Great Books for Great Spellers!

 

Did you know?

The Spelling Bee words are arranged by grade level - and grouped by difficulty. The Spelling Bee folks have organized words into "One Bee" "Two Bee" and "Three Bee" levels.

One Bee words are used in the Village Home Junior Bee, for grades 1-3. Two Bee words cover grades 4-6, and Three Bee words are at 7-8 grade level.

All the words in the school Bees are contained in these great books. Reading them will help spellers learn the words and their meanings, and they're a lot of fun as well!

One Bee Reading Level 

First Grade: 

• Always Anjali by Sheetal Sheth 
• Rodeo Red by Maripat Perkins 
• The Camping Trip by Jennifer K. Mann 
• Izzy Gizmo by Pip Jones 

Second Grade: 

• Girl on a Motorcycle by Amy Novesky 
• Vera Vance, Comics Star (After-School Superstars) by Claudia Mills 
• Paper Son: The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist by Julie Leung 
• The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan by Amy Alznauer 

Third Grade: 

• Stella Díaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez 
• The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Preus 
• A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold 
• The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof by Annie M.G. Schmidt 

Two Bee Reading Level

Fourth Grade: 

• Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake
• Lost Cities by Giles Laroche
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks 
• Bump by Matt Wallace 

Fifth Grade:

• Rocket Science: A Beginner's Guide to the Fundamentals of Spaceflight by Andrew Rader 
• All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat
• The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher
• Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston 

Sixth Grade: 

• The Sisters of Straygarden Place by Haley Chewins
• Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass, a Monumental American Man by Tonya Bolden
• The World Between Blinks by Amie Kaufman & Ryan Graudin
• The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson

Three Bee Reading Level 

Seventh Grade:

• When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller
• The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands
• The 13 ½ Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers
• Queen of the Sea by Dylan Meconis 

Eighth Grade:

• The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
• Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein
• The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep by Allan Wolf
• Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
• Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara
• The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
• Slider by Pete Hautman
• Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee 

Don't forget to sign up for the Bee at villagehome.org/scripps-spelling-bee!

What's Your Favorite Word This Year?

The English language is changing all the time! In fact, every year the Merriam Webster dictionary (official dictionary of the Spelling Bee) adds new words! Usually they are words that have been in very common use over the previous year. Here are some of the new words added in 2021:

• TBH : an abbreviation for "to be honest." TBH is frequently used in social media and text messaging.
• because : by reason of : because of — often used in a humorous way to convey vagueness about the exact reasons for something. This preposition use of because is versatile; it can be used, for example, to avoid delving into the overly technical (“the process works because science”) or to dismiss explanation altogether (“they left because reasons”).
• amirite : slang used in writing for "am I right" to represent or imitate the use of this phrase as a tag question in informal speech. An example: “English spelling is consistently inconsistent, amirite?”
• FTW : an abbreviation for "for the win" —used especially to express approval or support. In social media, FTW is often used to acknowledge a clever or funny response to a question or meme.
• super-spreader : an event or location at which a significant number of people contract the same communicable disease — often used before another noun (as in a “super-spreader event”). The term super-spreader originally referred to a highly contagious person capable of passing on a disease to many others, and now can also refer to a single place or occasion where many others are infected.
• long COVID : a condition that is marked by the presence of symptoms (such as fatigue, cough, shortness of breath, headache, or brain fog) which persist for an extended period of time (such as weeks or months) following a person's initial recovery from COVID-19 infection.
• Oobleck : a mixture of corn starch and water that behaves like a liquid when at rest and like a solid when pressure is applied. Oobleck gets its name from the title of a story by Dr. Seuss, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, and is a favorite component in kids’ science experiments.
• chicharron : a small piece of pork belly or pig skin that is fried and eaten usually as a snack : pork rind also : a piece of food that resembles a chicharron.
• Goetta : meat (such as pork) mixed with oats, onions, and spices and fried in the form of a patty.
• air fryer : an airtight, usually small electrical appliance for quick cooking of foods by means of convection currents circulated rapidly by a fan.

What new words would you like to see in the dictionary in 2022?

Don't forget to sign up for the Bee at https://www.villagehome.org/scripps-spelling-bee/

Have You Signed Up for Bee Camp?

"Spelling Bee Camp" is our end-of-bee celebration on January 24. The actual Bee will be available online this year (like last year) - and participants can do their own Bee at home, between January 14 and January 21. Registration for the Bee is available through January 10.

