Are you getting ready for your school spelling bee and don’t know where to start?  First you need the Scripps’ National Spelling Bee study list separated by grade level from 1^st to 8^th grade.  Each student should be given a copy of the full Scripps’ Graded spelling list and this link to the downloadable list with additional words on our website: 

http://www.hexco.com/content/National_Spelling_Bee_2011_word%20list.pdf

How to study:

- Study all of the words from the Scripps’ Graded List in your grade level.
- Study all of the words in the grade levels before your own grade level.
- Study past your grade level until you have learned all the words on the Graded spelling list that you can possibly remember.

Funny thing about school spelling bees: You can be given a word from any grade level.  Don’t worry, schools generally start out with the first grade words and work their way up to the higher grade words so that everyone gets a chance to field a word before it gets more challenging.  There is only one winner who gets to move on to the San Antonio regional bee, and from there, that student will have a chance to go to the National Spelling Bee, but the fun part is seeing how long you can stay in the game based on how many words you have learned and can remember.

Relax and have fun! Spelling out loud with everyone staring at you can be a little bit stressful at first, but in spelling bees, everyone is generally rooting for each other and everyone in the audience wants you to do your best.  Take a deep breath, don’t rush, and above all, make sure you repeat the word before you spell it and look at the judges to make sure you heard it correctly.  For instance, if the word is “cub,” and you heard “cup” and you did not take the time to repeat the word, you’ll probably go out on a word that you actually knew! The judges’ job is to make sure you heard the word correctly.  When you repeat it, they will acknowledge that you heard the word correctly.

What you can ask when you get your word:

- “May I have the definition?”
- “Will you use it in a sentence?”
- “May I have the language of origin?”

 Beware of easily confused words: Some words can be spelled two or more different ways! This is where it is important to ask for the definition and/or the word in a sentence.  Here are some examples.

- to, too, two
- bare, bear
- write, right
- sight, site

 For the convenience of our spellers, we keep the annual spelling list on our Downloads & Brochures page on our website so you can get access to it any time of the year.  Click here to download the full 2011-2012 spelling list from the Hexco website.  In the rare case that a school uses all of the words on the Scripps’ Graded list, and they actually run out of words when they get to the 8^th grade words, they generally will use words from the Scripps’ Spell It! list included in our downloadable version on our website.

Last year we had excellent participation when we hosted a local school spelling bee, and everyone showed good spelling spirit for their peers with the last two standing breaking off with a high-five.  It’s all about challenging yourself and doing your best. If you are a teacher, students, or parent and would like to contact us regarding rules, words, etc. just call or email us and we will be happy to answer any questions! 

View clip of a real spelling bee!

 Good luck and good spelling!

          Every year, we receive numerous phone calls and emails asking what we think of the annual changes (or lack of changes) in the official National Spelling Bee study lists. Often, the questions hinge on whether the changes instituted are fair, whether students are still being challenged enough, how much of the contest relies on luck of the draw, and whether the contest itself rewards hard work. With the 2011-2012 word list from Scripps’ just released, we found that the entire graded list was changed from last year. To the disenchantment of spellers who embrace the challenge of being introduced to new words, the Spell It! list was unchanged. While it is interesting to discuss possible advantages and outcomes, there are no guarantees when it comes to spelling in contests. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work, luck of the draw can wipe even the most phenomenal speller out of the game. The goal is to have fun and reduce the odds of early elimination by learning not only the words selected by Scripps’, but as many off-list words as your noggin can handle!
          With plenty of words at our fingertips as well as few in the vault, it was a toss-up this year as to whether to add more off-list words in this year’s Spelling Mentor and Valerie’s Supplement, but the verdict is in, and we decided to change out only 20% of the words that we add to the school/classroom list. Thus, this year, for class and school bees, students who learned all the words last year will have to learn 450 new words from the graded list provided by Scripps’ and only 125 words from the extra words added by Hexco for class and school bees. Our goal is to release our annual spelling products to the public by the end of September, 2011 so you can have them to study at the beginning of the school year.
          Which spellers will have the advantage in 2012? That depends on how you look at it. Kids who studied the same list last year may already know many of the words and thus may have an advantage over kids who are studying the same word list for the first time. However, having a higher number of kids knowing all the words can definitely make the competition tighter and inevitably will force winners to be determined by more off-list words.
          So if this year’s contest success depends on finding more words to study (given you have already mastered the ones on the 2011 Graded and Spell It! lists), Hexco offers a plethora of products with off-list words. Hexco’s Verbomania, which has 13,000 vocabulary enriching words is a great choice for expanding your spelling foundation and improving vocabulary. New Nat’s Notes with 18,000 words has performed well at the higher reaches of the National Bee. Verbomania is currently available in our software format as VerboMentor, and half of New Nat’s Notes is available in software format as New Nat’s Mentor, and the remainder should be complete by year end. These are also available in our Flips format through our website. We have the 1999 and 2006 Paideia word lists available in old Valerie’s Supplements, classic Spelling Mentors, and Flips format. Other customer favorites are the Spelling Rules Book and our etymology products. Review Linda’s Study Plan on our website, if you don’t know where to start!

