What is this?
"A pen", you may say?
WRONG!!!
It's a FRINDLE!
That's what my students keep reminding me, anyway! Everytime I say, "Ok, gt out your red pens" I an met with a chorus of outrage: "Not pen...FRINDLE!" :)
If you couldn't guess, we just finished our first read-aloud, Frindle by Andrew Clements.
If you couldn't guess, we just finished our first read-aloud, Frindle by Andrew Clements.
Scholastic Synopsis: Fifth grader Nick Allen knows just how to make school more cool . In third grade, he transformed Miss Deaver's room into a tropical paradise with some paper palm trees and a sandy beach. In fourth grade, he taught his classmates to mimic the high-pitched calls of blackbirds. But now, in fifth grade, he's come up with his most ingenious idea yet. After learning about the origins of words, he decides to change the word pen to frindle . At first, it seems like a harmless prank, a way to annoy his dictionary-obsessed teacher. Then the whole class starts using the new word, and the joke spreads across town like wildfire. Suddenly Nick finds himself in the middle of a media frenzy over frindle. Will Nick emerge from the controversy a troublemaker or a hero?
One of my favorite things that I've TRIED in the classroom is...
Read-alouds!

I read aloud to my students every day.
Yes, my fifth grade students.
The "big kids" who sometimes have that "too-cool-for-school" attitude.
They love it when I read to them.
Gone are the days when mom and dad would snuggle in bed and read them a bedtime story.
But they still enjoy being read to.
And it gives me the valuable opportunity to model fluency,
vocabulary searching,
critical thinking skills,
character development,
and summarizing.
It's a win-win-win-win...well, you get the picture :)
After we finished the book, we completed a couple of exercises together: I introduced the "Someone...wanted...but...so" summarizing model:
And then we did a Character Profile on the main character, Nick:

We differentiated between physical traits and character traits.
Then, we took a turn at creating new words, just like Nick!
I put all of the "new words" together in a class book:
These activities (and TONS more!) can be found in a mega packet
I've created to accompany a novel study of the book:
The MEGA packet is 40 pages long, chocked-full of of activities for before, during, and after reading that can serve as comprehension assessment, writing prompts, and/or valuable practice determining different story elements:
Here's a preview of some of pages included:
You can snag it in my TpT store
for only $5!
One of my favorite things that I've TRIED in the classroom is...
Read-alouds!

I read aloud to my students every day.
Yes, my fifth grade students.
The "big kids" who sometimes have that "too-cool-for-school" attitude.
They love it when I read to them.
Gone are the days when mom and dad would snuggle in bed and read them a bedtime story.
But they still enjoy being read to.
And it gives me the valuable opportunity to model fluency,
vocabulary searching,
critical thinking skills,
character development,
and summarizing.
It's a win-win-win-win...well, you get the picture :)
After we finished the book, we completed a couple of exercises together: I introduced the "Someone...wanted...but...so" summarizing model:
And then we did a Character Profile on the main character, Nick:
We differentiated between physical traits and character traits.
Then, we took a turn at creating new words, just like Nick!
I put all of the "new words" together in a class book:
These activities (and TONS more!) can be found in a mega packet
I've created to accompany a novel study of the book:
The MEGA packet is 40 pages long, chocked-full of of activities for before, during, and after reading that can serve as comprehension assessment, writing prompts, and/or valuable practice determining different story elements:
Here's a preview of some of pages included:
You can snag it in my TpT store
for only $5!
And, to thank my faithful blog readers for their loyalty I would like to GIVE AWAY A FREE COPY! If you'd like a chance to win, enter the Rafflecoptor below:

Such a great book. Your unit looks great! My kids love it when I read to them as well.
ReplyDeleteHunter's Teaching Tales
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My students beg for read aloud! My fifth graders love being read too! My favorite book is The Tale of Desperaux because we actually listen to it on CD because the narrator does all the voices to all the characters... you would think the students are watching a movie! They love that book soooo much even my "I hate fantasy" students love the book and the voices, too ;) But that novel is near the end of the year - can't spoil them too early since it's the best book on CD I've ever heard.
ReplyDeleteAmanda
My Shoe String Life
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I love doing The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe with them! They were so entranced while I was reading!
ReplyDelete:) Kaitlyn
Smiles and Sunshine
I love reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Because of Winn Dixie. Thanks for such a great giveaway! :)
ReplyDeleteAmy
Love Frindle! My babies absolutely BEG me to read to them each day. I think the most powerful read aloud that I have ever read to my class was Someone Named Eva. At the time, I had a para that was from Germany. We would take turns reading the book. She was able to relate stories that she had been told as a child from her family about the Holocaust. We had so many fabulous discussions and emotions flew very high through the whole story.
ReplyDeleteAlison
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
I love to read "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and "Because of Winn Dixie" the most. I'll have to try "Frindle". It's new to me.
ReplyDeleteThe other year I tried a book recommended from a fellow teacher, The Dragon in the Sock Drawer. My kids loved it! As the days went by I saw multiple kids go out and buy the book and read along with us. Then, they bought the next ones to continue reading the series. :)
ReplyDeleteYour unit looks amazing, Jessica!! Right now we are reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and it is always a favorite. I am reading more picture books now than ever and even though they are older, they DO love being read to!
ReplyDelete~Holly
Fourth Grade Flipper
I love reading This Island Isn't Big Enough for the Four of Us. My kids are loving it. They groan when I have to stop reading.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite read aloud is Apple Island or the Truth about Teachers by Douglas Evans. I just finished it today with my fifth graders. It's chalk full of figurative language and is perfect for teaching comma use and dialog.
ReplyDeleteMy fourth graders love read aloud. I read Shiloh each year and each year I cry like a baby.
ReplyDeleteI love Clements' books and have a class set of this one! And it's so funny how older kids still love being read to. Today I read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to some fifth graders, and they ate it up!
ReplyDeleteDon't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late
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