Hercules Kids Gear Up for Spelling Bee Competitions

Sometimes, it helps to ask for a definition. Or to hear the word used in a sentence. There’s always the opportunity to clarify the language of origin of the term, and there’s even specific guidelines about which editions of dictionaries can be used to provide alternate pronunciations.

But when it comes to sequencing vowels and consonants into actual words, students at Lupine Hills, Hannah Ranch and Ohlone elementary school are largely on their own as they prepare for competition in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“More than anything, we want the students to build their vocabularies and to focus on this as a way of developing larger vocabularies,” said Lupine Hills Parent Teacher Association president Norma Namuche. “That’s our real purpose for entering the competition.”

Each elementary school will be able to send a single representative from its population of third, fourth and fifth graders to the district competition, which will be held after February 28 at a site and time to be determined.

The action is already heating up at Lupine Hills, which gave all students (except for kindergarteners) lists of words to study over winter recess. Teachers are conducting in-class competitions that simulate the national spelling bee to allow students to experience the Scripps format and to determine a class representative.

The winners of the first and second grade class competitions will take part in an evening assembly on Feb. 2 to determine a school winner of those two grades. On Feb. 9, Lupine Hills will hold an evening assembly for its students in third, fourth and fifth grade in which the winners of individual classes will compete for the chance to represent the school at the district level.

“We want the first and second graders to feel really special and have their own assembly to give them their moment and awards, so their parent can come and support them and see what they can possibly do next year,” Namuche said.

The spelling bees are conducted in rounds with the word lists ordered in increasing levels of difficulty. Students who misspell words are eliminated, and may be reinstated in the competition only if all remaining participants misspell the same word.

2012 will mark the first year that Lupine Hills has participated in a national spelling competition. According to Namuche, first-year principal Cynthia Taylor was instrumental in galvanizing the PTA into coordinating the school’s involvement.

“This is something that hasn’t been done before so it’s very exciting,” Namuche said. “We wanted to at least get the kids exposed to the fun and see their potential for advancing and test their ability to do so, if not this year then next year.”