"Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle?" Inspired by this quote from the award-winning novel written by Andrew Celements, this lesson allows children to invent their own terms for common classroom objects, writing dictionary entries for each one, and using context clues to figure out the meaning of their classmates' words.

Concepts

context clues, Vocabulary, word origins, dictionaries, dictionary skills

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Supplement this lesson into a literature unit on the book Frindle by Andrew Clements
• Consider allowing learners to write a sentence and draw a picture involving their newly invented words, performing a gallery walk in which the class tries to guess the meaning of each others' words

Pros

• Provides a list of other related books to consider reading with your class
• Offers a follow-up activity that extends learning about words and dictionaries
• Includes a summary of the book as well as information about the reading level of the text

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.3.4 RL.4.4 RL.5.4 L.3.4.a L.3.4.d L.4.4.a L.4.4.c L.5.4.a L.5.4.c RL.6.4 L.6.4.a L.6.4.c L.6.4.d