Quite a few of my readers (considering that they are Ukrainian) will probably say, “Spelling “what?””. “Spelling Bee” is a competition in which children are asked to spell words in English. I’d never heard of “Spelling Bee” competition until I got to the states. Obviously, it would quite impossible to hold the same kind of competition in Ukrainian because our language is phonetic. English—not so much-haha.
This year, Katya and Alex were both chosen by their teachers to participate in the Spelling Bee. Each class had three representatives, I believe. Then first graders were competing among themselves, second graders were doing the same. Third graders (Katya’s age) were competing among themselves and with the fourth graders. The fifth and sixth graders competed within themselves. At the end, the winner from third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades had a final contest to be Cummings Spelling Bee Champion.
I know that Alex went over 70% of his five pages of words a couple of time. Most words he knew how to spell correctly right away—he had to practice only a dozen out of each hundred of words. Katya—I have no idea. She said she’d looked over the words and knew them all already. We kept telling her she needs to go over them more, but she insisted that she knew them all.
Therefore, we did not expect much. Really.
In fact, Alex told me the night before the competition that he really would prefer me not to come to watch him because he’d be more nervous….I was sad and….I lied. I said, “Okay, I won’t come”.
Hehehe. There is no way I would not come to something like that when I had no scheduling conflicts. So I grabbed Mark and, on the way to the gym, stopped by the school. I made sure that Alex didn’t notice me when I came in. And then I found a spot between the school gym and the cafeteria (where the competition was being held), grabbed a chair and listened intently to what was going on on the stage.
I couldn’t see Alex, I could only hear his answers. Round after round, he kept getting the words’ spelling correctly, while kids who misspelled words had to be eliminated. After a while, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I looked out on the stage and saw that he was one of the final three! Next thing I knew, Alex won the first place!
I couldn’t believe it! I was so happy that I came to “hear” that moment! I congratulated Alex, gave him a big hug and ran to the school office to call Robert to tell him that Alex got first place.
I said, “Oh man….we just have to prepare ourselves that Katya will be very jealous and sad if she doesn’t win”…That’s just life with competitive siblings.
Okay, so now, Katya’s part of the competition was in three hours. I went to the gym, actually showered and got ready for the day, curled my hair….umm…just in case I had my picture taken or something:).
This is Katya before the competition began. Although she was nervous, she was always smiling.
This time, I was able to watch all the kids go in order and spell words. The thing is that you only get one chance to spell the word correctly. If you make a mistake—you are out. Katya kept passing al the rounds and finally the word “treadmill” brought her victory! Again, I couldn’t believe it! That was amazing! And of course, I was one proud mama!
Thirty minutes after third and fourth graders determined their winners, final part of the competition began. We had Katya and three students (4th, 5th and 6th graders) on the stage. Katya was given her first word, from her list of words to know how to spell. “Squirrel”. “Squirrel” is the word that she’ll remember how to spell now for the rest of her life because that’s the word that eliminated her from the final competition. She was a bit disappointed at that moment, but that didn’t last very long.
One thing I am guilty of, I have noticed, is that I tend to underestimate how good my children are in some areas of academics or arts. I am not sure why I do that, possibly because I am afraid to come across as that I want to brag about them. In any case, I need to work on that, since apparently I have these stinking smart kids and I’ve got to start showing them off more-haha.
Love you, guys!
This year, Katya and Alex were both chosen by their teachers to participate in the Spelling Bee. Each class had three representatives, I believe. Then first graders were competing among themselves, second graders were doing the same. Third graders (Katya’s age) were competing among themselves and with the fourth graders. The fifth and sixth graders competed within themselves. At the end, the winner from third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades had a final contest to be Cummings Spelling Bee Champion.
I know that Alex went over 70% of his five pages of words a couple of time. Most words he knew how to spell correctly right away—he had to practice only a dozen out of each hundred of words. Katya—I have no idea. She said she’d looked over the words and knew them all already. We kept telling her she needs to go over them more, but she insisted that she knew them all.
Therefore, we did not expect much. Really.
In fact, Alex told me the night before the competition that he really would prefer me not to come to watch him because he’d be more nervous….I was sad and….I lied. I said, “Okay, I won’t come”.
Hehehe. There is no way I would not come to something like that when I had no scheduling conflicts. So I grabbed Mark and, on the way to the gym, stopped by the school. I made sure that Alex didn’t notice me when I came in. And then I found a spot between the school gym and the cafeteria (where the competition was being held), grabbed a chair and listened intently to what was going on on the stage.
I couldn’t see Alex, I could only hear his answers. Round after round, he kept getting the words’ spelling correctly, while kids who misspelled words had to be eliminated. After a while, I couldn’t stand it any longer, so I looked out on the stage and saw that he was one of the final three! Next thing I knew, Alex won the first place!
I couldn’t believe it! I was so happy that I came to “hear” that moment! I congratulated Alex, gave him a big hug and ran to the school office to call Robert to tell him that Alex got first place.
I said, “Oh man….we just have to prepare ourselves that Katya will be very jealous and sad if she doesn’t win”…That’s just life with competitive siblings.
Okay, so now, Katya’s part of the competition was in three hours. I went to the gym, actually showered and got ready for the day, curled my hair….umm…just in case I had my picture taken or something:).
This is Katya before the competition began. Although she was nervous, she was always smiling.
This time, I was able to watch all the kids go in order and spell words. The thing is that you only get one chance to spell the word correctly. If you make a mistake—you are out. Katya kept passing al the rounds and finally the word “treadmill” brought her victory! Again, I couldn’t believe it! That was amazing! And of course, I was one proud mama!
Thirty minutes after third and fourth graders determined their winners, final part of the competition began. We had Katya and three students (4th, 5th and 6th graders) on the stage. Katya was given her first word, from her list of words to know how to spell. “Squirrel”. “Squirrel” is the word that she’ll remember how to spell now for the rest of her life because that’s the word that eliminated her from the final competition. She was a bit disappointed at that moment, but that didn’t last very long.
Congratulations, Katya!
Good thing I curled my hair, eh?
That night was a big celebration evening at the Watsons’ house! Dinner at the food court (it’s very special!) and ice cream from Baskin-Robbins.
Two funny kids…
Love you, guys!
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