Macmillan III, 1992

Summary: Dinah was accustomed to being noticed. But when she entered the sixth grade of a large middle school, she was overwhelmed by feelings of insignificance. She decided to run for class president only for the recognition factor of the position. Her platform on recycling was constructed partially as an outgrowth of helping her mother organize an elderly lady's junk-filled home but mostly because she needed to have an issue to campaign. At first Dinah resents having to keep company with Mrs. Briscoe, the elderly pack-rat, but as she visits with her and reads The Wind in the Willows, they build a close relationship. A light book.

Level: RL: 4-6 IL: 4-6

Themes:

friendship with peers
friendship with an elderly person
recycling

Activities:

1. What's in a school's name?

A. Dinah attends a middle school, not a junior high school. List all references to attributes, characteristics or structure of her school. For example: "middle school had no windows." "In middle school, anything really fun was an after -school activity."

B. In your town/district/union interview the principal of the school which precedes Senior High School and write an article for your school or local newspaper. Before you hold the interview, follow these basic steps:

1. Write down all that you know about middle schools or junior high schools.

2. Informally chat with one of your present teachers about the subject. Also learn the proper interviewing techniques.

3. Obtain at least one article about the middle school concept and read it. List the major points and review before the interview.

4. Frame some questions based on this knowledge. For instance if you know your town has a junior high, you might ask the principal if plans are afoot to change to a middle school concept. Why or why not? If your town has a middle school, ask for the rationale for restructuring and what the steps were for accomplishing it.

C. Compare activities A and B. Is Dinah's school rightfully called a middle school? What would it take to make it one?

D. It's obvious that the John F. Kennedy Middle School was named for a famous president. (Indeed, he is quoted in Dinah for President.) List the school names in your area. a) If you don't know for whom they were named, find out. (This writer had to ask who Asa C. Adams was. He was a local doctor who delivered many area children.) Research the legal steps that a town must follow to name or rename a school. Depending on the results of your inquiries, you may have enough information for another newspaper article. If your school isn't named after any one a) who would you choose and why? b) Poll your class to find out who they would select and why. c) Consider running a campaign to name your school.

E. Does your school have a mascot or a symbol? How was it chosen? What relationship does it have to the school's name or community? Has it ever been changed? If so, why? If you are pen-pals with someone in another school this would be fodder for communications. It would be fun to hear about another school's mascot. Answer similar questions about a nearby college or university. Research their mascots (see bibliography). Why do you think they are usually ferocious animals?

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How was the name chosen?

Black Bears St. Vincent College chose
the "Bearcats," even though such
an animal doesn't exist because they
didn't want to be called "The
Saints" like so many other Catholic colleges.

How many seem to have a
combative nature?

Tigers     Gators       Beavers?
Riots      Hornets      Pioneers?
Rams       Vikings      Highlanders?

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2. As Dinah sought the twenty signatures required to run for office, one boy refused to sign her petition. He asked her: "What's your platform?" Dinah had never thought about what she would do as president. She just wanted to be president. "What are you planning to do as president? What do you want to achieve? Are you going to try to get us more sports equipment? Or another class trip? Or less homework?" p. 35.

A. With a friend who has also read Dinah for President, debate the pros and cons of this opinion: "Politicians run for office because they crave the glory of office."

B. Dinah admits that she wants the attention (She doesn't want to be a "little frog in a big pond.")

- Invite your school guidance counselor to talk to your class about the normal needs to have attention. Explore the borderline when the attention seeking behavior becomes abnormal.

- As a reading group, brainstorm all the ways that a person can be recognized as an individual.

3. Dinah possesses a personality that probably wouldn't allow her to get in a rut. Write a passage in your reading journal that describes Dinah's character. How does she feel about boys? (How do you feel about boys?) How would you expect this to change? How does Dinah react to major changes in her life? Back it up with examples from the book. Do you think she made the right decision in the last chapter? Why or why not? Is it consistent with her character? Would you have done the same thing? Be sure to include her goals in life. Relate them to your goals in life.
Look up the rest of the Sarah Teasdale poem mentioned on page 45. Why does it appeal to both Dinah and Mrs. Briscoe? Is the passage quoted representative of the whole poem?

4 A. Dinah and her father hear some interesting facts about garbage. Research whether of not these figures are accurate. Then make some sense out of these large numbers. (That is, find out how many tons a "normal" dump truck holds and translate the numbers into truck loads.) Write three math problems using the numbers that you uncovered or constructed. Exchange with a friend.

B. If your town or school doesn't have a recycling program, write to someone in charge and find out the steps needed to start one. Find an adult sponsor and/or the support of your student council. Get the ball rolling. Don't forget to check out local shops or industries for assistance or as potential clients. Design the logo for your recycling containers. What are the figures about lunch room wastes? What can you do about it?

5. Dinah's mother is quick with aphorisms. In your reading journal jot each one down with the page number. How does Dinah react to them? Are they appropriate? How would you react to someone who uses them all the time? Would you feel nagged?

As a class or a group list as many expressions as you can. Match sayings that are similar and explain why. Match sayings that are opposites. How can there be truth in both? (e.g. "Out of sight, out of mind," and ""Absence makes the heart grow fonder.") Make some of the sayings modern. (How would you express, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire"?) Compare proverbs from different countries.

6. What aspect of your life could use a bit of Dinah's mother's organizational skills? Use Where's My Other Sock? to tidy up a corner of your life. Share this book with friends and post a list of successes on the bulletin board. Write your own "Get Organized" booklet to hand out at the beginning of school.

7. Read or reread Wind in the Willows. Why do you think that Claudia Mills choose that book for Dinah to read to Mrs. Briscoe? Support your answer with specific details or parallels.

Resources:

Franks, Ray. What's in a Nickname? Exploring the Jungle of College Athletic Mascots, 1982.

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. Illus by Arthur Rackham. Heritage Press, 1966.

Hadingham, Evan and Janet. Garbage!: Where It Comes From, Where It Goes? Simon and Schuster, 1990.

Kalbacken, Joan and Emilie U. Lepthien. Recycling. Children's Press, 1991.

Markle, Sandra. The Kids' Earth Handbook. Atheneum, 1991.

Wilcox, Charlotte. Trash. Photographs by Jerry Bushey. Carolrhoda, 1988.

Wirths, Claudine and Mary Bowman-Kruhm. Where's My Other Sock?: How to Get Organized and Drive Your Parents and Teachers Crazy. Illus by Molly Coxe. Crowell, 1989.

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Prepared by Abigail Garthwait, Asa Adams School, Orono, ME

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