Spelling Bee Competition and Latin Club comes to Beltsville

St. Joseph’s Regional Catholic School has expanded its opportunities for local students to participate competitively at the national level through the addition of Latin classes, Prefix and Suffix Challenge, and the Spelling Bee competition. Since November, students enrolled in grades 5-8 have been able to explore Roman culture and language in the weekly after-school Latin class. According to research studies, students who study Latin benefit significantly from the program as approximately two-thirds of the English language is derived from Latin. Therefore, it provides invaluable insights into the English vocabulary and is associated with developing critical thinking, enhances problem-solving abilities, and students gain an advantage in learning other romance languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese; as well as other inflected languages such as Russian and German.

Over sixty-three students ranging from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade also signed up to participate in the monthly Prefix and Suffix Challenge. The challenge aims to improve the vocabulary of students by exposing them to common prefixes and suffixes used in the English language. Students have to learn at a minimum, five new words each month and are assessed on their ability to recall both newly and previously learned shortcuts each month to advance to the next round. By the end of the competition, students will be exposed to 47 prefixes and suffixes which will help them to be able to decipher the meaning of over 500 English terms!

On January 11, 34 students enrolled in grades 5-8 will also be able to participate in the school’s Spelling Bee competition. The winner will be advancing to the Prince George’s County Annual Spelling Bee competition to be held in March.

For more information, please visit www.stjosrcs.org or call (301) 937- 7154 or email secretary@stjosrcs.org.