In minutes, you (the Spelling Bee administrator) can set up Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee for your classroom, your school, inter-school, homeschool group, or even just your own family --- all absolutely free! The only requirement is that each student participating in the Spelling Bee must be registered in one of Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Drills.
Each Spelling Bee participant competes at their Dr. Aardsma's Drill grade level. That is, the student will only be asked words at his or her own grade level. For example, suppose Susan is registered for the Spelling 1 drill and Tom is registered for the Spelling 6 drill. They both sign up to participate in Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee. Susan and Tom will compete against each other, but Susan will only be asked Spelling 1 words and Tom will only be asked Spelling 6 words. In addition, they will be asked words from the list of words they have mastered before being asked any new words. Whoever can get the most words right will be the winner.
To get started on Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee, click the "Set Up A Spelling Bee Now" button below. Just a few simple steps and you will be ready to start Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee.
You will see a "Create Roster" screen. Each participant signs up, in the order they will be asked spelling words, using their "Name" and "Password". This is the same "Name" and "Password" the participants use when they take their daily Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Drill.
When all participants have been added to the roster you are ready to click the "Begin Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee" button.
You will first be given an opportunity to adjust the sound volume for the Bee, just like for the daily spelling drills.
Then the first and second participant's names will appear on the screen. The first participant on the list goes to the laptop/computer keyboard, while the second participant gets ready for their turn next.
The first participant clicks their name in the roster on the screen when they are ready for their word. Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee says the word (e.g., "cat"), then the word in a sentence (e.g., "The cat was gray."), and then the word again ("cat"), just like in the participant's daily Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Drill. The participant spells the word by typing it in the answer field.
The computer shows how many words each participant has gotten right, and whether they are still in the Spelling Bee or not. At the end of each round (each time through the roster) only those participants having the highest number of words correct are still in the Bee.
When only one participant remains in the Bee, that participant is the winner of Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee!
How simple is that?
A laptop or computer can easily be set up with a projector so that all the participants can follow the progress of Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee. Speakers can also be set up.
Plan on 10 to 15 seconds per participant per word. Expect a single round for 30 participants to take about 6 minutes. To keep the length of the Bee reasonable for large numbers of participants, organize to minimize the time it takes to change from one participant to the next at the keyboard.
Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee does not include any time limit for spelling each word. The Spelling Bee administrator is free to use a timer to impose a time limit per student per word (e.g., 30 seconds or 1 minute) if necessary to keep the Bee from bogging down, but this is not normally necessary.
Teachers can give weekly class-wide Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bees, rewarding the winner with a small prize or ribbon. This is a good way to review and improve retention of words which the students have already mastered.
Schools can have an end-of-year school-wide Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee, with winners from each grade competing against each other. Trophies can be given to the winner at the end-of-year closing ceremonies.
Schools can compete against other schools (just like with track meets), having an area-wide Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee. Photos of the winners can be sent to the local paper, etc.
Homeschool groups can hold a Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee in the spring every year, giving awards to the winners at their group's end-of-year homeschool program.
Dr. Aardsma's Spelling Bee is a fun way to encourage students to excel in spelling!
Copyright © 2024 Aardsma Research & Publishing. All rights reserved.
