Schools should be holding their school spelling bees now in preparation for the 2010 Rio Arriba County spelling bee sponsored by the Rio Grande SUN.
After selecting winners in each eligible class, schools should hold school-wide spelling bees in late November or early December. Schools can choose any words they want for their in-school spelling bees.
This will be the fifth consecutive year the SUN has hosted the event. The Bee is scheduled for Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in Northern New Mexico College’s Performing Arts Auditorium in Española.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is requiring all schools that want to participate in the statewide or national spelling bees to pay a $99 fee and register at www.spellingbee.com by Dec. 18, according to state spelling bee coordinator Jan Jonas.
The SUN is not requiring schools to pay the fee if they want to participate in the County spelling bee only. But if your school does not pay the fee and one of your students wins the County bee, that student will not be allowed to participate in the statewide bee. Schools that pay the fee receive access to word lists and the pronouncer guide, which will be used at the County bee along with words from Merrian Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th Edition.
All students attending public and private elementary and middle schools within Rio Arriba County are eligible to send students to the County Bee. Home-schooled students are encouraged to participate in the spelling bees held at their local school.
Students in grades two through eight are eligible to participate in the County bee. Participants must not have passed beyond eighth grade on or before Feb. 1, 2010.
Schools with 200 or more students may send two representatives to the County spelling bee. Schools with less than 200 students may send only one representative.
The winner of the Rio Arriba County Spelling Bee will qualify for the state tournament. The Albuquerque Journal and Newspapers in Education will host the statewide bee March 13, 2010, at Sandia Prep School. The state bee winner will qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee scheduled for May 29 to June 4 in Washington, D.C.
For more information or to submit your school’s spelling bee champion(s), call SUN Assistant News Editor Jose de Wit at 753-2126.