Comprehension Questions- Frindle

Frindle

By Andrew Clements

Grades 4-7; Genre - Fiction; GRL R; AR pts: 2.0

Nick is in the fifth grade and comes up with a new word.  This begins a battle with his language arts teacher as he tries to get everyone in his school to say it.

Comprehension Questions

Chapter 1

  1. What grade was Nick in when he made the classroom look like a tropical beach?  Third  p. 1
  2. Why wasn’t the custodian happy with the tropical theme?  Sand trailed out into the hallway  p. 2
  3. Who got in trouble when Nick chirped like a blackbird?  Janet   p. 4
  4. How often did Nick and Janet peep like blackbirds in the classroom?  At least once a week  p. 5

Chapter 2

  1. Even though, Mrs. Granger a fifth grade teacher was small, what made her look giant?  Her eyes  p. 7
  2. What does Mrs. Granger love?  The dictionary  p. 8
  3. What did Mrs. Granger want the students to do if they didn’t know a word?  Look it up in the dictionary  p. 11

Chapter 3

  1. Why did Nick ask teachers a question right before the bell rang and class got out?  To stop the teachers from giving the students homework   p. 14
  2. What was Nick’s question to Mrs. Granger?  Where did dictionaries come from   p. 15
  3. What did Mrs. Granger say to Nick’s question?  She gave him homework/ he needed to write an oral report on dictionaries   p. 15
  4. How did Nick feel after his plan didn’t work?  Very small   p. 16

Chapter 4

  1. When was Nick supposed to do his homework?  Right when he got home from school   p. 18
  2. When Nick couldn’t understand the first sentence in the dictionary, what did Nick compare it to reading?  The ingredients on a shampoo bottle  p. 20
  3. How did Nick feel about doing the report?  It was boring   p. 21

Chapter 5

  1. What was the title of Nick’s oral report?  The Dictionary   p. 24
  2. How much time was left in class when Mrs. Granger stopped Nick from giving his report?  10 min   p. 28
  3. Why doesn't Nick want to be a teacher’s pet? it will ruin his reputation  p. 29

Chapter 6

  1. What did Janet find on the ground when she and Nick were walking home from school?  a pen   p. 33
  2. What did Nick call the pen?  Frindle  p. 35
  3. How many kids did Nick send into the Penny Pantry to buy a frindle?     five     p. 37
  4. Why?  To change the name of pen to frindle   p. 38

Chapter 7

  1. What class did Nick introduce his idea of changing the name of a pen to frindle?  Language arts  p. 38
  2. Why did Mrs. Granger call Nick up to speak with her?  she didn’t like how he disrupted her class  p. 40
  3. Did she stop Nick from calling a pen a frindle?   No   p. 41

Chapter 8

  1. What did all of the fifth graders say when they smiled for the camera?  Frindle   p. 42
  2. What did Nick feel his meeting was like when he met with Mrs. Granger after school?  a conference during a war   p. 44
  3. When would Nick get the letter in the envelope Mrs. Granger had prepared for him?  When the frindle thing is all over  p. 45
  4. Who came to visit Nick at his home when over 200 students were saying frindle and needing to stay after school?  the principal   p. 48

Chapter 9

  1. Why did Mrs. Chatham feel like Nick had been disrespectful to Mrs. Granger?  Mrs. Granger had asked the students to stop saying the word and Nick had encouraged it   p. 51
  2. How did Nick’s mom react to what was going on at school?  annoyed/ didn’t think it was a big deal that Nick had changed pen to frindle   p. 52
  3. What game was Nick comparing the war going on between him and Mrs. Granger to?  Chess  p. 56

Chapter 10

  1. Why did Judy Morgan, the newspaper reporter, come to the school?  to get the story about Nick and frindle  p. 58
  2. How did the principal react when Judy Morgan was asking her questions about what was going on?  Nervous  p. 60
  3. What did Judy Morgan get in the mail?  The picture of the fifth graders holding up their pens and saying frindle  p. 65
  4. What boy had Judy already met, but didn’t know until she looked at the picture?  Nick   p. 66

Chapter 11

  1. Why would the title of the article in the newspaper have, “Move over, Mr. Webster”?  Webster is a popular dictionary  p. 67

Chapter 12

  1. Being a hero was exciting for Nick, but what were some of the hard things about it?  Always needing to be funny and clever, always being watched   p. 70
  2. How did the story about the frindle get so huge?  It was on tv    p. 77
  3. Why was Tom, Nick’s father, unhappy about the frindle story? There was too much fuss about it  p. 81
  4. What did Nick’s father do with the money Bud Lawrence gave him?  put it in the bank for Nick’s college fund  p. 83

Chapter 13

  1. In the towns across America where kids started using the word frindle, how did parents and teachers feel about it?  they tried to stop it  p. 85
  2. Even though Mrs. Granger didn’t keep students after school anymore, how did she fight the word on her spelling tests?  Every week she’d put pen as the first word   p. 87
  3. Who wasn’t able to forget what had happened with frindle?  Nick   p. 87

Chapter 14

  1. How had Nick changed from the frindle experience?  He became more careful with his ideas   p. 89
  2. When was Mrs. Granger going to send Nick the letter?  After the frindle thing was all over  p. 91
  3. How did Mrs. Granger feel about the way Nick had behaved with the frindle?  Proud of him   p. 92

Chapter 15

  1. What was the package Mrs. Granger sent Nick?  A dictionary with the word frindle in it, his letter, her old pen with a little paper that said frindle  p. 101
  2. What needed to happen so that Mrs. Granger could say their battle was over and she could send him her letter?  Frindle had to appear in the dictionary   p. 98
  3. What did Nick do for Mrs. Granger? Set up a scholarship fund in her name and gave her a gold pen with writing on it    p.  105