- Thursday 22 April 2021
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Students across Australia are abuzz about the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee! This year’s Spelling Bee is being hosted by Kids News virtually, with the state/territory finals taking place on 29 April.
What’s it all about?
The competition involves young people in Years 3 to 8 competing, first with their classmates and then with other finalists, for a series of coveted prizes—including flying to Canberra and getting congratulated by PM Scott Morrison himself! Of course, the Bee is about more than winning prizes; it’s a fun way to get students excited and passionate about spelling and literacy, and proud of their achievements. As the PM puts it:
‘Learning to read and write is one of the most important parts of anyone’s education but they can be tough skills to master, including sometimes for adults. Even at my age, sometimes I have to look up the spelling of a word. Whether you love reading and like learning to write, or they’re skills you sometimes struggle with, the 2021 Spelling Bee is a chance for all the kids of Australia to put themselves up to the test and have a bit of fun along the way.’
With that in mind, many Aussie kids have been getting excited about this friendly, fun competition, and working hard to achieve great things! Whether your class has been part of the Bee this year or not, we’d love to share our top tips on prepping for a spelling bee—after all, next year’s young challengers have plenty of time to get ready for kicking serious spelling goals in 2022!
So, how do you prep for a spelling bee? It’s not all about rote memorisation, although this is an important skill in itself. But understanding the rules about how spelling works in the English language (and being quick to spot the exceptions to those rules) is key to Spelling Bee success, and that doesn’t have to be drab—there are plenty of fun activities and games to help you along the way. Without further ado, let’s get Bee ready!
How does the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee work, anyway?
Registering for the Spelling Bee is free for all students in Years 3 to 8 at Aussie schools (and yes, home schools are included); teachers are required to sign up students, and each student must provide a signed consent form from a parent or guardian. There are three reading levels involved: Green Reading Level (Years 3–4), Orange Reading Level (Years 5–6) and Red Reading Level (Years 7–8). If you have some enthusiastic, exceptional spellers, you can also enrol them in the next level up; however, they cannot go down a level.
There’s three rounds involved: the School Round, which took place in March; the State/Territory Finals, which took place in April; and the upcoming National Final, which will take place in late May.
The Collins English Dictionary (13th Edition) is the final authority and sole source for the spelling of words, and there’s a few specific spelling rules for certain types of words; head over to spelling-bee.com.au for further info.
Participation involves answering 30 randomly selected spelling words per round, which will be chosen based on your student’s reading level.
Try the Bee!
So your students know what to expect from the Bee (and can get thoroughly excited about the process!), we suggest heading over to Try the Bee, a timed practice tool on the PM’s Spelling Bee website which lets students experience the Bee for themselves. It’s important to note that this practice tool incorporates words from every reading level, so there will be words that younger students will not know. But trying the bee will give students an idea of what the process is like, and get that excitement building.
Read, read, read
One of the best ways to learn how to spell new words is to see them in use. Reading is a great opportunity to expand your vocabulary, to learn new words and how they’re used in context. Encourage students to write down interesting words they’ve just encountered, as well as ones with complicated spelling, and to review these words now and then to keep them fresh in their minds.
Getting a dictionary can be very helpful for learning new words and how to spell them; we highly recommend this for students who are really serious about kicking goals in the Spelling Bee!
Lastly, encourage your students to read Kids News. The team at Kids News are the hosts of the 2021 Spelling Bee, and their website offers the latest news on key topics from science to arts, history to safety and much more. You’ll find content for Green, Orange and Red reading levels here, with fascinating articles including what a spider web sounds like (green), Crayola launching a range of racially inclusive crayons (orange) and how to take your financial first steps (red).
Learn the spelling rules
Understanding and mastering spelling rules and generalisations is important for readers of all ages, and sets the right foundation for those harder words! These rules include ‘i’ before ‘e’ except after ‘c’ (except for when it’s not; check out the full rule and some noteworthy exceptions courtesy of the Merriam Webster Dictionary), when to use ‘s’ or ‘es’, when to drop the final ‘e’, and many more. You’ll find our three sets of spelling posters to be very helpful here; each set includes 12 colourful and durable A3 laminated posters with age-appropriate information covering a range of spelling rules, conventions and difficult words to spell. Use these convenient learning tools to teach, consolidate or remind students of important spelling conventions.
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Use tailored (and fun!) resources
You’re probably not surprised to find that spelling resources is an area where R.I.C. Publications really shines! The Spelling Box series for Years 1 to 6 is designed to increase students’ joy for spelling and to support spelling education in your classroom or at home. Each box contains 100 cards (two of each card) of fun-filled spelling activities, anchored in nine well-researched skills and strategies—using phonemes, visualising, chunking, using analogy, using rules and generalisations, applying morphemic principles, using mnemonics, using etymology and using sources.
Designed to be flexible, The Spelling Box is easy to use and supports ANY spelling program and ANY spelling list, but it's not all hard work—a whole category of spelling activities is 'Just for Fun' to engage students' learning.
The Spelling Box can be used in so many ways! The activities are great for early finishers, extension work, language centres or literacy time slots and as quick consolidation activities. They’ll your young learners a real boost in their Spelling Bee preparation! You can find the series here, and check out a free sample pack here.
We also love the Spelling series, a comprehensive program teaching children how to spell. Each book is a whole-year spelling program, with words gleaned from proven contemporary lists used around the English-speaking world, carefully chosen to reflect children’s language abilities, interests and experiences. Each book features detailed teacher notes, a suggested timetable, dictation passages, additional spelling activities, journal page, certificates and answers; 20 two-weekly units of work covering phonic families, spelling rules and word origins; homonyms, silent letters, suffixes and prefixes and easily confused words; as well as a variety of fun activities enabling students to use different strategies in learning how to spell.
Play!
Spelling games can be a lot of fun! You probably remember games like ‘Hangman’ from your own childhood, as well as watching Wheel of Fortune on free-to-air TV and getting all excited when you solved the puzzle before the grown-ups did. Well, we’ve compiled an awesome (and free!) resource pack for your kids to enjoy, containing pages and materials from the following titles:
Covering a wide range of phonics and spelling topics, they are designed to be fun and engaging for your students. Click on Free spelling pack to learn more and download these sample spelling resources, that are sure to be a hit with your students!
Want to know more? Check out our educational resources on English and spelling, as well as our specialist Australian Curriculum English resources, and review some of our related posts: