Dear Diary

I choose to read “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” by Jeff Kinney. I have never read these books before and I have never even seen the movie before. So this was a great experience for me because I was reading it for the first time. I chose to read the first one from the series. It is about a boy named Greg Heffley. Greg writes in a journal about the challenges and events that take place in middle school. It is a funny story that makes you giggle and for me reading this I went back to middle school and remembered what it was like for me. Jeff Kinney has written eleven books in this series. I like the fact that he uses pictures to explain situations like when it is Greg’s first day and he wants to sit in the right spot. Kenney uses arrows to point to the morons that Greg had to sit by. I also find it interesting that the font he uses looks like it is handwritten.

This series is made or could be read by second graders to fifth grade. It is relatable to children who are in middle school because Greg is in middle school. The readers could connect with Greg. Greg is a bit of an oddball, but he is just trying to fit in. I think children could relate to that, they could learn from some of his fail attempts. Greg has a friend name Rowley. Rowley is someone that is in my opinion has parents that are over protective so he has not gotten to experience a lot.  Greg has a mom, dad, and two brothers. Rodrick is his older brother and he likes to pick on Greg. I could relate to Rodrick because I like to prank my younger sister. Greg also has a younger brother named Manny.  Any of these characters could be relatable to someone.

As a future teacher reading these stories can help us learn what the students are interested in and it could help us apply their interests into the classroom. I would read this book in the beginning of the year. After I have finished the book, I would have the students create their own diary. I would give them time each day to write in it. They could be prompted questions or it could just be a free write. Throughout the school year I would read more books from the series. This way we would stay focused on writing in the diaries plus it would reintegrate why we are writing in the diaries. Writing in the diaries would help with penmanship, but also developing the student’s thought process. When the year is over I would give the diaries to the student’s parents. I would show the parents what the students learned, what they enjoyed in the class, and what they thought was important to write about. I would suggest that they keep it so the students could look back on it is ten to fifteen years. It would give them a little glimpse back in the past life of a middle school student.