Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus Teacher Resource Guide
SD35 Middle School Read Aloud 2026-2027
Purpose:
This Teacher Resource Guide is intended to support and inspire teachers and students in the Langley School District on their reading journey of The Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling.
This novel and thus Teacher Resource Guide is deliberate in addressing topics of belonging, community and inclusion. The guide also includes a variety of research based comprehension and vocabulary strategies that can be universally applied across all middle years classrooms.
This Teacher Resource Guide was created over the 2022-2023 school, in ongoing collaboration with SD35 teachers, administrators, instructional services teachers and learning support services teachers.
Guide Organization:
This Teacher Resource Guide is divided into four main parts: Teacher’s Guide, Comprehension Strategies, Vocabulary, and Appendix. Lessons, instructional ideas, and supporting documents can be found in the Teacher’s Guide. Graphic organizers, doodle notes, and instructional strategies can be found in the Comprehension Strategies Section. Cloze Activities, morphology lessons, and vocabulary strategies can be found in the Vocabulary Section. Finally, teacher resources and a copy of the evaluation can be found in the Appendix.
We have also tried to hyperlink additional resources for teacher use. All activities and resources are included as suggestions. Teachers are encouraged to adapt and find meaning for their own classrooms and student population.