Spelling Bee

Hayden was one of two participants from his class for the school spelling bee earlier in the month. We were so proud of how hard he worked and studied. He learned some really hard words. He was focused and really put in lots of time studying. He knew it would be hard and that beating 5th graders would not be easy but he had high expectations for himself. (He even won one of the practice bees that they had at school getting ready for the bee itself).

He was so nervous the morning of the bee. His teacher and I thought he might just throw up on the stage. Bless his heart he was so pale. (Of course, he told Mrs. Pack after the bee was over that his Momma was more nervous than he was --- now where does he get that?) I talked to him about it being no different than playing baseball but informed me quickly than when he is on the ball field he has either his bat or his glove with him. Okay...then.

He did really well. I am not a good enough Momma that I kept a list of the words he had but thankfully Dawn is!

There were 24 kids that qualified to be in the Bee. (8 3rd graders, 8 4th graders and 8 5th graders). Hay's words were:

1. Receive (and you could see him thinking as he got ready to spell..."i before e, except after c") There were 3 kids out after this round.

2. Sculpture (you cannot imagine how many times the kiddo left the "p" out when we studied at home. And when he nailed that word and said the "p", he gave a glance over to me and Harold as if to say "see I was paying attention while we studied) There were 10 kids out after this round.

3. Casserole (there were 12 kids out after this round)

4. Affiliation (this is another word we struggled with at home because he would leave the "a" out but he was so confident spelling it to the Judges) There were 14 kids out after this round.

5. Shuttle (This was not even on the list of words we had to study even though the Counselor told us that the words would be from the list...oh well. In fact all the words from here on out were not on the list) There were only 5 kids left after this round.

6. Dimension (He missed this word but everyone else but his friend Kate missed in this round. She missed her championship word so the remaining 5 spelled again)

7. Humility (Hayden missed this word and his Daddy and I laughed because he really has none of this so why in the world would he know how to spell it) A 4th grader was the only one to get a word right in this round and then got his Championship word correct to win the Bee.

8. Interim (Hayden spelled this just like it was pronounced and put a "um" at the end. Kate was the only one to get a word right in this round so she won the 2nd place trophy)

9. It was now down to Hayden, a 5th grade girl and his friend Rebecca who was in his 2nd grade class with him. His word was parable. And as his teacher said, he asked for the word to be said a second time, thought about it and then nailed it!!! The 3rd place trophy was his and he was thrilled. (until he learned that only the top two got to go to the county bee).
So in true and total Hayden fashion, he announced right after the Bee pictures were taken that he is going to learn to spell 50,000 words between now and next year and he IS going to win the Bee next year. What a kid.