(Posted on Tumblr on June 2, 2011 – 6:33 p.m. Central Time)

This afternoon, we watched the National Spelling Bee live on ESPN and we are now waiting excitedly for the NSB Finals at our annual Hexco National Spelling Bee party.  As we celebrate this towering achievement of all of the spellers who made it thus far, we cannot help but to root (admittedly), just a little more for our customers who have shared their triumphs and losses with us through the years.  We are always here to help disentangle any word mysteries that might arise; all of our customers have our unpublished company cell phone number — we are always on-call during the National Spelling Bee!

THE EARLY ROUNDS
Analyzing  the 25 words in the written round given at the National Bee, we found that 8 words were in Verbomania and 10 were in New Nat’s Notes (or a form of the word that would have obviated the spelling) for a total of 18 in these two volumes.  Words that were not in any of our products included bonobo, calenture, monodomous, pinealectomy, youthquake.  New Bee Prepared contained all of these words, plus one (fourteen). The CWL had some 8 of the 25 words.

For the last two years, 15 words were in Verbo, and 8 or 9 were in New Nat’s with only one or two being words that had never been used before and did not exist on any study list.  Students who advanced to the Semifinals on ESPN had to spell 23 or the 25 words correctly as well as the words in both Round 2 and Round 3.

GOING INTO THE FINAL ROUNDS – Brief Stat Summary
     10 Hexco customers are going into the final rounds
     2/3 of all words given were in Hexco’s New Nat’s Notes (not including obviated forms)
     56% of the words in Round 7 were in New Nat’s Notes
     There were 145 off-list words, meaning, words not found in any Hexco Product or Scripps’ study list

To the spellers and their families: 
Through your letters and phone calls, we have become your fans, as well as fans of the families who have supported you and still cheer you on.  Some are at home watching, and some are there with you, but everyone is proud of you.  You have already taken the world by storm.  Congratulations on your well-earned achievement.  We hope you will share your stories with us for our upcoming After a Spell Newsletter.  Good luck and good spelling!

Scavenging the internet for words to help you study for the National Spelling Bee, the SAT, other spelling competitions? Add our lists of frequently used spelling bee words (which include frequently used National Spelling Bee words, and frequently used Regional spelling bee words) to your memory bank! Compiled and sorted by Hexco Academic, these words have appeared on Regional and National Spelling Bees in excess of ten times or more between 1953 and 2011.

You never know what words will appear in any given spelling bee; it’s random. Or is it? Words that have reappeared in bees over many generations summon curiosity and gain concentrated attention presumably because there is ‘something’ about these words in particular that make them reappear more often than words that did not make these lists. Students with a love for spelling may enjoy surmising why these words are “timeless” in the world of spelling competitions, while those with an aptitude for numbers may ponder the probability of these words appearing again. For a spelling exercise, we recommend that you look up the definitions, the etymology, and, of course, the correct pronunciations so you may recognize these words if you hear them. You can appreciate their meanings and take on the challenge of using these words in sentences. Studying these two short word lists is a modest investment of time and a fundamental step toward attaining an enduring vocabulary (and hopefully helping you to kick some bum in your upcoming spelling bee).
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