Spelling Whiz

 It started with about 30 kids between 3rd and 5th grade... here's Nick spelling his word:

Each round, some kids were eliminated, until only Nick and another fourth grader were left. They each had to spell two words in a row correctly to be the winner. They went back and forth, spelling one right, missing one, spelling one right and missing one. Finally, the other boy spelled two right and Nick was declared Runner Up and 2nd place in the SRE Spelling Bee.

 Just a note to APPLAUD Nick for coming in 2nd place in his schoolwide spelling bee today!!! The words he was given to study were so challenging:

enzyme

succint

prejudice

duodenum

monstrosity

effervescent

and some I can't remember because, although I've heard of them and read them before, I don't know exactly what they mean.

While we studied this week, Nick was writing down the words he'd never heard of or spelled (about 75) and making notes on meaning and little gimmicks (one of the words!) to remember their spelling or pronunciation. I enjoyed every minute sitting by him on the coach or on my bed, with blankets, quietly quizzing him and watching his interesting brain work :)   He is the runner up for the Area Spelling Bee and as such, will get a list of words to study (just in case he ends up going; if first place boy can't attend), latin roots, suffixes and prefixes, etymologies, etc. I am excited about studying that with him! This is one of the things that uniquely brought me and Ted together: our love of language(s), words and reading. He was teaching French at the Univ of Utah and I was a Spanish graduate. and we have studied each others languages, so there is lots we can say that the kids can't understand ;)   although we can't wait til they take those classes and we go abroad to live: my dream!