For the first six periods, the first day at school passes by quite uneventfully. Everything is smooth for the book's protagonist, Nick—that is, until he reaches period 7, when it's time for Mrs. Granger's class. Whereas previously, the school day had been concerned with chatter, the distribution of books, and questions about what everyone did during the summer, Mrs. Granger's class is all business.

First off, Nick and the other students are required to take a vocabulary test to find out how many of the thirty-five words for the week they already know. After that comes a handout about class procedures, followed by a review paper about cursive writing, which is another way of saying joined-up writing.

Nick feels that the time has now come to ask what is known as a "teacher-stopper," a question guaranteed to waste time in class. At just three minutes before the bell, before the homework topic has been announced, Nick hits Mrs. Granger with a question which he hopes will sidetrack her long enough to delay or even postpone the giving out of a homework assignment.

He asks her where all the words in the classroom's dictionaries come from. "Did they just get copied from other dictionaries?" Mrs. Granger knows full well what Nick's up to, but she's able to remain composed and ask Nick to do some research on the subject and present an oral report to the class. For good measure, she also gives the class a homework assignment based on page twelve of the Words Alive book. Nick's plan has been foiled, and he's lost the first round in what will become an epic battle of wills with Mrs. Granger.