Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
With the winning word “exciting,” fourth grade student Ashley Zelaya became this year's Jefferson County K-12 (JCS) Spelling Bee champion! Second place went to eighth grade student Caleb Mattingly, and third place went to fifth grade student Reign Carillo. The bee took place in the JCS Media Center on Friday, Feb. 24, and included 10 competitors.
Certificates were awarded to all of the grade-level class winners from JCS who qualified to compete in the school bee, including the following:
Fourth Grade: Alex Fernandez, Ashlyn Antoine and Ashley Zelaya
Fifth Grade: Jo'liyah Oliver, Reign Carillo and Jaidon McRae
Sixth Grade: Kayla Walton and Janae Martin
Seventh Grade: Que'Jes Grayer and Ethyn Vuolo
Eighth Grade: Kymani Graham, Greg Hagan III and Caleb Mattingly
Words for the JCS Spelling Bee came from the Scripps National Spelling Bee list for school-level bees. They were pronounced by Literacy Coach Kathryn Corder, and Math Coach Kala Alexander served as the judge. By round six of the competition, participants began to use the rules that allow them to ask for more information before attempting to spell, such as the word's definition or language of origin.
The bell dinged when a contestant misspelled their word. Word parts that gave this group of excellent spellers the bell included tricky sounds such as the hard “k” sound, which could be spelled with “c” or “k” or “ck” or even “x”; the soft “g” sound, which could be spelled “g” or “j” or with the blend “dg”; the schwa combined with “l” sound that could be spelled “le” or “el” or “al”; and the “er” ending, which sounds the same whether spelled “er” or “ar” or “ur” or “or.”
It took nine rounds to arrive at the final three spellers. These students took turns at the microphone for four more rounds before the champion was determined. Per spelling bee rules, the last speller standing must correctly spell one more word in a final round. So it was that after 13 rounds, Ashley Zelaya correctly spelled the winning word “exciting” and was pronounced the school champion.
Congratulations to all participating students for showing impressive spelling prowess and representing their class, grade level and school well!
See SPELLING BEE page 3
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