One School,
One Book
Project
The Crazy Man by
Pamela Porter
Amanda Acton
&
Miranda Newton
Our Scenario
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The school in which we are employed is a rural middle school, encompassing grades 5-8,
surrounded by a farming community.
The students come from various socio-economic backgrounds, and are all unique
individuals.
There are approximately 240 students attending this school.
We are both grade 6 teachers.
Staff members try to encourage a collaborative student environment in which students
work together and treat each other with respect, by following the school’s value statement
as follows:
Value Statement
Staff members and students will work together to help promote qualities within all, to create a
safe and caring environment. In this environment students will:
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Continuously grow;
Accept differences of all individuals;
Work collaboratively;
Create a morally intelligent community;
Develop leadership skills.
For the One School, One Book Project, we have decided to do The Crazy Man by Pamela Porter.
Summary of The Crazy Man
In rural Saskatchewan, on a wheat farm, Emaline lives with her mother, father and dog,
Prince. One day, Prince, chases a rabbit in front of the tractor Emaline’s father is driving. In an
effort to save Prince, Emaline gets her leg caught in the discer, leaving her permanently disabled.
As a result of this incident, her father shoots Prince and leaves Emaline and her mother to fend
for themselves. Emaline’s mother hires Angus, a patient from the local mental hospital, to plant
the fields and help out around the farm. Many of the neighbours view Angus as a threat and
disapprove of him being allowed to wander about freely. Regardless of the many prejudices cast
towards Angus, Angus helps many people, including those who treated him with disrespect. But
most importantly, he helps Emaline to accept her injury and the loss of her father.
Rationale
The Crazy Man by Pamela Porter has won many literary awards and has been
chosen as our focus for a One School, One Book project. We feel that the reading level of this
book is appropriate for our middle school students, ranging from grades five through eight. The
style of writing is different than the typical novel, presenting prose style poetry. The amount of
reading per page will make all students feel less overwhelmed, as pages do not have a large
amount of blocked text. We feel as though this novel will make students more comfortable with
reading poetry formats, which can be quite frightening.
The book promotes themes of acceptance, understanding and inclusion. These are
some of the core beliefs that we instil in the students of our school. As a result, we believe that
this book will be beneficial to building a positive school community.
This book is set in a town similar to the one in which we reside, a small rural town
situated within the Canadian prairies. This will allow our students to relate to the town presented
in the book. Similar feelings and situations are probable, so the students will have a previous
understanding of the culture that is present in this book. Another aspect that students can relate to
in this book is the main character, Emaline. She is an intriguing and likable girl attending school in
a rural setting who is just trying to fit in and find some normalcy within a difficult life. She is of
similar age to the students of our school, so students will be able to relate to many of the issues and
thoughts she has throughout the book.
We hope that this book is enjoyed as thoroughly by our students as it was enjoyed
by us. Its uniqueness and memorable characters will draw the students in from the first page,
creating an experience within the school and families that will never be forgotten.
Message to Families
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Over the next two weeks, students and families at our school will have the opportunity to
participate in a reading program called One School One Book. For this program, the entire
school will read the same book. If you would like, you may take this opportunity to read the
book with your child. If you are unable to read to your child, or your child is unable to read the
book, students are encouraged to attend “reading at noon”, where a teacher will read the selected
pages during lunch break.
This past month, staff and volunteers have spent numerous hours selecting the book and planning
the events and activities for the One School One Book program. Staff and volunteers have
selected the book “The Crazy Man” by Pamela Porter. We selected this book because it can be
enjoyed and understood by students in grades 5-8 and it delivers a positive message of
acceptance, understanding and inclusion. We believe that the One School One Book program
provides students with unique literacy development. Spending time reading aloud with your
child(ren) helps them to become a more effective reader and can also be a fun family activity.
Next Monday, we will have an assembly to promote the book and the program amongst the
students. Each student will get a copy of the book “The Crazy Man” and a reading schedule to
bring home. The reading should only take about 20 minutes each night. If possible, please do
not read ahead because we will be doing classroom activities based on the assigned pages. As a
parent/guardian, it is your decision to “modify” words in the book that you may find offensive.
There will be various school-wide and classroom activities that coordinate with the book. For
one of the school-wide activities, students will be invited to participate in daily trivia by
suggesting answers to the proposed questions. These trivia questions will help students to better
understand the book and get everyone in the school involved.
If you have any questions about One School One Book please contact Amanda Acton or Miranda
Newton at (403) 829-7762. Have fun reading!
Sincerely,
Amanda Acton and Miranda Newton
School-Wide Activity #1 – Daily Questioning
This school wide project would occur every morning in conjunction with the morning
announcements. Staff members over the P.A system will ask thought provoking questions related
to the readings that the students were to complete the night previous. Each class will brainstorm
an answer together, or a couple of answers, dependent on the type of question asked. They will
write their answer on a piece of paper in the shape of wheat. These answers will be posted by all
grades on a daily basis onto a mural. The mural will be a picture of the farm that Emaline grows
up on. By the end of the book, the field should look like a sea of wheat ready for harvest.
General Learning Outcomes Covered:
Grade 5 - 8 - General Outcome 2 - Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to
comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts.
Specific Learning Outcomes Covered:
Grade 5 - 2.2 Respond to Texts - express points of view about oral, print and other media texts.
Grade 6 - 2.2 Respond to Texts - make judgements and inferences related to events, characters,
setting and main ideas of oral, print and other media texts.
2.2 Respond to Texts - explain own point of view about oral, print and other media texts.
Grade 7 - 2.2 Respond to Texts - justify own point of view about oral, print and other media
texts, using evidence from texts.
