Diary of a Wimpy Kid

By: Jeff Kinney

Published by Amulet Books, 2007

Reading Level: Lexile 950L

Independent Read, 5.2

Funny, Comical, Interesting, Relatable, Entertaining

Greg Heffley just finds himself thrown into middle school. A now new place with a very different group of kids who are much different than what Greg is used to seeing in Elementary School. Heffley is now walking the hallways of middle school with kids who are ‘taller, meaner, and already shaving.’ Greg Heffley is an average student, a middle child (one older brother Rodrick and younger brother Manny), who is always with his best friend Rowley Jefferson. Until, Gregg lets down Rowley and let’s his best friend take the blame for something he didn’t do. Gregg now has to fight for his friend’s friendship all over again, but will they become friends again?

Key Vocabulary –

Gregg is the narrative of the book and is telling his own story. Students will be able to connect easily and see what exactly middle school is like for Gregg through Kinney’s illustrations. Several words students may not know or just need a refresher of what the word means are: permanent (4), gimmicks (19), hassling (24), fabrications (48), degrading (104), ironic (164).

Teaching Suggestions:

Before Reading – Have your students fill out a KWL on what they think middle school will be like and what they want to learn to be better prepared for middle school. Middle school is a big transition for either 5^th or 6^th graders (depending on the area in which you live). They are currently in elementary school where they are still treated like babies but have slightly freedom. Students are curious to how middle school will be like and it is best to prepare for our students to the best of our abilities.

During Reading – Students will begin to write in a journal of their own just like Gregg Heffley. Students will already have a basic understanding of what is being asked and express that illustrations are more than welcomed. However, you would want to make the journal a tad more structure. Questions can be taped into the back of the journal so that students have something to refer to if they ever get stuck writing about something. They can write about the characters and their personalities, or maybe they have younger or older siblings and want to express the connections that student has made to Gregg. Feedback from you is most important. You will be able to ask your students to elaborate more on specific topics and guide their way to writing personally. Don’t make corrections and strongly stress students not to erase. You can even have your students write up their journals if they’d like and make a book out of their responses.

After Reading – Introduce your students the topic of bullying. October is bullying prevention month. Be sure to end the book within October. Bullying is an important topic that needs to be addressed early within the year. You and your students can set class rules or talk about the emotions of the bully and the one being bullied. In what ways are they similar? It is important for your classroom to be a community, and if your students don’t show respect towards one another teaching can become very difficult for you. Also, you can introduce Jeff Kinney’s other children’s books of a Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Electronic Resources –

WimpyKid.com: For students who learn to love the Diaries of a Wimpy Kid this site has EVERYTHING! All the books, a Wimpy Kid 2013 calender, plus ‘fun stuff’ for your students.

Bullying Prevention Month: A very useful site for educators with loads of resources on Conflict Resolutions, ways to bully proof your classroom, how words can affect others. Everything you need to make your classroom a respected community.