diff --git a/samples/sample_kclpy_app.py b/samples/sample_kclpy_app.py
index 9cf1ad2..5d40f5a 100755
--- a/samples/sample_kclpy_app.py
+++ b/samples/sample_kclpy_app.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ class RecordProcessor(processor.RecordProcessorBase):
         a scaling change.
     """
     def __init__(self):
-        self._SLEEP_SECONDS = 5
+        self._CHECKPOINT_SLEEP_SECONDS = 5
         self._CHECKPOINT_RETRIES = 5
         self._CHECKPOINT_FREQ_SECONDS = 60
         self._largest_seq = (None, None)
@@ -49,7 +49,49 @@ def initialize(self, initialize_input):
         self._largest_seq = (None, None)
         self._last_checkpoint_time = time.time()
 
-    def checkpoint(self, checkpointer, sequence_number=None, sub_sequence_number=None):
+    def process_records(self, process_records_input):
+        """
+        Called by a KCLProcess with a list of records to be processed and a checkpointer which accepts sequence numbers
+        from the records to indicate where in the stream to checkpoint.
+
+        :param amazon_kclpy.messages.ProcessRecordsInput process_records_input: the records, and metadata about the
+            records.
+        """
+        try:
+            for record in process_records_input.records:
+                data = record.binary_data
+                seq = int(record.sequence_number)
+                sub_seq = record.sub_sequence_number
+                key = record.partition_key
+                self._process_record(data, key, seq, sub_seq)
+                if self._should_update_sequence(seq, sub_seq):
+                    self._largest_seq = (seq, sub_seq)
+
+            #
+            # Checkpoints every self._CHECKPOINT_FREQ_SECONDS seconds
+            #
+            if time.time() - self._last_checkpoint_time > self._CHECKPOINT_FREQ_SECONDS:
+                self._checkpoint(process_records_input.checkpointer, str(self._largest_seq[0]), self._largest_seq[1])
+                self._last_checkpoint_time = time.time()
+
+        except Exception as e:
+            sys.stderr.write("Encountered an exception while processing records. Exception was {e}\n".format(e=e))
+
+    def _process_record(self, data, partition_key, sequence_number, sub_sequence_number):
+        """
+        Called for each record that is passed to process_records.
+
+        :param str data: The blob of data that was contained in the record.
+        :param str partition_key: The key associated with this recod.
+        :param int sequence_number: The sequence number associated with this record.
+        :param int sub_sequence_number: the sub sequence number associated with this record.
+        """
+        ####################################
+        # Insert your processing logic here
+        ####################################
+        return
+
+    def _checkpoint(self, checkpointer, sequence_number=None, sub_sequence_number=None):
         """
         Checkpoints with retries on retryable exceptions.
 
@@ -80,28 +122,14 @@ def checkpoint(self, checkpointer, sequence_number=None, sub_sequence_number=Non
                         return
                     else:
                         print('Was throttled while checkpointing, will attempt again in {s} seconds'
-                              .format(s=self._SLEEP_SECONDS))
+                              .format(s=self._CHECKPOINT_SLEEP_SECONDS))
                 elif 'InvalidStateException' == e.value:
                     sys.stderr.write('MultiLangDaemon reported an invalid state while checkpointing.\n')
                 else:  # Some other error
                     sys.stderr.write('Encountered an error while checkpointing, error was {e}.\n'.format(e=e))
-            time.sleep(self._SLEEP_SECONDS)
+            time.sleep(self._CHECKPOINT_SLEEP_SECONDS)
 
-    def process_record(self, data, partition_key, sequence_number, sub_sequence_number):
-        """
-        Called for each record that is passed to process_records.
-
-        :param str data: The blob of data that was contained in the record.
-        :param str partition_key: The key associated with this recod.
-        :param int sequence_number: The sequence number associated with this record.
-        :param int sub_sequence_number: the sub sequence number associated with this record.
-        """
-        ####################################
-        # Insert your processing logic here
-        ####################################
-        return
-
-    def should_update_sequence(self, sequence_number, sub_sequence_number):
+    def _should_update_sequence(self, sequence_number, sub_sequence_number):
         """
         Determines whether a new larger sequence number is available
 
@@ -110,35 +138,7 @@ def should_update_sequence(self, sequence_number, sub_sequence_number):
         :return boolean: true if the largest sequence should be updated, false otherwise
         """
         return self._largest_seq == (None, None) or sequence_number > self._largest_seq[0] or \
-            (sequence_number == self._largest_seq[0] and sub_sequence_number > self._largest_seq[1])
-
-    def process_records(self, process_records_input):
-        """
-        Called by a KCLProcess with a list of records to be processed and a checkpointer which accepts sequence numbers
-        from the records to indicate where in the stream to checkpoint.
-
-        :param amazon_kclpy.messages.ProcessRecordsInput process_records_input: the records, and metadata about the
-            records.
-        """
-        try:
-            for record in process_records_input.records:
-                data = record.binary_data
-                seq = int(record.sequence_number)
-                sub_seq = record.sub_sequence_number
-                key = record.partition_key
-                self.process_record(data, key, seq, sub_seq)
-                if self.should_update_sequence(seq, sub_seq):
-                    self._largest_seq = (seq, sub_seq)
-
-            #
-            # Checkpoints every self._CHECKPOINT_FREQ_SECONDS seconds
-            #
-            if time.time() - self._last_checkpoint_time > self._CHECKPOINT_FREQ_SECONDS:
-                self.checkpoint(process_records_input.checkpointer, str(self._largest_seq[0]), self._largest_seq[1])
-                self._last_checkpoint_time = time.time()
-
-        except Exception as e:
-            sys.stderr.write("Encountered an exception while processing records. Exception was {e}\n".format(e=e))
+            (sequence_number == self._largest_seq[0] and sub_sequence_number > self._largest_seq[1])            
 
     def shutdown(self, shutdown_input):
         """