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Friday's Internet Edition, March 19, 2010.
Oak View’s top spellers
First place winners is each age group now move on to county competition
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Gabrielle Franke, who took second place in the upper grades division of the SJ County Office of Education Spelling Bee, spells “versatile” correctly
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By Dana Edlund
Staff Writer
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Chapeau – c-h-a-p-e-a-u … could you spell it correctly? Brooke Niederhauser did and won the Oak View Elementary School San Joaquin Office of Education Spelling Bee for 2008.
The students of Oak View Elementary School recently demonstrated their spelling skills as part of the San Joaquin County Office of Education spelling bee, where schools hold their own spelling bees and the winner(s) then participate at the county level meet. The San Joaquin County winner then competes at the state championship.
The spelling bee is in its twelfth year and, according to the San Joaquin County Office of Education Web site, the spelling bee is “a competition designed to promote and acknowledge exemplary student achievement.”
Each year there are two age divisions – elementary for grades 4-6 and junior for grades 7-9.
Oak View has been participating for at least the past 10 years. The students receive a study guide of words and have two weeks to practice. There is one study session held at school, but mostly the students must study on their own time.
The elementary grades went first. One at a time, they said their word, attempted the spelling, and repeated the word again. Then they waited. A ring of the bell meant they had missed, and were out. Words of congratulations from the moderators meant they had succeeded and would survive to spell another round. From tallow to tulip, they all dropped out, except the final three.
Bailey Martin stumbled and it was down to two. Seth Niederhauser missed “autumn” and Alex Gaudet attempted it. He waited for the ringing of the bell, and when he did not hear it, he knew he had won the spelling bee for the elementary level.
Then it was time for the seventh and eighth graders, who unfortunately went down quickly in the first round.
Maybe it was the double consonant pattern – abyss, finesse, bailiff, and erratic all were misspelled. By round two, there were just four students left. Spelling “exonerate” wrong seemed to knock Janae Cook out of the competition as Brooke Niederhauser spelled “reprisal” correctly and Gabrielle Franke was able to spell “versatile.”
Then Delrick Boyd had the word “rhizome.” The audience seemed to suck in their breath, and even the adults looked around quizzically. You could almost hear their thoughts – “rhizome? What was a rhizome?” The definition was given – it is part of a plant stem – but even that could not help Delrick. He misspelled it, and just like that, Janae was back into the competition.
Back and forth Janae and Delrick went, trying to earn a third place win. Finally Janae stumbled on “tempestuous” and Delrick secured his third place spot with a correct spelling of “souvenir.”
The last round went quickly, with Brooke being able to spell “chapeau” and crowning her the first place winner in the upper grade division. Gabrielle’s spelling of “versatile” earned her the second place spot.
The top three winners in each division received gift cards of varying amounts from Borders Books and a certificate of participation.
Teacher Kerri Brodehl has been assisting with the spelling bee for at least 10 years.
“I think it is great for the kids to get in front of other students like this,” said Brodehl. “We are a small school, but the kids really support each other. It’s also fun to participate and to watch. I really enjoy it.”
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