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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, readers. Today we're checking in on Frindle by Andrew Clements for the last time. Before we begin, make sure that you've finished reading Frindle. This episode is a little bit different. We're going to slow down, reflect, and think about the story from beginning to end. When you're ready, let's begin. Now that we've reached the end of the story, we can look back and see how much has changed. What started as a small idea grew far beyond Nick's classroom. All throughout the story, we see how words, rules, creativity, and power all played a role in the story. We also saw characters growing and changing and responding to problems in all different ways. The ending of our story helps us to understand that Frindle was never just a story about words. Really, this story was about ideas and what happens when people take those ideas seriously. It's time for our reading focus. It might be helpful to have a piece of paper for this activity. If you don't have paper, no worries, maybe try and find someone to share out your ideas with. Today's reading skill is summarizing. Summarizing is when you take a whole story, like Frindle, and you shrink it down to just the most important parts. It's kind of like packing a suitcase. You can't bring everything with you on a trip, so you have to choose what matters most. There's a common phrase that you may have heard about when it comes to summarizing a fictional story. It sounds like this somebody, wanted, but so then. If you have paper with you, go ahead and jot down those words somebody, wanted, but so then. Or you can simply write down the letters S W B S T. We're going to build out a summary of Frindle together. Remember, there were so many things that happened in this story, but for our summary, we're really focusing on the most important moments. Feel free to pause your episode throughout this process if you need a few more seconds to write down your thoughts. Let's start with the first segment, which is the somebody, who the story is mostly talking about. Take a moment to think. If you could name just one character that the whole story was about, who would you name? I bet you were thinking of the character Nick. Let's go with that for our summary today. If you're writing this down, go ahead and jot down Nick's name next to your word for somebody. Nick is our main character. Our next step is to think of that word wanted. Since Nick was our main character, we're thinking about what did Nick want? This one can be kind of interesting because you're probably saying to yourself right now, well, he wanted a lot of things. Let's see if we can really narrow down the biggest thing that he wanted that really affected the rest of the story.

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Take a moment and think about that.

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You're probably thinking about that word frindle, and that really is at the heart of what Nick wanted. Nick wanted to change a word and make people use it. Take a moment to jot down that thought if you have paper nearby. He wanted to change a word and make people use it. Our third step is to consider the problem. This is where that word but comes in. But what was the problem with Nick wanting to change that word and make people use it? Think about it. What or maybe even who was the problem with that idea? You're probably thinking about Mrs. Granger. She really was a big problem in this story. She's definitely going to be the problem that we want to write down here. Mrs. Granger was the problem because she didn't agree with Nick. She thought words already had meanings and they shouldn't be changed. If you have your paper handy, you'll want to write something down next to the word but. Something like Mrs.

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Granger didn't agree with Nick. Our next step is the word so.

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And that's really referring to a solution of sorts. So what did Nick do when Mrs. Granger didn't agree with him? Think about that. What did Nick do when Mrs. Granger tried to challenge his idea? You probably remember that Nick definitely did not give up. Instead, he started using this word friendle constantly instead of the word pen, and he encouraged other people to use it too. If you have your paper handy, you'll want to jot down a note next to your word so. Something like he started using the word friendle, or he used the word friendle and he spread the word around.

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Our last step is the word then.

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When we think about the word then in our summary, we're thinking about how did it all end? This is the big picture ending. Think about how this story ended with the word frindle? The last step is thinking about the word then. When it comes to the word then in our summary, we're really thinking about how the story ended. This is that big picture ending. Take a moment and think about how the story ended when it came to the word frindle? What happened with that word frindle by the end of the story? You might be remembering details about frindle being added to the dictionary, or even just details about the word being spread everywhere. These are some things that we could write down in our paper next to that word then. Did you notice how we didn't include every single tiny detail in our story? We just focused on the most important part. That's what strong summarizing looks like. Now it's your turn. Take those notes that you jotted down, or even those notes that you may have shared out with someone nearby, and try and combine those ideas into one or two sentences. If you're looking for an extra challenge, you could even try to repeat the entire summarizing process using Mrs. Granger as your somebody. Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why? Before we wrap up, let's think about one final question. What does this story teach us about the power of words? And here's a bonus question. How can one small idea grow into something that's so much bigger? Take a moment to think about that, not just in the story, but in real life too. Congratulations, you have finished Frindle. Thank you so much for checking in with me throughout this whole series. If you've enjoyed reading and thinking about this book, stay subscribed because more chapter check-ins are coming soon with brand new novels. 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.