By  the  award-­‐‑winning  team  who  created  The  Twelve  Days  of  Kindergarten,    The  Twelve  Days  of  Winter  and  The  Twelve  Days  of  Springtime  

 

 

EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO THE  SPELLING  BEE  BEFORE  RECESS The school spelling bee enters its final, nail-biting round—two finalists, one minute to

recess, and no one is winning! When the principal throws in a great big word as a tiebreaker, the spellers must spell and tell what the word means.

Who will triumph, and who will strike out?

In 2013, the year the book was published, Scripps National Spelling Bee changed its rules to require all spellers not only to spell each word, but tell what each word means. Common Core Standards 2.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g. regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem or song. 2.5 Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. 2.6 Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud. 3.5 Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections. 3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters. About the author and illustrator Deborah Lee Rose is an internationally published, award-winning author of 14 children’s books (deborahleerose.com). She lives in California. Carey F. Armstrong-Ellis is an internationally published, award-winning author/illustrator (slugworksrocks.com). She lives in Maine. For a school or conference visit, email Jason Wells at jwells@abramsbooks.com.  

   

www.abramsbooks.com

   From  THE  SPELLING  BEE  BEFORE  RECESS    

  What famous poem is the book based on? The Night Before Christmas Is this book fiction or nonfiction? fiction, inspired by true events Who is the narrator telling the story? The Slugger Where and when does the story take place? at school, right before recess The Slugger uses metaphors from baseball to describe what’s happening and how he’s feeling. What do you think these phrases mean? —“Kids called me ‘The Slugger.’” [he loves baseball and is a strong hitter] —“I never struck out.” [he always wins] —“…took my best swing” [he tried his best] —“my turn at bat…” [his turn to spell] —“…dug in my cleats” [he tried really hard] —“The words flew like fastballs right over home plate.” [it was hard for him to keep up] —“…in the ninth inning…” [the spelling bee was almost finished] —“I was out.” [he spelled his word wrong] —“I’d been benched.” [he was taken out of the spelling bee] —“Like a batter who hears the ump’s cry of ‘Strike three!’” [feeling like he struck out] Why do you think a spelling bee is like a baseball game? Each speller is like a team, each one gets multiple turns, each one wants to win. How does the artist illustrate the spelling words in the story? She combines different words/images in the illustrations, like a laughing llama. What does Smart Ruby know that The Slugger doesn’t? She knows the meaning of the winning word. What does sesquipedalian mean? It means inclined to use big words.

Where can someone find the meanings of words? In the dictionary!                                  

   “Colorful,  expressive  illustrations  support  the  excitement  and  anticipation  created  

through  the  text.  This  story  will  fill  a  need  in  school  libraries  for  books  about  spelling,    vocabulary,  sportsmanship,  and  school  community-­‐‑building.”—School  Library  Journal  

 “I  enjoyed  and  laughed  my  way  through  this  epic  spelling  bee  story.”—USA  Today  

 “...the  story  unfolds  with  ease,  wit,  and  frequent  baseball  metaphors.  The  telling  works  

exceptionally  well...A  lively  picture  book.”  —Booklist  

AUTHOR’S  NOTE  To  create  this  book,  I  looked  at  hundreds  of  spelling  words  in  lists  from  public  and  private  schools  across  the  country.  I  chose  words  from  many  school  subjects  and  themes,  including  animals,  language  arts,  the  environment,  science,  and  math,  as  well  as  words  that  allude  to  everyday  kid  stuff.    I  also  chose  words  with  lots  of  varied  sounds  and  letter  combinations,  

and  rhyming  words  with  different  spellings,  so  this  book  is  a  lesson  on  many  levels!    

Sesquipedalian  became  the  tiebreaker  because  Tom  Chapin  uses  it  in  his  wonderful  song  “Great  Big  Words,”  and  it’s  a  word  that  helped  clinch  victory  for  a  real-­‐‑life  national  spelling  

bee  champ.  Plus  the  misspelling  of  it  in  the  story  includes  the  word  “alien,”  which  kids  probably  do  know  how  to  spell!  The  fact  that  it  means  “inclined  to  use  big  words”  was  perfect,  and  being  able  to  teach  its  meaning  along  with  the  spelling  was  so  much  fun.  

 To  this  day,  I  remember  my  own  elementary  school  bee  when  I  misspelled  “similar”  

as  though  it  rhymed  with  “familiar,”  and  thus  began  my  love  affair  with  the  dictionary.  

 “Cute  characters,  lively  rhymes,  ample  word  lists  and  a  good  level  of  dramatic  tension  bolster  

the  clear  message  that  to  succeed,  you  must  understand  the  meaning  of  words—  not  just  memorize  spellings—and  the  key  to  that  is  reading.”—San  Francisco  Chronicle