Lakeview Elementary
January 2014 – Book of the Month
Weslandia
Written by Paul Fleischman
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
“He could actually use what he’d learned that week for a summer project that would top
all others.”
Core Essentials Value of the month – Knowledge
Weslandia is a surprising story about a young boy who doesn’t fit in with others. Wesley creates his own
world right in his own backyard after planting one simple plant. Soon Wesley’s world is one everyone
wants to be a part of. Paul Fleischman create a story so full of detail and excitement that students want
to read it over and over. This is the kind of book that makes students love reading.
The definition of our Core Essential this month states that knowledge is discovering something new so
you can better at whatever you do. We chose Weslandia as our book of the month because we really
felt that Wesley’s used everything he learned while creating Weslandia to make everyone’s civilization
better. We always hope our students remember that learning makes them better at everything they do.
Core Essentials
Weslandia lends itself to many lessons that could be reinforced through the reading the book.
 Ask students why they think we chose this book to explore the core essential of knowledge.
 Have students act out ways that Wesley could tell the other kids how he was feeling at the
beginning of the story.
 What other Core Essentials could be explored with this book? Have the students discuss what
other lessons the book would lend itself to.
Social Studies
 Wesley creates his own civilization. Using the plant he planted, Wesley’s plant contributes many
things to his society. What does Wesley include in his civilization?
o A new language
o A new alphabet
o A number system (8)
o A new way of keeping time (8)
o Clothing
o Food and drink
o Plant (swist – 8 petals)
o Shelter
o Games


o Economy – sold suntan lotion and insect repellant
Students can create their own civilization. Students can describe or draw what they would use in
their civilization. What would they discover and use in their civilization? Students could use
bubble or circle map to brainstorm their ideas. Students could create some of the same things
that Wesley did. They would enjoy describing their
o Food
o Shelter
o Plants
o Sports or games
o Etc.
On the page where it shows the kids playing the game, show the students the page and have the
students describe the game. They could
o Name the game
o Describe the game
o Make the rules
o Write a narrative of a time the game was played
o Students could play the game
Math
 In the book Wesley divides his time into eight segments because there are 8 petals on the
plants. Have the students tell us how our time schedule is divided. Why is in 24s. If we were to
use eights what would our times look like? They could create clocks with the eight sections.
Using division have the students divide the clock into eight sections. If there are 24 hours in a
day, how many hours would be in each segment of Wesley’s clock? Could they find the common
denominators within our current clock and the eight hour clock. There is a page in the book with
a great picture of his clock. This may help students brainstorm ideas.
 In the book Wesley creates a number system based on a base 8 system. Using connector cubes
have the students mimic a base eight system after a base ten system. Which do they like better?
Why? Why do we use a base ten system? Metric system?
 Use tangrams to create an 8 point flower like Wesley’s. Students can then label the parts of their
plant.
Science
 Students can make sundials using a long stick. They can mark the hours the first day using
smaller sticks or markers. Have the students check for accuracy the next few days and weeks.
Ask them why they think it becomes less and less accurate. This is due to the changing of the
position of the sun and how the lengths of our days change. Discuss why we don’t use sundials
as much to tell time.
 Students can create a packet of seeds from Wesley’s plants. Have them look at other packets of
seeds. Have them include how to plant the seed and how to care for the plants.
 Discuss photosynthesis.
Language Arts
 Create their own alphabet code to record something they feel is important about them.
 Looking at our own alphabet, how many letters would our alphabet have if each sound had its
own letter?
 Finding the meaning of unknown words in this book would be beneficial. As you are reading the
book discuss the meaning of words and teach strategies for figuring out words. Think about how
multiple meaning words is asked on STAAR. Often the answer choices are words they don’t
know or are not as familiar to them either. Have the students write their own STAAR questions
and answer choices with the words in the book. Show the students what it looks like on STAAR,
so they understand how to ask the questions. Discuss finding multiple words that mean the
same thing.
Myriad
Outcast
Civilization
Bribe
Tormenters
Fleeing
Staple
Plot
Bedlam
Rind
Entrancing
Aromatic
Scornful
Grudgingly
Domain
Blunders
Constellation
morale




Sequence of events – have the students create a sequence of events chart using a graphic
organizer of their choice. Then have the students create a STAAR questions with their sequence
of events. They could leave an event out and trade their events with their friends to answer the
questions.
Compare Wesley to other characters that the students have read about. Create a double bubble
comparing the characters of the two books. Have the students pay special attention to how the
characters solved their problems and the outcome they had. Chrysanthemum would be a good
one to use as an example.
Be a reporter
o One students could act as Wesley and be interviewed by another student. The students
would need to prepare for both the interview and the answer. These could be
videotaped and could the students could create podcast. The students could turn in
their interviews and we could pick some to show on the video announcements.
Students could even dress as Wesley and the reporter.
o Students could write a newspaper article covering the story for the local newspaper. I
would love to post these stories on our web page!
Journal Entries – there are a myriad (haha) of journal topics that would work for this book.
o Wesley in an outcast in his society. Everything in his neighborhood is the same and
Wesley doesn’t fit in. Would you want to live in that type of society? Why or why not?
o Write about how Wesley’s striving to be different from others changed his
neighborhood. Was this a good change? Why or why not?
o We don’t hear much about Wesley’s parents except in the beginning. What do you think
Wesley’s parents this about him? Use text evidence to support your answer.
o Author’s purpose – Why do you think the author wrote this story? What lesson does he
want the reader to get out of the story?