The Noncompetitive Bee will give those interested a chance to learn how the Spelling Bee works and provide practice for those who want to compete in the Competitive Bee.

The Competitive Bee's format is still under review, but the outcome will yield a school winner, a school alternate, and hopefully grade winners.  The school winner will advance to the Local Spelling Bee in Seattle on March 31st.

Spelling Bee rules in a nutshell.

The Spelling Bee will occur in rounds.  Where every remaining/eligible student will have a different word to spell.  The student advances to the next round if they spell the word correctly.  If a student misspells the word, they are eliminated from the contest (except in a unique last round situation).  When only two students remain, if one student misspells their word in that round, the other player must spell their word (from that round) correctly, plus another word to be declared the winner.  If they cannot spell their word or their additional word correctly, then the other student and any other student eliminated in the last round, are reinstated.

During the student's turn, the Pronouncer will say a word to the Student. 

The student should say the word, spell the word, say the word. 

The student may ask the Pronouncer to repeat the word.  

The student may ask the Pronouncer for additional information including part of speech, definition, and example sentence.

For more details, see the suggested rules here.

Please note, we may make some modifications (which will be noted both here and at the start of the competition) to improve the experience for all.

Volunteers

We need volunteers.  We are looking for a Pronouncer, a Judge, help with registration, and usher(s). 

Please Sign-up here. 

Study List

If you would like the study list(s), please email spelling.bee@westmercerpta.org.  Some of the words on the list will be the ones used in competition.