S – P – E – L – L – I – N – G: It's a Sport!

ESPN – that's where I caught the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I was reluctantly coaxed into watching the bee. I avoid television, and watching kids spell on stage sounded boring. I was wrong. I was riveted. We played along. We all know that good spelling is a key part of written communication skills, but practicing spelling is not usually seen as F-U-N. I witnessed kids and adults get excited about building spelling skills after watching the bee.


The Blue Lake take on it:
Don't wait. Watch a spelling bee movie with your kids this weekend. We highly recommend Spellbound, the Oscar-nominated documentary of the 1999 National Spelling Bee, and Akeelah and the Bee, a moving, fictional account of an 11 year-old girl's journey from a troubled home to Scripps. You will be hooked. Then, you will want to start with the most common 1,000 words, move on to spelling coach tips from a UK English teacher, and maybe even play the online spelling bee game at the site of Broadway Musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."