SQUASHED IN THE MIDDLE

Starred Selection, Booklinks, July, 2005, Best New Books for the Classroom!

For Discussion:
Go around your classroom and have each student tell the class how many brothers and sisters he/she has and the names and ages of his/her siblings. How does each student feel about being an only child, a younger sibling, an older sibling, or a “squashed in the middle” sibling? Does he/she ever feel ignored?

Writing:
Have each student write or dictate a letter to Daisy with advice on how to make her family members listen to her.

Social Studies/Art:
Introduce your class to genealogy by drawing your own family tree on the blackboard. Then have each student design their own family tree by hand or on the computer, and ask them to write an adjective to describe each of their relatives. Encourage them to extend the family as wide as possible to include not only siblings, but grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins.