Welcome to Kids Chapter Check-Ins, a space where we pause, think, talk, and write about great books together. Books are better together. So grab your book and let's check in. Hey readers, welcome. Kids Chapter Check-Ins is a space where you can come to pause, think, talk, and write about great books. In each episode, we'll focus on a few chapters at a time and we'll explore words and ideas that can help you to think deeply about the books that you're reading. You can feel free to listen and respond by yourself or find a friend or grown up and listen together. If the episodes are ever moving too quickly, please don't worry. Just hit the pause button and push play when you're ready. Grab your book and let's get started. Today we're going to check in on Frindle by Andrew Clements. This is going to be episode one of our Friendle series. Before we start, make sure that you've read chapters one, two, and three. I don't want to spoil anything here. If you haven't, just pause the episode, read the chapters, and then come right back. Are you ready? Let's check in. In the first few chapters of Frindle, we meet two really important characters. First, we meet Nick Allen. He's a fifth grader, and he has already created a reputation for himself of being a jokester and not taking school very seriously. We also meet Mrs. Granger, and you might remember that she's Nick's teacher. In these first few chapters, we can already tell that Mrs. Granger has a lot of rules in her classroom, and she takes things like words really seriously. You might even remember her having lots of big feelings about a dictionary. In the first few chapters, Nick is trying to be funny, but he quickly realizes that Mrs. Granger is not falling for his games. On the first day of school, she gives him even more homework than the rest of the class. The things that we're starting to learn about Nick and Mrs. Granger are actually helping us get ready for some big events that are going to happen later in the story. As you keep reading, I want you to pay close attention to Nick and Mrs. Granger. Think about how their relationship starts in the beginning of the book and how it might change or grow as the book continues. Let's take some time for a vocabulary check-in. In our story this week, you read the word crimson. Crimson is a color. It's a really, really deep and dark red. Things like red roses and blood are really good examples of the word crimson. In the story, the author used the word crimson to describe a student's face when she was feeling embarrassed. I bet there's been a time when you've seen someone's face turn bright red or crimson when they were feeling embarrassed. Take a few minutes to pause and look around the room where you're in. Can you find anything that's crimson? If you can't, I challenge you to find something that's not crimson and explain why. Now that you're an expert on the word crimson, let's check your understanding. You're going to hear three questions about the word crimson. I want you to listen to each question and answer yes or no. You're welcome to answer out loud or in your head. Are you ready? Would a frog be crimson? Could someone's face turn crimson if they're feeling angry? Is it possible to wear a crimson shirt? If you said no, yes, yes, awesome thinking. It is time for our reading focus. Today we're going to focus on character traits. You might remember that character traits are words that we use to describe what a character is like on the inside. These are words like funny, brave, kind, smart. Even negative words like mean are examples of character traits. An author will show a character's traits through the story. They'll reveal them in the words that the character is speaking. You'll see them revealed in the actions and what the characters are actually doing, and also in their thoughts and their feelings. Take a moment to think about Mrs. Granger in these chapters. Can you think of one word that you might use to describe her? You might think of words like strict, serious, friendly, something else. Think of the word that you think you can really describe and give evidence for. Think about what she did or maybe what she said that helped you to choose that word. Now that you have your word, let's turn your idea into writing. If you were writing about Mrs. Granger, you might write a sentence like, I think Mrs. Granger is blank, because blank. And on those blank parts of the sentence, you would fill in with your character trait and your evidence. When you do this, you don't need to write a lot, just a few sentences that explains what you're thinking. The word because in your sentence is actually very important here because it allows you to prove your thinking. Your answer will become so much stronger when you can explain why you're thinking that. You can pause your podcast here if you would like some more time to write. Would you rather have Mrs. Granger as your teacher? Or would you rather have the teacher that you have right now? Think about that. You might be thinking in your head right now, hmm, what are some traits of Mrs. Granger? What are some traits of my teacher? Who might I prefer to learn from? You can talk out this answer with someone nearby or just answer in your head. But just like our writing prompt, it's always a good idea to ask yourself why and to have some evidence to back yourself up with. Before we end our check-in for today, here's something that I want you to think about as you keep reading Frindle. First, I want you to think about why would words matter so much to Mrs. Granger? Why does she care so much about the words that her students are using? I also want you to think about Nick. Do you think he's actually going to stop playing tricks and just follow the rules? Or do you think we're going to be dealing with Nick's craziness for the entire book? You don't need to answer these questions right now, or you don't need to write anything down. Just keep them in mind as you read the next couple of chapters. Thank you for checking in with me today. I will see you back here soon for episode two, where we check in on chapters four through six of Frindle. Thanks for checking in with me today. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow along so you don't miss our next check in. And remember, keep reading, keep thinking, and keep talking. Because books are better together.