Jenny Wasson: Series Book Talk
I am reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney. I really enjoyed the series! I thought it was very funny and pretty sarcastic. I think Kinney portrayed a middle school boy perfectly. Greg Heffley is pretty awkward in the social scene and is never sticking to one thing. He’s all over the place and is constantly moving on to the next best thing. I really love reading or “watching” his friendship with Rowley. I think Kinney did a great job developing that relationship and I think it really connects well with middle school boys. I love the illustrations in the book! I think it helps with imagining the story and also sets the tone meaning it’s definitely more of an informal way to write, but I think it’s great! Greg’s relationship with is brother is another relationship I think Kinney did a great job on developing. Although I’m an only child, I think the image the author presents is (probably) spot on to other relationships between siblings. My only major critique of the book is I wish we were given dates instead of days. I find that I sometimes get lost in time and get confused with where we are in terms of the weeks/months/seasons. Providing dates would help me visualize the book a lot and would help me keep things in sequence. I think a student who is afraid to read or claimed they didn’t like to read would really enjoy this series! It’s light and funny and very easy to follow! I think these students would feel very accomplished after reading books from this series too because they are very meaty and have a lot of pages. This series would also be great for a student who needs to be reminded that reading is fun and books can be funny! It’s important for us as teachers to recognize when our students start to become burnt out or start to see reading as a chore and I think this series is a great remedy for that! The pictures are also great for a student who needs help visualizing the story.
If you were to google Diary of a Wimpy Kid lesson plans, you could find a lot of resources! There are many teachers using this book as mentor texts and also just using to book to create activities.
http://www.wimpykid.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/WimpyKid-SeriesTeachingGuide.pdf
This is a great resource! It provides many handouts and great prompts that get your students to dig deeper and analyze the text/characters. It also discusses journaling and gives you ideas for how to incorporate that into your classroom. It also provides you with what CCSS are covered with these activities and gives ideas for differentiating instruction (which is AWESOME).
http://www.puffinvirtuallylive.co.uk/WK_LESSON%20PLANS%202014C.pdf
This resource is also really great! It gets the students working with the author and also has them making their own comic strips. It also provides all the templates needed to complete the activities!
This website is really awesome! It provides the teacher with a ton of resources and lessons plans. It even has resources that help teachers with reluctant readers and how using Diary of a Wimpy Kid could be useful! You could even have your students join the Wimpy Kid Club (with parent permission of course)!
I could use a lot of these resources in my classroom. They all have creative and fun ideas that will keep students engaged and interested. I really liked that these resources provided templates and even some direction with how to lead and/or teach the activity. I would love to have my students great their own “journal” that they used weekly! It’s a great way to get students comfortable with writing and is a great connection to the story. I think this book is a great one to use for read alouds since it’s funny and easy to follow!