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 Clements. This is episode 5 of our Frindle series. Before you go on with this episode, make sure that you've read chapters 13 through 15. That means that you've finished the whole book. If you're not quite there yet, just pause your episode, read, and come right back. When you're ready, let's begin. In these last chapters of Frindle, the Frindle craze is reaching a whole nother level. Real businesses start to use the word frindle, and the company even begins selling pens called frindles. Nick is really surprised by all of this. He's especially surprised to see how far this idea has gone, well beyond the classroom. Meanwhile, Mrs. Granger stays calm and she just lets everything play out. By the end of these chapters, we begin to realize that Mrs. Granger may have understood Nick's idea all along. And once again, we're reminded that this story is really about more than just a word. Let's pause for a quick vocabulary check-in. In these chapters, we hear the word intention. Intention is the reason why someone does something, or the reason why something is supposed to happen. If you've ever taken a trip to the beach, chances are you've used a beach umbrella. The intention or reason for the beach umbrella is to provide shade from the sun. Similarly, if you've ever gone swimming, you've probably reached for a towel. The intention or reason for the towel is to help you to dry off. Let's check your understanding. Listen to the following questions and answer yes or no. You can answer out loud or in your head. Is the intention of a blanket to keep you warm? If you accidentally forget to set your alarm clock, was it your intention to oversleep? Is it the intention of a backpack to help you carry things? If you said yes, no, yes, great thinking. It's time for our reading focus. Today's reading skill is inferencing. Inferencing means figuring something out even when the author does not directly say it. It's one of my favorite reading skills because it makes me feel like a detective. Readers use clues from the story and what they already know in their brain to make an inference. You can think about it like an addition equation. The clues in the text plus what you already know equals your inference. Before we try this out with our story, let's try it out with something a bit more familiar. We're going to make an inference about the weather. Imagine yourself looking out the window. Imagine that when you look outside, you see a gray sky and lots of puddles. What inference could you make about the weather? You're probably inferring that it has rained. You were able to make that inference because of what you saw, the gray sky and the puddles, and what you already know in your brain. You already know that gray skies happen when it's raining, and that rainstorms lead to puddles. So when you put those two things together, you were able to make your inference. Now let's think about that in chapters 13 through 15. Let's make an inference about how Mrs. Granger feels about what's happening in these chapters. How do you think she's feeling in chapters 13 through 15? Once you have that word or maybe that short phrase about how Mrs. Granger is feeling, it's time for the second step of our inferencing equation where we go look for clues that helped us to lead to that word or phrase. Take a moment to pause your episode if you need to and come up with your inference for how Mrs. Granger is feeling and your evidence for why you chose that word. Here's a little bit of a reading tip. If you can't find any evidence or clues to support your inference, you need a new inference. It is a thought that you can support with text evidence. Now let's turn your thinking into writing. Today you're going to write down your inference. You might start with a sentence like, I can infer that blank because blank. Your because part is important. That's where you explain the clues that you noticed. One or two sentences here is enough. You can try out this sentence frame with that Mrs. Granger example, or you can make an inference about a different character. Let's take a moment to share your opinion about the story. Now that you've read the entire book, I want you to think about this question. Do you think that Nick wanted Frindle to become such a big deal? Or do you think he was just trying to get out of doing his work on the first day of school? You can jot down your thoughts or share them with someone nearby. Our next episode will be the final episode in our Frindle series. In that episode, we will think about the book from beginning to end. As you prepare for that episode, here are some things to think about. Do you think Nick has changed from the beginning of the book to the end of the book? And what do you think the author was really trying to teach you, the reader, throughout this story? Thank you so much for checking in with me today. I will see you back here next week for our final episode of Frindle, where we think about the book from beginning to end. And remember, keep reading, keep thinking, and keep talking. Because books are better together.