Fatty Legs – A True Story

The group has become excellent at developing questions using our “Think Aloud” protocol… I like to build a lot of intrigue before starting any text.

Using just the cover illustration we developed a number of rich “why” questions. We resisted the urge to try and answer them right away! We will revisit them when we are deeper into the story!

• Why are they wearing the same clothes?
• Why is one girl standing in front of the others?
• Why does this one girl have red socks?
• Why is it snowing?
• Why is it a true story?
• Why do they look depressed?
• Why is it called fatty legs?
• Why are none of their eyes showing?
• Why are they not wearing any snow gear when it’s snowing?
• Why do they look like twins?
• Why is Fatty Legs in bold red printing?
• Why do they all have short hair?
• Why is there no background?
• Why is one girl crossing her arms?

I’m ready to delve into this book… I didn’t originally plan to do a unit on this before I started my practicum but after I heard about this book and read it I knew this would be a good fit for my class. I think Fatty Legs is the perfect book to open a discussion on this topic, so much so that I went through great lengths to gather enough copies to have a class set! I have some copies from the public library, some copies from two different high schools, a copy from our school library, and some from the district resource centre! I hope one day the school district invests in a class set of this book as I think other teachers would like to use it. Another grade five teacher in the district has used the book with her class and between us I think we have created enough resources for other teachers to get started with this book. The story is beautifully illustrated, sensitive, and developmentally appropriate. I spent some time meeting with the district Aboriginal Curriculum Mentor Teacher and I feel ready to carefully and respectfully approach this text and the sensitive topic of residential schools.