Summary

Wiley Adamson and Jeff Greenbaum have been such best friends since birth that each knows what the other is thinking. They particularly enjoy thinking up a person’s nickname that is "just right". But sixth grade has a couple of challenges. First a substitute teacher unlike any they have seen before; and then when a new girl moves in they find their nicknaming abilities and ultimately their friendship is in danger.

Activities

Language Arts (writing):

Write a descriptive essay about one of your best friends. Remember that a best friend doesn’t have to be a person of a certain age, or even a person.

Language Arts (speaking):

Debate this statement on improving reading scores.
Scores will improve the most by giving students lessons on specific reading skills.

Math:

The sixth-graders made up math problems from items in the books that they were reading. Make up math problems using these number items from this book.

1. There are 25 students in class.
2. Mr. Hughes is 6 feet 5 inches tall.
3. Mr. Hughes weighs 280 pounds.
4. Wiley said that he had read 11 books and over 1500 pages.
5. Wiley could have paid from $109.95 to $149.00 for his rollerblades.
6. "Give it a hundred-and-ten percent!"

Social Studies/Reading:

Take a virtual field trip of Valley Forge.

Science:

Cassandra knows a lot about endangered species. Find out about endangered species yourself at one of these sites.

• Animal Planet Endangered Species Guide
• Bagheera: Endangered Species and Endangered Animal
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Endangered and Threatened Species
• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: Endangered Species Program
• World Wildlife Fund: Endangered Species

Health:

Dr. Brodsky gives a shot for almost everything. Find out more about immunizations for diseases.

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: List of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration: All About Vaccines

Physical Education:

Find explanations of football terms.

Music:

Find songs from around the world that could have been used for International Night.

Art:

Make a pinata. Note: Click on the video frame and ignore all the parts of the page and advertising.

About the Author

• biography written by a 6th grader

• Official Gordon Korman Web Site. biography and much more

• Gordon Korman at Wikipedia

• Scholastic author page. bio, Q&A, and a letter from Gordon Korman

• school visit. Q&A and bio (scroll to article at end of page)

• excerpt from interview by Young Canadian Voices

• biography and photo from 1997

• biography and photo from 2006

Related books

• Clements, A. (1997). Frindle. Tandem. (Paperback Aladdin, 1998). grades 4-6

• DeClements, B. (1985). Sixth grade can really kill you. Viking. (Paperback Puffin, 1995). grades 4-6. girls are the main characters

• Levy, E. (1997). My life as a fifth-grade comedian. HarperCollins. grades 4-6

• Sacher, L. (1994). Sixth grade secrets. Scholastic Paperbacks. grades 4-6

More for the teacher

• Web English Teacher page: summary, discussion questions, related books

Assessment

The 6th grade nickname game. Accelerated Reader: Quiz #31170 EN; Book Level 4.3; Points= 3.0
Reading Counts: Reading Level 3.5; Points= 5.0
Lexile Level 640

• Frindle by Clements, Andrew. AR Quiz #16637 EN; Book Level 5.4; Points= 2.0. Book Adventure Level 3.0. Reading Counts Level 4.8; Points 5. Lexile Level 830. Guided Reading Level R. word count=15596. Flesch/Kincaid 5.
• My life as a fifth-grade comedian by Levy, Elizabeth. AR Quiz #28793 EN; Book Level 3.6; Points= 5.0. Book Adventure Level 5.5. Reading Counts Level 3.5; Points 9. Lexile Level 520. Guided Reading Level T. word count=33633
• Sixth grade can really kill you by DeClements, Barthe. AR Quiz #245 EN; Book Level 4.3; Points= 4.0. Book Adventure Level 4.0. Reading Counts Level 6.1; Points 9.0. Flesch/Kincaid 5.
• Sixth grade secrets by Sachar, Louis. AR Quiz #5086 EN; Book Level 5.5; Points= 6.0. Reading Counts Level 4.7; Points 10.0. Lexile Level 520. Guided Reading Level S. Flesch/Kincaid 4.