the spelling bee for E

the only boy among a handful of girls, Ethan participated in the 1st and 2nd graders' portion of the spelling bee this evening, held in the other 4th grade teacher's (B goes to her for Reading Study) classroom. he told me yesterday and today after he got home from school that he didn't want to do it. i said, "that's too bad, because you are going to do it." i explained to him that it's a good experience and he's an excellent speller, so it would be to his benefit to have a positive attitude about it. he did well......


spelling one of his first words--possibly even a practice word; can't remember now

ah, a classic Ethan expression! :) he was waiting his turn in line and i caught him glancing my way...

he can be quite the ham...! another 'waiting in line' moment.

spelling one of his last words...

and LOOKEY HERE...my 2nd grader won FIRST PLACE!! here, the principal is giving him his certificates and trophy. the woman is a 5th grade teacher who was in charge of the bee this year.

he's quite proud of himself, which makes me so happy!

as it turned out, Ethan and another 2nd grade girl were going back and forth for a fair amount of time, both spelling their words correctly. then, the girl (who was going first) got the word "its". she spelled it with an apostrophe (though she didn't call it that; she described it in a kinda funny way, even using her finger to draw one in the air). so, then it was Ethan's turn to spell it correctly. he hesitated a bit, but i could tell that our previous conversation clicked in his mind and he remembered it did NOT have an apostrophe. he had one more word to spell correctly (who), and then he was declared the winner! afterward, he told me that it was a good thing i explained that form of the word to him when i was helping him study the list of words. YEP! sure was...! ...it was several days ago that i'd gone over that with him. i'm pleased he was able to remember! perhaps that means other things i teach him are, in fact, in his brain somewhere and will prove useful in the right moments! and hopefully it showed him that things i tell him are, in fact, true and helpful! :)