This Lesson's Title:

Inventing a New Word

and having two characters talk about the invention

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Christy Aker-Minetto for an
AT & T-sponsored inservice class for teachers.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book Frindle by Andrew Clements. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 6 of the book.

Check out Frindle at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :

Step one (sharing the published model):  Get a classroom copy of Frindle by Andrew Clements.  Read aloud chapter 6, which reveals how Nick changes the word for pen to frindle.  Discuss how the chapter introduces a new word for a common object through its two characters talking.  Discuss how frindle doesn’t mean anything, until Nick gives it meaning. Ask your students how they would go about inventing a new word and checking to see that what they invented really is a new word.

After reading, copy several lines of dialogue from chapter 6 on the board or on the overhead.  Have students review basic dialogue punctuation rules.  Challenge them to write original lines of dialogue, using the punctuation patterns of the examples from Frindle you share on the board.

Tell your students they will be writing a short scene today where two characters talk about a new word that has been invented. One character in the story will unveil the new word to the other.  Have your students use the interactive choice game below to decide what object to rename with an odd word. 

Step two (introducing student models of writing):  In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson.  The students should certainly talk about the dialogue punctuation, but you might prompt them to talk about each model's word choice as well.

• 4th-6th grade student sample being sought. See this lesson's Student Sample page for details.
• 8th grader--Amy--shares her Inventing a New Word story
• 9th-12th grade student sample being sought. See this lesson's Student Sample page for details.

Step three (thinking and pre-writing): The interactive button game on the Student Instruction Page might inspire your students to invent the new word that their scenes will be about.  If your students need a dialogue punctuation review before they create their scenes, you might want to share WritingFix's Dialogue Punctuation Rule Sheet.

This lesson also comes with a pre-writing and pre-thinking worksheet that was designed by Christy Aker-Minetto.  Click below to open and print it for your students.

• Frindle Assignment Pre-Writing Worksheet

Step four (revising with specific trait language):   To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts.  Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5."   Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings.  For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.

• Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes

Step five (editing for conventions):  After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor.   If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers.  With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it.  The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.

Step six (publishing for the portfolio):   When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block.  Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here.  Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.

Interested in publishing student work on-line?  We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers.  This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.

Learn more about author Andrew Clements by clicking here.