Thursday past was one of my favorite events of the year. The Third Annual Spelling Bee. As ridiculous as it sometimes sounds when I say it out loud, the Spelling Bee is something I look forward to for months. For one thing, the planning and execution are easy. But more importantly, spelling bees are AWESOME. And this one proved to be no exception.
It helps quite a bit that I've roped Katie McMillan and Brandon Elliott into being my judge and pronouncer, respectively, for the last 3 years. And they are just as geeky and excited as me. It validates me.
But a night of polite clapping, new vocabulary, and academic competition is so gratifying to me. Because my Sudafed is rendering me ineloquent, let me just list my thoughts for you on the night:
- good parent volunteers and good friends can be life savers
- never underestimate the power of a middle schooler. They may miss words like "necessity," but they will blow you away with "crepuscular." That wasn't even the championship word!
- 4 rounds of 2 final spellers is way more exciting than the Super Bowl.
- kids can get just as excited over things like Spelling Bees as they get about things like video games. You just have to give them an outlet.
- Always designate a photographer.
- You'd be surprised how supportive kids can be of one another. High fives, hugs, clapping, and even good natured ribbing ensued. Even our champion was described as "beast" by many of the students the next day. In middle school lingo, this is the highest of compliments.
In the end, 47 seventh and eighth graders participated. Our two finalist went 4 rounds before we had a champion, a seventh grade boy, who took it on the word "dissident." Our 8th grade runner up fought valiantly and deserves recognition for it.
I love an empty auditorium/school/classroom
The picture was not taken by me, but by parent Talia Perrotta. Thank goodness she had a camera!
March 22nd is the County Spelling Bee, which *may* have been my favorite school day all last year.I can't wait. It's things like this, man. This is why I do it.
It is so geeky, but the Language Academy Spelling Bee is one of MY favorite things of the year, too! Brandon and I totally geek out in the car on the way there, going over the current year's words and laughing at the stupid ones. Last year: mosquitoey. This year: zigzaggedness. And crepuscular? None of my other English teacher-y colleagues the next day knew that it meant. But you're right: they get just as excited about the bee as they do about video games. It's awesome. And the winner? Totally a beast.
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