Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“A New Magical Child”

In this activity, students demonstrate their understanding of DICOMY and of Arthur’s and Linus’s perspectives by creating a file on a new magical child being added to the Marsyas Orphanage.

In this project, you will create a file for a new child entering Marsyas Orphanage. The file will consist of a DICOMY profile of the child, an evaluation of the child’s needs written from Linus’s perspective, and a plan for meeting those needs written from Arthur’s perspective.

Create a Profile

• Think of a kind of magical being that is not already represented in the orphanage. You can choose a being that already exists in folklore or make up an entirely new kind of magical being.
• Create a DICOMY profile. The profile should contain a picture of the child, a paragraph of biographical information, and a bulleted list explaining the child’s magical abilities and the dangers these might present to others.
• Make sure that the voice, tone, and content of this profile are consistent with details offered about DICOMY in the text.

Create an Evaluation

• Write a report, from Linus’s point of view, that details the child’s educational, social, and psychological needs, taking into account both the child’s biography and their unique magical abilities.