Spelling Bee Champ

A couple of weeks ago RCS held a Spelling Bee for the older grades. The second graders were allowed to watch it, but wanted to participate. So, the second grade teachers decided to have a second grade spelling bee. There are about 50 students in the second grade classes, and most were very excited about the upcoming spelling bee! M had a list of about 150 words to study to get prepared. So, the day finally arrived for all the second graders to go to the library and in front of their parents participate in a spelling bee. M was nervous more so about the parents being there to watch than actually having to spell the words. Spelling has been one of M's strongest points in school. He loves spelling, reading, and history. So, this spelling bee was really important to him. He studied the words everyday for almost 2 weeks. We found it funny that he was this into the spelling bee that he felt the need to study everyday considering he has not missed a word on a spelling test all year including the bonus words. When the spelling bee began there were around 5o students. Oh, just to add another side note L was sick so T was at home with her. So, we were texting every minute updating M's progress in the Bee. First I told him M made the top 20. Next, M made the top 15. Then, M made the top 10. Oh, but wait he wasn't done yet. Next, top 5. At this point M seemed to be getting more confident, and I started getting more nervous. I could not look at him while he was spelling the words. I knew how much time he had spent studying the words, and how important it was to him. So, the fact that he had made the top 5 was exciting. Then, he was in the top 4, 3, 2. Holy Cow! He was one of the final two! He and another child went back and forth almost 20 times spelling words. The other child misspelled a word and M got it right to WIN THE SPELLING BEE!!!! He was so excited and I was texting T as fast as I could to let him know that M WON! All that time he spent studying had paid off. I am one proud mommy. Just to add one more side note while the first 30 students had four and five letter words for their first round. M's first word was grandparent. This may not seem like a big word to some but when everyone up to this point has had a short word to spell this kind of word surprised me, but M stepped forward spelled it without hesitation, and stepped back to his spot. I am so proud of him.

M waiting to spell his final word as the rest of the second graders and parents look on.

I don't know if he was more excited about winning the Spelling Bee or the fact that he won a book!