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.

A lesson plan that targets Language Arts can be found on Focus On Books in the resources section of the EarthCARE Canada website.

If the story has not been already shared with the students read it to them as a part of the introduction to these activities.

Background

Measuring something is not as easy as it sounds. Try measuring the length of a worm! These activities provide different opportunities for students to develop their measurement skills.

Activity #1 - Area of Focus: Measurement

1. Worms are different sizes and shapes. Discuss with students different ways they could measure worms.
2. Make a list of classroom objects (e.g., pencils, water faucet, masking tape roll, glass of water, etc.) and discuss how they could be measured.
3. Talk about choosing the appropriate tool for measuring each item. For example, how to measure a bulletin board vs. an orange.
4. Provide students with an opportunity to explore different measuring tools.
   • Suggested measuring tools: measuring cup, ruler, scale, tape measure, measurement spoons, etc.
   • Suggested objects to measure: glass of water, bag of sand/dirt, newspaper, macaroni, etc. (things mentioned in the story)
5. Set up 4 or more centres where students will have to choose the best measuring tool for each item and record their choice, their reason for choosing that tool and the results of the measurement.

Activity #2 - Area of Focus: Measurement

1. The worm in the story is wearing a hat. Obviously it has to be very small to fit the worm. Make a list of the different types of hats that we see. Discuss how a hat is made to fit different sized heads (e.g., the circumstance in which it is used).
2. Have the students consider designing and making a "class hat".
3. Have the students gather the following information:
   1. The students measure their head size with a buddy and record the information (a number of activities can be done with this information: how many have the same size, is there a difference between boys and girls, etc.)
   2. Develop a list of criteria for developing and choosing a hat
   3. Discuss with the students what types of material they could use to make a hat (it might be good to suggest that the hat be made of recycled materials).
4. Have students develop a "prototype" for consideration or divide class into teams and have a prototype developed by each team.
5. When hats are finished have class evaluate each hat against the criteria.
6. Decide on "the winner".
7. Consider making hats as a class project.