WW: District Spelling Bee {Linky}

Mica had his District Spelling Bee last week. I was more nervous than he was. 

We had no idea what to expect in a lot of regards: How many kids was he up against? How long would it take? What would happen if he did happen to win?

We walked in, and registered him at 5:45. Since he's an Apel, he was #1.

The program answered that he was against 29 students.

Practicing moving the microphone up and down:

During the Spelling Bee they wouldn't let us take photos. 

The Bees:

Mica's the third one in the back. That's as close as I could get.

Written Round:

He went through the written round. It was nerve racking because he was not asked a single word on his study packet. The packet was pages long, and he knew every word from it. We're still wondering if he even got the correct packet to study from.

Mica sat there with his hands folded, and two of his fingers crossed. He was just hoping they'd call his name off.

They called Mica's name!

Oral Rounds:

Oral Round 1:

Again there were no words called off from the pages of words he knew. 

I don't even remember the word on this round. He did get it right! 

Oral Round 2:

Another word not from the packet. The word was Automaton. 

Mica had the guy say the word 4 times. I was thinking, What in the heck is Automation anyhow? I had no idea how I'd spell it. 

He spelled it right!

Oral Round 3:

Another word not from the packet. The word was Stipple. 

I know what stipple is. I'm an art teacher, my Dad was an art teacher. It's an image done in dots. I was thinking, An easy word. You've got this Mica.  

He spelled, Stiple - Incorrect.

He was in 10th place. 

Proud:

Mica's in 5th grade. He beat out some middle schoolers. We're super proud of him. He felt like the whole thing was unfair. Many acted as though they knew the words. Much like he knew his whole packet. We're still wondering if he got the right packet to study from, or not. It is what it is. I said, "At least you don't have to study for another Spelling Bee this year." He said, "True!" I said, "Maybe you can kick my butt in Scrabble. Now you know so many words, beating me is a given." He said, "Mom you know I don't care for that game." I said, "You can give it a chance though." 

He was really worried about what kids at school would say. I said, "You got further than any other kid at your school. You were their star when you won the all school Spelling Bee. Plus your teacher said you got farther than anyone at your school in history! Don't worry about it! You did your best." He said, "True." He was happy to show off his medal the next day. All the kids wanted to see it. 

District Spelling Bee Ahead!

Tonight is Mica's big night! He's been studying for the District Spelling Bee for a few months! Ekkk!

Source

He was picked 1 out of 3 in his classroom to go on to compete with 11 other students at his school. He won that. Now he goes to the school administration building to compete with a lot more students. I don't even know how many he'll be competing against. 

I can tell you this...I'm more nervous than he is. I don't even know why. I mean if he wins I'll be so proud of him. He'll be the first at his elementary to win at that level. If he doesn't win I know he studied his ass off, tried his hardest, and it's great that we won't have to study anymore for words that he'll hardly use. 

These were taken at the last one.

What to Expect:

I don't even know what to expect.

How many kids will be there competing? I don't know
How many people will be there? I don't know
How long will it take? I don't know

Will his teacher be there? Yes, which is great because they have a whole school skate party tonight.
Will we be there? Yes, actually we'll be there early! Mica has to check in at 5:45, so dinner will be on the road for me. I have a bag packed for Isaak - full of quiet things to do.

Even my oldest sister talked about going. My parents (Grandma and Grandpa) are going. My Dad is so funny because my Mom texted me this morning, "Your Dad is dressed and ready for the Spelling Bee. It's not until tonight." LOL! My Dad also called me last night and said, "I have a word for Mica to study! It's 'septic'." I think that's the word he said. I said, "Dad that word would be easy for Mica. The words on his multiple page list are way harder then that is." He even has some French words on there.

How will he start? He starts with a written portion. Then moves to spelling the words out loud.

I'm nervous about the written portion. Mica has great handwriting, but what if one letter looks like another? What if he forgets to put a capitol letter in a word like, "Holocaust", forgets an accent mark in one of the French words, or forgets a space in one of those odd words? He'll loose. But he knows how to spell them. In the end why do I care. He tried his hardest. I love him. There's that part of me that wants him to win because he did work hard for it.

Online:

If you're bored you can view the District Spelling Bee and Mica online!

Follow the bee online at: www.tknomaha.org.

Once at this site, a viewer, chooses the tab STREAMING

Then select Channel 1 (TKN1).

There's no downloading!

For the Record:

My Mom texted me, "Do you remember how they had to give you a reduced spelling list when you were a kid? Me, "No, but I know I sucked at spelling." Mica most certainly got this from Travis, and not me!

WW: Spelling Bee {Linky}

Mica found out he was going to be in a Spelling Bee at school. He got his 120 word list just before Thanksgiving. Just to give you an idea on how hard they were I had to look up the meaning of some of the words. Some were: obstinate, omnivorous, bureaucracy, furlough, idiom and more...

Mica studied flashcards with meanings on one side and the words on the other, just looking off the list, us saying the words and him writing them down, and us saying the words and him spelling them out loud.

He missed many words in the beginning, but ended up knowing them all. The only word he struggled with was, "bureaucracy". Of course that was one word they asked him. We were crossing our fingers that he didn't miss it. He got it right.

Mica's number 2.

Round 1:

Round 2:

Round 3:

Round 4:

Round 5 to Round 14:

Mica was left with one of his best friends. His friend kept saying, "Mica you can mess up now!" Mica said, "Not today!" 

The teachers took a long pause. They had to discuss what to do. It was obvious that these 2 kid knew the whole list of 120 words. They decided to ask them 2 words that were on the District List. 

Mica got the word, "Irrigate" and the other boy got, "Bankruptcy". We were hoping Mica didn't spell it with one "r". He didn't. The other boy spelled, "Bankruptsy". It was so close! If it were the other way around I think the other boy would have won for sure. 

He now moves up to the District Spelling Bee in February! We'll see how it goes. We as parents are going to have to do our research on how to help him study. I have to say that I sucked with spelling as a kid. I don't know how he has this talent. He must get it from Dad.

When he got that last word this song came into my head, and wouldn't leave: