Frindle (Andrew Clements)

In this State Standards-aligned Literature KitT, we divide the novel by chapters or sections and feature reading comprehension and vocabulary questions. In every chapter, we include Before You Read and After You Read questions. The Before You Read activities prepare students for reading by setting a purpose for reading. They stimulate background knowledge and experience, and guide students to make connections between what they know and what they will learn. The After You Read activities check students' comprehension and extend their learning. Students are asked to give thoughtful consideration of the text through creative and evaluative short-answer questions and journal prompts. Also included are writing tasks, graphic organizers, comprehension quiz, test prep, word search, and crossword to further develop students' critical thinking and writing skills, and analysis of the text. About the Novel: Frindle is the story of a clever, time-wasting schemer's innovative plan to create his own word for the dictionary. Ten-year-old Nick Allen has a reputation for developing ingenious plans that distract teachers. For the first time ever, his diversions fail to create the desired results in Mrs. Granger's fifth grade language arts class. Instead of distracting her, he ends up with an extra assignment and oral presentation on how new entries are added to the dictionary. Surprisingly, the boring assignment leads to Nick's most clever idea ever when he decides to create his own new word - frindle. Nick recruits five fellow students to support his efforts in changing the name of pen to frindle. Their insistence on referring to pens as frindles causes a major commotion when Mrs. Granger's passion for vocabulary and strict emphasis on the correct use of language result in a battle of wills that threatens to disrupt the whole school. Their war of words spreads beyond the school resulting in after-school punishments, a home visit from the principal, national publicity, economic opportunities for local businessmen, and, eventually inclusion in the dictionary. All of our content is aligned to your State Standards and are written to Bloom's Taxonomy.