Diary of a Worm
Written by Doreen Cronin
Pictures by Harry Bliss

About the Author

About the Illustrator

Respond to this book on the Powers Ferry blog

Words and Phrases to Explore

Curriculum Connections

• Before you begin reading this book assess student's prior knowledge about:  diaries and worms.
• To build background knowledge consider using websites and videos from unitedstreaming.

English/Language Arts

Text Features

• Diary Format
• Photo Captions
• Speech Bubbles

Readers Workshop

• Sequence of Events
• Finding/Understanding Humor - Where are the jokes?  Why are they funny?
• Determining fact from fiction

Writers Workshop

• Diary Entries - Keeping a journal

Math

Calendar

• Identify months and days.  Mark each day on a calendar that Worm made an entry.  How many times did he write in his diary?  How much time passed from his first entry to his last entry?

Measurement - See related websites for a measurement activity and a lesson plan.

Science

Life Cycles - Observe mealworms.  Illustrate their life cycle.  Keep a diary of your mealworms life.

Earth Day - Why will the Earth never forget the worm?  What is compost?  How do worms help the environment?

Activities Integrating Technology

Timeliner - Use Timeliner as a tool to retell the story.  Use Diary of a Worm or another grade appropriate book.  Have students list story events in sequence to create a timeline.

Kid Pix 4 - Use the drawing tools to illustrate your favorite part of the story.  Write a sentence or two to tell about that part.

Kidspiration/Inspiration -

• Classify animals into two groups vertebrates, invertebrates. 
• Make two lists:  Things worms can do, Things worms cannot do.  Do this same thing for other animals.  Make this list for kids too.
• Fact v. fiction - What from the story is a fact and what is fiction.

PowerPoint - Create a diary for another animal.  Include a date and an illustration for each page.  Download this lesson plan for an organizational chart.

Video Streaming - Listed below are titles that are available at www.unitedstreaming.com.  Please preview any videos before using them with students.  You may also want to import the video into PowerPoint and then create questions to use with Beyond Question.

• Part 1:  Diary Journal:  Realistic Fiction (grades 3-5) (Writer's Workshop)
• Worm Farm (background knowledge)
• Getting to Know Soil (science)
• The Animal Life Series:  How We Classify Animals (science)
• The Magic Schoolbus Meets the Rot Squad

Related Websites

BookHive - Post your comments about the book at this site.  Read what others have written as well.

Cyberworm Measurement - measure a family of cyberworms with a wacky ruler.

The Adventures of Herman - Learn all about worms at this interactive site.  Available in English and Spanish.

Classroom Activity Sheet - Has many activities that are related to the book.

Earthworms - Enchanted Learning's informational page on the earthworm.

Worms R Us  - A second grade webquest designed for Diary of a Worm.  Could be adapted for other grades.

Lesson Plans

• Grade K-2:  Fact or Fiction:  Learning About Worms
• Grades 3-5:  Animal Diaries - Students get excited about research when they create diaries for animals and insects.
• Grades K-2:  Diary of a Worm - This lesson plan integrates measurement with the book.  Two engaging activities are included.
• Then What Happened? - Great ideas for setting the stage for reading.  Includes an activity sheet for sequence and several extension activities.

• Animated worm from www.feebleminds-gifs.com

• Cover art from www.amazon.com