Frindle is an ideal book to practice summarization, as it is short, but also contains many important plot elements. Students transitioning from summarizing short stories to summarizing lengthier chapter-books will benefit from having to synthesize the chapters of the book into a full summary. The storyboard format will help students practice being concise and to think critically about the importance of events.
Consider having students plan their storyboard using a blank template prior to creating the full storyboard online. Students should begin with the narrative in each box before adding character dialogue. This will allow them to focus on the purpose of summarizing and determining importance before getting distracted by the details of the story board. Students can also be given a set number of frames to use for the story board to help them be concise. After planning on a template, students can compare the important events they chose with a partner and the class could discuss why different events in the story were included in the storyboard over others.
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Student Instructions
Create a storyboard summarizing Frindle with Beginning, Middle, and End.