Diary of a Worm
Written by Doreen Cronin and Illustrated by Harry Bliss
Published by Joanna Cotler Books An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:0-06-000151-8
About the Book
Recorded from March 20th to August 1st, this is the diary of a young worm with a busy life. If he's not trying to teach Spider how to dig (no luck there), he's doing the hokey pokey at a school dance (a partial success).
Wearing a distinctive red baseball cap, this little brown worm has endearing adventures at home, at school, and on the playground.
Pre-reading
Have the students look at the front and back cover.
- What kind of animal is holding the pencil? What is the worm doing?
- The worm in the story keeps a diary. What is a diary? Have you, or anyone you know, kept one? What kinds of things (dates, thoughts, feelings, and pictures) are written or drawn in a diary? Why do you think people keep diaries?
- What do you know about real worms?
Reading
The teacher reads the book to the students.
Reviewing the Book
The teacher reviews the dates of the diary and begins a discussion with the students with these questions:
- Which page(s) made you laugh? Why?
- What do you notice about the illustrations on the inside front and back covers? Why do you think the illustrations are in frames, with tape on the corners, and with captions under each?
- Why are the illustrations important to the book?
- What kind of research do you think the author and illustrator did to create this book?
- Why do you think the diary stopped on August 1st?
Book follow-up
Vocabulary:
- Hermaphrodites
- Compost
- Organic waste
- Vermicast
- Biodegradable
1. Puppetry: Have students use brown paper bags and crayons to create puppets of the worm and other characters in the story. (Have children hold the bag with the opening at the bottom. Use the flap on the bag for the mouth. Children insert their hands into the bag, opening and closing the flap as the character "talks.") Ask students to put on a show about the life of the worm in the story.
2. Create a Big Book: As a group, write some diary entries by an animal other than a worm, such as a snake or a bird. Include a date and an illustration for each page. If you like, create a Big Book called Diary of a ______ and place it in the class library.
3. In the gym: Worms crawl, but how do other animals get around? Play a pantomime game: create a stack of cards, each card showing an animal in motion (bird flying, snake crawling), along with the name of the animal. Have a student select a card and act out for the class the animal on the go. Have students in class identify the animal. The child who correctly identifies the animal gets to act out the next one.
4. All about Worms: Create your own worm composter. Keep a class journal of observations: size, color, and means of locomotion, diet, and behaviour. Later, through research, find out about the worms' natural habitat. Talk about the ways in which worms help the earth. Record the information on a chart. Compare the real facts with the information presented in the book. Which ones are true?
5. Animal Mural: As a class, create a mural of animal life in your school neighbourhood. Using a large sheet of butcher-block paper taped to a wall, divided into three horizontal sections: above ground, on the ground, below the ground. Discuss which animals live or work in each area. Then ask students to use crayons and markers to illustrate the animals and other things in nature.
6. Picture making: Have the students draw a picture of one way in which worms help the earth.
7. Sequencing: Have the students put the events of the story into the right sequence:
- The worm forgot to bring his lunch to school.
- The worm ate macaroni for dinner.
- The worm went to a school dance.
- The worm tried to teach Spider how to dig.
- After a rain, the worm spent the entire day on the sidewalk.
- "Good morning" said the worm to the ants.
- The worm scared some children in the park
8. Research: Students can follow up on some questions about worms (e.g., Do worms dig deeper in the earth during certain seasons? Why do worms come out of the earth after a lot of rain? What exactly do worms contribute to the earth? Are there male and female worms? Do worms have family units like the ones in the book?).