Did you know that studying the definitions for a word can help you with the spelling? The English language uses up to SEVENTY different languages as origins for its vocabulary! Latin, Greek, German, Spanish, and French are very common sources for words, but Native American languages, Japanese, Russian, African languages, and many more play a part as well. Knowing where a word came from can give you clues as to how it is spelled!

Here's an example: The word "doubt" can be pretty tricky to learn! But if you look up the definition, and where the word comes from, you will discover that it comes from the Latin word "dubitare" (see the B?), and has links to words like "dubious" and "double." (When you are in doubt you have two thoughts about something - a "double mind"!

Knowing this about the word can help you remember to add a B in there when spelling it!

Sign up for the Bee at https://app.iclasspro.com/portal/villagehome/camps/8

Get an Early Start on the Bee!

The dates are set! The study lists are available! Will your learner be our next Bee Champion?

The Oregon Homeschool Spelling Bee, sponsored by Village Home, will be administered on an online testing platform at your convenience. The test will be available between January 14 and January 21. On January 24 at 2:00pm, we will host an after-bee celebration on Zoom for fun spelling games, trivia about the bee and to announce our winner.

Read more about the details at the Village Home website. Sign up to participate at this registration link.

Important change for this year: The cost to enter the Village Home Bee is $15. This covers our sponsor fees and administrative costs.

If you'd like this year's study lists, please email bees@villagehome.org and we'll send them to you. 

Why the Bee?

Spelling bees can be more than memorization contests! There are many advantages to having a child participate. Here are some notes from the Scripps Spelling Bee people:

Elevated Grammar and Vocabulary

Studying requires a comprehensive learning process where students must understand words’ definitions, etymologies, language patterns, pronunciations and roots.
 

Encourages Reading

Once students’ grammar and vocabulary improve, they tend to become better readers and writers overall, which results in greater literacy and reading enjoyment.
 

Improved Cognitive Thinking

From needing to think critically under pressure, students learn several skills as they prepare for spelling bees. Most notably, spellers often hone memory and learning competencies.
 

Increased Knowledge and Public Speaking Skills

Learning new words and more about words increases spellers’ knowledge. Testing that knowledge on stage allows them to practice public speaking and ultimately become more poised under pressure.
 

Stronger Confidence and Character

Bee participation develops patience, sportsmanship and integrity. Spellers gain patience with themselves as they learn. They also foster it on stage as they wait to spell their words. They develop character and sportsmanship when they misspell and cheer on other spellers. If they do win, they practice doing it with composure.

Another year, another Bee! Once again Village Home will be hosting the official Oregon Homeschool Spelling Bee sometime in January (registration opens in December). Last year the event was online, and was very successful. Our champion Chloe Willis went on to compete in the Regional Bee, which was also online.

We haven't worked out yet whether the VH Bee will be online or in-person - or maybe both? But we'll keep you posted! Follow this Blog for news about when and where and how, and for spelling and practice tips!

If you would like to get started practicing with this year's word lists, or if you have questions, send an email to bees@villagehome.org 

The Year's Almost Over - But Still Time to Register!

2021 is sneaking up on us fast! There are two more weeks to register for the Village Home Virtual Spelling Bee - read all about it in the last Blog post here! 

Key points:

Sign up for the Bee here by Monday, January 11! (The Village Home Bee is open only to Oregon homeschoolers - not charter school or public school distance learners.)

Email bees@villagehome.org to get this year's study list!

Check out the official Scripps Spelling Bee page here!

Are You Getting Ready for the Spelling Bee?

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is rolling with the punches, and has put together an impressive online event for 2021!

Village Home is happy to participate once again hosting the official Oregon Homeschool Spelling Bee. The format is entirely online. The test will be available mid-January, and must be completed by January 22. (Participants will receive full instructions.)

We'll also have a ZOOM party on January 25 with games, activities, and the announcement of winners. As in past years, we'll have two tiers of competition: The Champion Bee for spellers in grades 4-8, and the Junior Bee for spellers grades 3 or lower.

This year's Bee will include vocabulary questions, so this is a great opportunity to learn and practice vocabulary as well as spelling! 

Read more about the Bee here!

Sign up for the Bee here by Monday, January 11! (The Village Home Bee is open only to Oregon homeschoolers - not charter school or public school distance learners.)

Email bees@villagehome.org to get this year's study list!

Check out the official Scripps Spelling Bee page here!

Ⓑ ⓑ ꞗ ƀ Ɓ Ƀ ḅ Ḇ  🠈 spelling "B"s