blocks they have. Teamwork comes automatically to the kids.

“We need 100 blocks to complete our rocket model”, says Triho, while looking at the design.

Cirho decides to count the blocks and check if they have enough blocks. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…” he counts. “15, 16, 17, 18… This is so time consuming! I am so tired”, he gasps.

It Looks like Squarho has a plan. “Let us count two blocks together. What do you say? This will help us count faster too”, he says. Others agree with him. Squarho groups 2 blocks together and starts counting, “2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20…”

“Uff! This is also time taking. What do we do now? We don’t have much time to complete the assignment”, says Squarho worryingly. Thinking hard, Cirha gets an idea. “Let us count 5 blocks at a time now. I am sure this will be faster”, she says.

Cirha groups 5 blocks together and starts counting. “5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50… Phew!”

Still, so many blocks are left and Cirha is already tired. What should they do now? They need an even faster method to count the blocks.

“I doubt if we will be able to complete the assignment. We have made so many mistakes and wasted so much time already”, says Cirho. He is disappointed. Cirha and Squarho look worried as well.

“Relax guys! Remember, mistakes help our brain grow”, says Triho.

“Idea! Let us group 10 blocks together.  This will make our counting fast and easy”, says Triho.

Cirha agrees with him and helps him group the blocks into 10. “10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100! We have blocks in total. Yayy!” he says. Everybody is happy that they could finally count their blocks.

Together, they finish the rocket on time. “Hurray! This looks magnificent”, says Cirha. She is super proud of their model. Squarho, Cirho and Triho are also jumping out of joy. It is time to fly their rocket.

Thudd! A big stone hits their rocket suddenly. The rocket falls into pieces. “Oh no! Who is it?” screams Cirho furiously. Who do you think must have done this? 

“Haha! You wanted to fly your rocket ah? Now fly these broken pieces”, laughs Acirho. He was the one who threw the stone and broke their model.

Squarho decides to teach him a lesson. He runs and fights with him. Bam! Boom! Crash! Acirho runs away from there. 

Everybody is disappointed. “Let us not lose hopes. We still have time. Come on let us quickly rebuild the rocket and launch it. Hurry up!” motivates Triho. Everybody quickly gets to the action. 

In no time, they rebuild their rocket. Swoosh! It flies high in the sky crossing the red flag. “Hurray!” they jump out of joy.

 

“The winner of the competition are Triho, Cirha, Cirho and Squarho! Their rocket is magnificent, unique and capable of travelling far. Good work kids”, announces Uncle Science. The kids are happy. They are the best team indeed. Teamwork and their positive outlook towards mistakes helped them complete the rocket successfully. 

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We Learnt That…

• When we count by 2, we count two objects together like this, 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20
• When we count by 5, we count five objects together like this, 5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50.
• When we count by 10, we count 10 objects together like this, 10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100
• Mistakes are not bad. Mistakes help our brain grow.

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Let’s Discuss

• What were we making?
• How did Squarho count by 2?
• How did Cirha count by 5?
• How did I count by 10?
• “Mistakes help our brain grow.” Do you agree? Why or why?

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• Skip Counting