April 08, 2006

I'd like to buy a vowel, please

For the second year in a row, Finola Hackett of Tofield, Alberta, has won the Canadian national spelling bee. A hearty congratulations to Finola from the proud Albertans and happy spellers at Farm School. Finola bested 28 other contestants in the final round, received the silver CanSpell cup and a $10,000 education fund, and met the new Governor General and Prime Minister. She and Canada's other 13 regional winners will do their northern best at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. on May 31st. We send b-e-s-t w-i-s-h-e-s for great good luck to all!

And just because we love spelling here, and are (ahem) naturally competitive, here are some more handy dandy fun spelling links:

Scripps National Spelling Bee

"The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" soundtrack cd (with original Broadway cast); don't miss the song, "My Friend, the Dictionary";

"Spellbound", the documentary about the 1999 Scripps-Howard Spelling Bee; now playing on various PBS stations;

Bee Season: A Novel by Myla Goldberg; about the trials and tribulations of a family when its youngest member, nine-year-old Eliza, wins a spelling bee. It was made into a movie starring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche;

"Akeelah and the Bee", another major motion picture about a spelling bee, opening April 28th. Stars Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, and Keke Palmer as Akeelah, and sounds considerably less fraught and more kiddie-appropriate than "Bee Season";

Avko's Sequential Spelling program. What we use. It's low-key, cheap, easy, and it works. Check the previous link, or this one, for various information and freebies, including
sample lessons, word lists, and chapters from various Avko publications;

The ABC's and All Their Tricks: The Complete Reference Book of Phonics and Spelling by Margaret M. Bishop

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