My third grader is going to the county spelling bee and I have no idea if I should be helping him prep for it or not and if I should how to go about it.

I'm completely lost about what I should be doing, the last time we studied for a spelling test was in kindergarten.

I was wondering if someone had some ideas about what I should be doing and what materials I should use? Maybe a website that he could practice on?

I don't really have time to order materials, the bee is March 5th, and I live 4 hours from a good bookstore so I really need online stuff.

Thanks in advance for any help

One company I worked for had a team every year in the local fundraiser spelling bee for Adulty Literacy. I was on the team and we were the champs for 3 years running..... went to state finals and one year ended up in the top 5.

Are they giving him a word list? Most bees do. Check with his teacher. If so, it's just a matter of reading him the words for him to spell ... over and over.

Knowing the basic rules and rules of other languages. A spanish based word will be spelled a certain way; a french based word will be spelled a certain way.

Some words will need a trick to remember. I still remember one word that I could only spell to the tune of the Mickey Mouse song ..... Ferinaceous:

F-E-R ..... I-N-A .... C-E-O-U-S!!!!!

My then 12 year old daughter was helping me with my words once and she was having trouble pronouncing one word. Her face lit up as she figured it out and gave me the word "Common Cement". I said, WTH is that???? I looked at the word and it was "commencement!" But that became my trick on how to remember the spelling!!

Believe it or not, the person giving out the words to the speller has to put as much effort into it as the speller! A lot of these words are dang hard to pronounce!!

Thanks for the info.

I'll be sure to ask about a word list. I had no idea that they might have something like that, I kind of figured it would be random words that just get harder. I have to talk to someone at the school about parents watching anyway because they were a little confusing in the letter so I'll ask her then.

When we went to state finals, a lot of our co-workers went to support us. We made signs for them to hold up (raided the office supply cabinet for rulers to put the posters on!) We used a thesauraus to come up with the words. Instead of a poster that said "Beat the competition!" we made posters that said, "Eradicate the Adversary!"

But the bee organizers said they couldn't hold the signs up during the bee because it might be a word we were spelling, so the word couldn't be in view during the bee. Made sense. Disappointing, 'coz our signs were so cool, but it made sense. They could wave them in the air as we walked into the auditorium, though.

I went to the county spelling bee in 5th grade, and we were given a book that was about 30 pages long with words we could expect to encounter. I'll never forget as long as I live that I misspelled cholesterol. They say I left out the second "e" but I know I didn't! Oh well, I lasted longer than any other 5th grader and it was 18 years ago!

Good luck to your son!