Grade 8 - 2.2 Respond to Texts - expect that there is more than one interpretation for oral, print
and other media texts, and discuss other points of view.
Trivia Questions and Instructions:
All of the trivia questions, except for question 10, will be answered as a class. For
question 10, each student will write down their own answer on a piece of grain. For most of the
questions, there is no right or wrong answer, therefore, answers are not attached. For questions
that do have a correct answer, the answer will follow the question.
1) Pg. 11-32
Instructions: For this trivia question, teachers need to make students use only their non-dominant hand
for an entire class. Teachers should make sure that students are doing hands-on activities that require
them to use their hands frequently. Physical education would be a good class to do this in.
Question: How did you feel not being able to use your dominant hand? Do you think this is similar to
how Emaline felt after she lost part of her leg?
2) Pg. 33-51
Question: Who are the three people in this section who make fun of Angus or view him as a threat? Has
Angus done anything to give them reasons to make fun of or threaten him?
Answer: Jamie, Joey, and Harry Record.
3) Pg. 55-75
Question: Do you think that seeing colors around people makes you crazy? Do you think that the colors
Angus describes are simply symbolic for how he views people or do you think that he actually sees
colors?
4) Pg. 55-93
Question: What are three things we know about Angus?
5) Pg. 98-119
Question: Now that you know more about Angus’s life, how does it change your opinion of Angus?
Some answers may include:
Feel bad for him because:
- No family that he knows about
- Grew up in a foster home
- His mom got sick- heard voices in the radio- tried to poison Angus
6) Pg.121-150
Question: How do you think Emaline feels about not hearing from her Dad? Do you think she is getting
over her dad leaving? Why or why not?
7) Pg. 151-181
Question: Do you think Emaline likes working at the animal shelter? Why or why not?
8) Pg. 185-196
Question: Why do you think that Angus was in the truck with Harry Record?
9) Pg. 196-214
Question: Why is Angus a hero? Why was it so heroic for Angus to rescue Joey?
10) Entire Book
Question: What did you like about the book?
School-Wide Activity #1 – Daily Questioning – Grain Piece
Template
Staff members can use this picture as a template to create grain pieces, or could draw
their own template. They can also be adjusted for size and colour. To get more of a golden
colour, try printing on yellow/gold coloured paper.
School-Wide Activity #2 – Book Cover Re-Creation
This project would be completed by every student at the school, during Art class. Once the
book has been completed, students will create their own version of a cover for the novel, The Crazy
Man. They will use descriptions from the book to create what they believe would be a compelling
book cover. This will require them to analyze and comprehend the story for important plot points and
character descriptions. Students will be allowed to use any medium presented to them by their
teachers.
Book covers must include the following:
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Title of the book
Author of the book
A review comment on the cover thought of by the student. This should appear in a similar fashion
to quotes on covers by New York Best Seller comments.
Teachers should monitor the book covers to ensure appropriateness of the covers. Once students have
completed covers, they will be hung around the school for observation by other students, staff members
and community members that may visit.
An exemplar has been attached to provide an idea of what is expected from the students.
General Learning Outcomes Covered:
Language Arts - Grades 5-8 - General Outcome 3 - Students will listen, speak, read, write, view
and represent to manage ideas and information.
Art - Grades 5-6 – Composition – Students will organize images and their qualities in the
creation of unified statements.
Art - Grades 7-8 – Composition - Students will develop competence with the components of
images: media, techniques and design elements.
Specific Learning Outcomes Covered:
Language Arts - Grade 5 - 3.3 Organize, Record and Evaluate – organize ideas and information
to emphasize key points for the audience.
Language Arts - Grade 6 - 3.3 Organize, Record and Evaluate – organize ideas and information
using a variety of strategies and techniques
Language Arts - Grade 7 - 3.3 Organize, Record and Evaluate – produce oral, print and other
media texts with well-developed and well-linked ideas and sections.
Language Arts - Grade 8 - 3.3 Organize, Record and Evaluate - organize ideas and information
to establish an overall impression or point of view in oral, print and other media texts.
School-Wide Activity #2 – Book Cover Re-Creation Example
Classroom Specific Activity – Formal Letter to Author
Upon completion of the One School, One Book project, the two grade six classes will
partake in a final wrap-up project. This project will consist of each student writing a letter on
behalf of their family to Pamela Porter, author of The Crazy Man.
The letter should include the following:
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Which character you liked most, using examples from the book to defend reasons
why you liked them.
Your favorite part of the book, explaining why you liked it.
An explanation on the experience you shared as a family while reading this book.
Finally, write a paragraph explaining the theme(s) of this book that you found
most relevant with our school’s philosophy.
This letter should be formal, but personal. Using personalization is acceptable; however,
students should avoid the use of informalities such as contractions. Students can use the letter
format as a guide to writing their letter. Any information required by students, such as address
will be provided when the project is given.
General Learning Outcomes Covered:
General Outcome 1
Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and
experiences.
Specific Learning Outcomes Covered:
1.1 Discover and Explore -engage in exploratory communication to share personal responses and
develop own interpretations.
Formal Letter Writing Guide:
[Your Street Address]
[City, Prov., Postal Code]
[Date]
[Recipient Name]
[Street Address]
[City, Prov., Postal Code]
Dear [Recipient Name]:
Introductory Paragraph: This introduces the reader to the topic of the letter.
Content/Body Paragraph(s): There can be multiple body paragraphs. This is where
you will provide the answers to the questions for the wrap-up assignment. Each
new thought or idea should be a new paragraph.
Conclusion Paragraph: This is used to signal the end of the letter. Put final
thoughts and ideas in this paragraph. If you desire an action from the recipient, you
request that in this paragraph.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
[Sign Your Name]
Print Your Name