Riverbend Spelling Bee
What is the Riverbend Spelling Bee?
The Riverbend Spelling Bee is the school level of the Howards Scripps National Spelling Bee. The first and second place finishers at the Riverbend Spelling Bee advance to the Juneau School District Spelling Bee. The winner of the JSD Spelling Bee advances to the Anchorage Daily News sponsored Alaska State Spelling Bee. The winner of the ADN Spelling Bee advances to the Howards Scripts National Spelling Bee.
Why Participate in the Riverbend Spelling Bee?
• Motivation to study and learn the spellings of new and familiar words
• Opportunity to demonstrate your spelling ability
• Opportunity to travel to Anchorage and Washington, DC (for those who qualify).
• Opportunity to win prizes (the Riverbend Student Council often awards prizes to the top finishers)
• Opportunity to practice speaking (or at least spelling words) in front of an audience
• Remember: With the exception of the first and second place finishers, everyone else will only misspell ONE word in the competition. That word might be in an early round, or in a later round, but it's still just one word!
Who is Eligible?
ALL Riverbend students in grades three, four and five are eligible to participate in the Riverbend Spelling Bee.
How Do I Participate?
Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, the format for the Riverbend Spelling Bee has changed. Third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers are provided with preliminary round spelling bee lists. Classroom teachers will administer the preliminary rounds in their room and narrow the field down until they have THREE students who will advance to the Riverbend Elementary School Championship.
What Happens at the Riverbend Spelling Bee?
The three representatives from each intermediate classroom are seated in the library. Students, one at a time, come up to the microphone and are given a word to spell. . Students may use a white board and marker to figure out the spelling of their assigned word. Students should pronounce the word, spell the word, and then pronounce the word again (although they are not disqualified for not stating the word). The judges will determine if the word was spelled correctly. If so, the student returns to their seat; if not, they join the audience.

When the competition narrows down to two spellers, the rules change. To win the spelling bee, you need to spell TWO words correctly after one of the spellers has misspelled a word. Under no circumstance will a student be asked to spell a word that was misspelled by another student in this bee.
How Do I Get My Hands On a List of This Year's Spelling Bee Words?
Spelling bee words for the preliminary, classroom level bees come from appropriate grade level (3/4, 5/6, or 7/8) spelling curricula (50%), "2008 Merrian-Webster's Spell It!, which available free online or from your classroom teacher (25%), and "Words You Need to Know," also available at the Spell It! website (25%).

The first 100 words for the school championship level come from Spell It! Additional words, if needed, are not listed in this year's Spell It!, but are great words to know and spell.
How Do I Study For The Spelling Bee?
Carolyn's Corner "At-a-Glance" This is the place to get started. This page links out to just about everything you would need to study effectively and efficiently for the spelling bee.
Carolyn's Corner - Origins of Words Spell It! is organized by the various languages from which our words originated. This page will help you learn the rules and patterns from different languages.
Sadlier Oxford - Educational Publishing from PreK-12+ Some fun word games - you versus the clock!
The Language of Literature, Grade 6 : Spelling Practice Games from McDougal Littell (the same folks who bring you the math games that go with our sixth grade Course One math program).
FunBrain.com - Kids Center More spelling games
Grammar and Spelling — FactMonster.com Spelling demons and more
A word puzzle using just pencil and paper One cool game
The Basic Cozy Spelling Course Grades 6-8. In case you aren't getting enough in school.
Spelling it Right - Learn to spell confidently Links to lots of worksheets (for every spelling rule!)
Daily Spelling Bee Words - Daily Quiz/Test to Help Your Spelling Three different words every day, presented phonetically. You type in the correct spelling.
What Important Dates Should I Keep in Mind?
Start studying your spelling words as soon as you receive your spelling words. In fact, more than half of the words are repeated each year, so words you study and learn one year may be on next year's list!

Preliminary (classroom) rounds are at teacher's choice of time and date, with three classroom representatives selected by the end of the school day, Thursday, January 10th.

The Riverbend Spelling Bee starts promptly at 1:45 PM, on Friday, January 11th, 2008. We will not stop for recess, but may take some short breaks between rounds as time allows.

The Juneau School District Spelling Bee is scheduled for 6:00 P.M. Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at Gastineau Elementary School.

The Alaska State Spelling Bee is scheduled for Friday, February 29th, 2008 in Anchorage.

The National Spelling Bee is scheduled for May 28th & 29th in Washington, D.C.

Riverbend Spelling Bee Champions
1997-1998 Ashli A.
1998-1999 Spenser J.
1999-2000 Hope A.
2000-2001 Phillip M.
2001-2002 Aaron B.
2002-2003 Liam G.
2003-2004 Liam G.
2004-2005 Liam G.
2005-2006 Christianne (C.J.) M.
2006-2007 Jasfer D.
2007-2008 Daria O.
2008-2009 Paris R. and Calista F.
Sheryl Hall Wittig ~ Page last updated on Monday, April 13, 2009.