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. Welcome back. Today we're checking in on Frindle by Andrew Clemens. This is episode three of our Frindle series. Before we get started, make sure that you've read chapters seven through nine. If you need more time, you can pause the episode, read, and then come right back. When you're ready, let's check in. In chapters seven through nine of Frindle, the word Friendle is really starting to take off. Lots of students start using that word instead of the word pen, and it even starts to spread beyond Nick's classroom. Just like you might expect, Mrs. Granger is not very happy about this, and she starts to create some new rules to stop the word from being used at school. And even though Nick is following these rules, the word continues to spread outside of the classroom. Parents, teachers, and even people in the community are talking about the word frindle, and Nick is starting to realize that this idea is getting really big. Some of the characters think that this is funny, and others think it's pretty serious. Some are even starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. In these chapters, we start to realize that one event can look very different depending on who's experiencing it. Let's pause for a vocabulary check-in. In today's reading, you heard the word influence. Influence means that you have the power to change the way that someone thinks or behaves. If you have a younger sibling or cousin, you've probably noticed the power of influence before. Have you ever been playing with something and then suddenly they want it too? That is influence. Or maybe you've been taking a bite of food and they want that food, even if they don't like it. Your choices are influencing theirs. Let's check your understanding. You're going to hear three questions about the word influence. Listen to each one and answer yes or no. You can answer out loud or in your head. If you convince a friend to try a new food that you love, is that influence? If you like a specific sports team because it's your grandpa's favorite, is that influence? If you like a book but you never talk about it with your friends, is that influence? If you said yes, yes, no, great thinking. It's your turn. What is something that you have influenced someone else to do? Pause your episode here if you need some more time to think. It's time for our reading focus. Today's reading skill is point of view. Point of view talks about how a character sees or thinks about what's happening. Sometimes you'll even hear people refer to this as perspective. Whenever I think about the words point of view or perspective, I always think about roller coasters. Some people don't love roller coasters, and some people absolutely love them. That's an example of point of view and perspective because the roller coaster is the same, but it's people's ideas or feelings about the roller coaster that's different. My personal point of view or perspective on roller coasters is that they're pretty scary and I don't want to ride on them. What's your point of view? Just like you and your friend might disagree about something like a roller coaster, characters in a story will often have a different point of view or perspective about the events that are happening in the story. Think about this in the chapters seven through nine. How do you think Nick feels about what's happening with the word frindle? What's his perspective? And now think about Mrs. Granger. Do you think she sees that situation the same way that Nick does? Or does she have a different point of view? Now let's turn your idea into writing. Today you're going to write from a character's point of view. You're going to imagine that you are the character and you're thinking from their brain. First, you're going to need to choose one character from these chapters. You might want to pick Nick or Mrs. Granger or someone else. Imagine what they might be thinking right now. Take a moment to write down what their thoughts might sound like. You might start with a sentence like, I'm feeling blank because from my point of view, I think in either situation, you only need one or two sentences. The goal is to step into the character's shoes and see the story through their eyes. Let's pause and predict. Pause for a moment and make a prediction about the story. What do you think is going to happen next as more people start to notice what's going on? Do you think this is going to be the end of the word Friendle? Or just the beginning? Feel free to pause your episode here to think and then push play when you're ready. As you continue reading, here's something I want you to think about. What happens when people see the same situation in very different ways? And can more than one point of view be true at the same time? Keep these questions in mind as you read the next couple of chapters. Thank you so much for checking in with me today. I will see you back here very soon to check in on the next couple of chapters 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.