Introducing an entertaining diary from a unique perspective, featured in the MaiStoryBook Library Collection:

“Diary of a Worm” by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss

*~Click here to purchase your own copy of “Diary of a Worm” to start on your own reading adventure! (This is an affiliate link~ 5% of your purchase will go to MaiStoryBook to help create Reading Resources for your littles)~*

Book Synopsis and Review

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a worm? What does a worm do all day? Do worms have friends? Do they go to school? Prepare to have all your questions answered as we embark on an intimate sneak peak into the life of a worm through Worm’s very own Diary. This hilarious reading adventure will take you through the ins and outs of being a worm~ from the 3 most important things to remember as a worm, the best jokes to tell your worm sister, how to dance the hokey pokey worm style, and even what not to eat before bed to avoid having nightmares of giant birds playing hopscotch. This tiny little worm has some big adventures~ perfect for his next diary entry!

This witty read takes a seemingly mundane creature and makes its life relatable to ours. From going to school, bantering with siblings, indulging in shenanigans with friends, and dreaming of the future, readers will connect with Worm’s adventures while also learning some fun worm facts along the way. The illustrations are complete with clever speech bubbles, adding another layer of character development and humor to the text. From a teacher’s perspective, this read aloud is also perfect for engaging students in a lesson about perspective/ point of view writing. Scenes that readers will be familiar with are retold from the worm’s perspective, giving us another point of view to consider. For example, a fun game of hop-scotch is a a deadly activity for a worm, and while a small group of girls may feel squeamish when a worm crawls up, to Worm, it’s absolutely hilarious to hear them squeal. Check out the activity at the end of this post for an extension to this lesson.

Vocabulary

• bait (p. 7) food used to trap and catch another animal (worms are bait for a fish)
• snuck (p. 11) to come up behind someone or around someone without them seeing you
• rear end (p. 23) someone’s bottom
• compost (p. 28) rotten things (like garbage, paper, old food) that is used to help plants grow
• tracking (p. 30) leaving a trail of something behind you

Themes/ Main Ideas

• Different people/animals have different perspectives: Two people/animals can see the same thing or do the same activity but have completely different points of view about what happened.
• No matter your size, you are important and have an important role to play here on Earth.

YouTube Video: Guided Shared-Reading Read Aloud Example

Example of a shared-reading, interactive Read Aloud of “Diary of a Worm” – how to subtly introduce the vocabulary list words within the text, ask guided questions, and spark conversation!

*~Check it Out~*

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Diary of an Animal Perspective Writing Booklet Activity

If you could read the diary of any animal, which animal would you choose? This was the question I asked my third graders and they were bubbling over with ideas. Well, I told them, you may not be able to find an actual diary of that animal, but *you* can write one! It’s your job to *become* your animal~ imagine life from the *perspective* of your animal, think like your animal, even move like your animal if you must! (abiding by safe classroom behaviors, of course). Using the Diary of a Worm as our mentor text, each student chose an animal and created a diary recording that animal’s daily activities and more~ who their family members were, did they have any siblings, who were their friends, what did they do at school, what kind of jokes did they tell, what might be their worst nightmare, what do they want to be when they grow up, what are the the three best and worst tings about being them~ etc. Then, they carefully illustrated and colored each page, and filled in some bonus fun-fact pages and a scrapbook at the end of the diary. The whole project culminated in an across-grade level collaboration~ we invited the TK kids to come visit out classroom, and the third graders paired up with the little littles and shared their animal Diaries. The TK kiddos were thrilled to be in an upper grade classroom (and enjoyed the read alouds of course), and the third graders felt a sense of pride and responsibility and to be modeling for the little ones what third grade works as like. If you and your littles are interested in creating your own animal diaries, check out the activity below with all of the templates you will need to get started!

Materials

• *Diary of an Animal* Perspective Writing Template
• Stapler
• Colors: crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc
• Pen/pencil

Directions

• Choose an animal to write a diary from its perspective. (*It is recommended that you do research on the animal of your choice so that your diary is “realistic” fiction like the mentor text “Diary of a Worm”*)
• Fill out the provided research worksheet to record facts about your animal.
• Choose a diary template: blank pages OR blank with lines for dates and writing OR sentence frames modeled from the mentor text “Diary of a Worm” **Reference the mentor text “Diary of a Worm” for a model of how to write and fill in diary entries**
• PRINT INSTRUCTIONS: PRINT IN ORDER, DOUBLE SIDED PRINTING. Then, **keeping pages in order printed**, keep them stacked and fold them in half so that the cover is facing the front. Check to make sure you did it correctly. When you flip open the cover, you should see a blank page on the right, and then “This diary belongs to____” on the left. Flip the page again to start with page 1 on the left ahndside  for the first diary entry. All the pages after that  should be in number order, 
• Cover page: Fill in the blank with the animal of your choosing.
• Tile Page: Put the name of your animal un the line under “This diary belongs to______” (the name can be a real name *i.e. Austin, Luna, etc.* or just the animal name *i.e. Wolf, Duck, Bear, etc.)
• Starting on page one, the Short Bold Line in the upper corners is the DATE LINE (write the date *Month Day, Year*).
• Fill in the writing prompts and add illustrations to complete the diary.
• The last few pages contain fun facts, a page to draw a comic featuring your animal (reference end papers of the mentor text), and a Scrapbook page.
• Scrapbook page: Draw pictures of your animal or events in your animal’s life. On the lines below, write a caption. 
• On the back is a copy right sign. Write the year and name of the author.

How to Use Your *Diary of an Animal* Perspective Writing Activity

• Read Aloud your diary to an family member or friend
• Ask a family member or friend what animal’s diary they want to read and then encourage them to make one.
• Read Along with your own Animal Diary as you reread Diary of a Worm, or listen to MaiStoryBook’s interactive read aloud video again.
• Continue adding diary entries as you think up new ideas, by sampling new pages

*~Overall, as always, I hope you all are staying safe, staying healthy, and supporting each other through these times! Tag me on Instagram @MaiStoryBookLibrary, Twitter @MaiStoryBook  – post on FaceBook – or contact me via email to share your own *Animal Diaries* and your own reading adventures! I’d love to hear from you !~*

*~Until next time, Happy Reading~*