At the start of the story, Mr. Ratburn's students are the only ones in school required to line up in alphabetical order. Teach your students this concept and ask them to practice the idea by lining up in their own alphabetical order. Start out with small groups, and slowly add more students to the groups until students are able to complete this activity using the entire class. Practice this concept throughout the year by asking the students to line up in this order before leaving the classroom for various activities.
Mr. Ratburn assigns his students homework on the first day of school. One of Arthur's assignments is to complete a map of Africa. Provide students with an atlas and a basic line drawing of Africa. Ask them to use the atlas as a reference to accurately fill in the names of the countries in Africa. Allow them to color the map, and display these in your classroom.
Mr. Ratburn provides Arthur's class with a long list of spelling words to study for a spelling test. Create your own class spelling list using words from the story such as "preparation" or "Arthur." Include other words from other areas of academic study in your classroom. Ask students to record these words and define them on a blank sheet of paper. Have them start a personal dictionary and continue to add to this throughout the school year.
Read "Arthur's Teacher Trouble" with your class and discuss spelling bees. Host your own school spell-a-thon and encourage every class to participate. Formulate lists of words from academic units and provide them to participating classes. Practice these words with your class before the spell-a-thon and provide prizes for the winners of the school's competition. Give all participating students some type of participation award printed from your computer stating their success in the Arthur spell-a-thon.