Stacey’s Extraordinary Words

Discussion questions

• Stacey says that sometimes “words understood her better than people did.” What does she mean when she says this?

• What is perseverance? How does Stacey persevere?

• Does this story have a happy ending? Why or why not?

• How did participating in the spelling bee change Stacey’s life? (read author’s note)

Vocabulary

• anxious - worried

• perseverance - determined persistence, keep trying for something

• grumpy -  annoyed 

• blunder - a fumble or mistake

• whisk - brush away or move quickly 

• courteous - showing good manners and politeness

Video content

• Read Aloud by the Author (Youtube)

• Learn about the roots behind big words from a clip of Akeelah and the Bee 

• 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion Zaila Avant-garde makes history 

Publisher content 

• Educator’s Kit 

Activities

• As a class, brainstorm strategies that help you remember how to spell words. Do you tap them or have ways of remembering tricky letters?  

• As you are reading, record the spelling words Stacey and other students are given.  Have students choose three words at the end to look up the definitions using a copy of the list in the back of the book or in a dictionary.  For each word, have students create their own sentence using the word.  

• Have students make their own notebooks to record their own extraordinary words.  They can draw illustrations of these words on the cover, or you can include a section with each entry for an illustration.

• Brainstorm a list of emotions you might feel throughout the school day.  Then use an online or print thesaurus to list more complex synonyms for these emotions, and write a story about how you felt throughout your day.  

Companion books