Ideas for Frindle
"Frindle" is a children's novel written by Andrew Clements. It has won numerous awards and accolades, including the 1997 Christopher Award and recognition as a Parents' Choice Honor Book in 1997. It tells the story of Nicholas Allen, a class clown in Mrs. Granger's fifth-grade class, who invents the word "frindle." This book has a place in every elementary school classroom, and it has inspired many great accompanying activities.
Other People Are Reading
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Create a Word
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Have your students follow Nicholas' example and invent a new word for something. Ask them to choose an everyday object, and then think up a new word for it. The students can write a report explaining exactly how they thought up the new words for the objects, as well as create a poster that shows the object and its new name. Hang up the posters around the room and ask the students to try to use the new words to refer to the everyday objects for at least one week. It will be fun for everyone to see which words stick.
Word of the Day
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After you finish the book with your students, follow Mrs. Granger's example and start posting a Word of the Day on the board. While at the beginning of the book, this activity is perceived by Mrs. Granger's students as being tedious and boring, by the end of the book they completely understand the value of the exercise, and your students will, too. Have them write down the word and its definition each morning in a special vocabulary notebook, and use these words as a basis for vocabulary study.
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Baby Words
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Nick's idea to invent a new word comes from knowing that as a baby, he made up the word "gwagala," which to him meant "music." Have students go home and interview their parents or grandparents and find out if they had any special words for things when they were babies. Ask the students to write down these words and why they think they might have thought up these words to replace the original words. You (and your students) will be surprised at what information they come back to school with.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit dictionary image by Ben Higham from Fotolia.com
