School Spelling Bee

Rick was good enough to take today off. We went and did some shopping this morning and then dropped the girls off with my friend who generally watches them while I go to the school to volunteer. We took Andrew to school and then got to help for a bit before heading into the library to watch Joseph in the school Spelling Bee. He'd spent the last few weeks studying the big packet of 1150 words all from different languages. Rick and I were a bit nervous (but not too much) and wanted him to do his best and hopefully not be the first one out. But listening to Mrs. MacDonald talk to the kids before the Bee, that made us super nervous for all of the kids. I just wanted to run over and tell them to just relax and have fun! (I think they did though.)
Joseph's 2nd grade teacher, Mr. K, got to be one of the judges for the Bee, so his whole class got to come watch him preform and cheer him on. It was really cute to see!
They started out with the practice round to make sure the kids could talk into the microphone well and move it properly. As you can see, Joseph needed to adjust it throughout the whole Bee going after this 5th grader.

He got it down pretty well, though. The size difference was great.

He spelled very well and confidently. When he needed a second he would ask for the definition and once she finished giving it, he was ready to spell.

There were 21 kids in the Bee. After round 2 I got pretty nervous, all of the words being asked were from the sheet with the 450 words that Joseph studied for 3 hours before taking the written test to qualify for this Bee. He hasn't looked at that list for 6 weeks. I had him only studying from the big packet. But he remembered really well and could spell just fine. But I was still nervous for him. By round 6 there were 6 left. They took a little break then to let the kids stretch and relax. Joseph came right over with this shocked look on his face and said, "Mom, I can't believe I'm still in it!" We were all surprised. Then all of his little 2nd grade classmates came up to encourage him. It was very sweet. Not only that, it was really impressive how the 3-5th graders in the Bee also all congratulated each other throughout the Bee and were super nice and kind to Joseph as well. It was good for Joseph also to feel part of their team and cheer them on as well. It  really felt like everyone in there just wanted everyone to do their best and everyone was happy for each other. It was really great to see that! Everyone was just so supportive of each other! There are some amazing kids at this school!

And then they got to round 8 and Joseph misspelled "innovator" (just said 1 n) and it was over! Here's our sweet 2nd place winner!

Here are the top 4 spellers who are headed to district. 5th grader, Vy, got 1st (in the blue), Joseph 2nd,  Miles (5th) 3rd place & Beth (4th grade) got 4th.

We were all super amazed and so pleased with him. His class and teacher were really excited for him as well. Mr. K was so kind and decided to throw an ice cream party for the class and for him doing so well in the Bee. That was pretty cool of him!

Once we got home we got homework done quickly and then let Joseph pick where he wanted to go for his celebratory dinner-of course he picked, "Ow, My Eye!"

We had good times. We're so pleased with Joseph and how well he performed and that he could see the fruits of his labors in studying and then doing so well. He's an awesome kid and we are so blessed to be his (and all of our amazing kids) parents!