As with all great competitions, it was bathed in controversy...
When it came down to the final two kids, the other girl had to spell 'jungle.' She spelled j-u-n-g-l. The judges said 'incorrect.' The girl sat down and Emma had to spell 'jungle' and then one other word to win. I think her winning word was 'wigwam' but I was too nervous for her and can't remember now. Some of her other words were sushi, mermaid, scratch, square and scared.
Anyway, she spelled both words correctly and was declared champion. Afterwards, the mother of the other child marched up and grabbed her (then crying) child and protested to the principal and judges saying that she had, indeed, said the 'e' at the end of jungle. They all assured her that she did not so the mother took her child out of the room. She came back a few minutes later pacing back and forth in the back of the room, waving her arms and mumbling about the unfairness of it all telling anyone who would listen, "that's great. Now I have a crying child." A good time for teaching a life lesson but that didn't seem to be happening...
Anyway, Emma did a great job...she was so cool, calm and collected. The words weren't as hard as the ones in her practice book...and most of the kids tripped up on letter-order because they were nervous or trying to go too fast. I'm positive that's what happened with jungle girl. Karen said that's part of the bee...more than just spelling, it's also effective communication and presentation. That sounds about right.
So...off to districts...yikes!
1 comment:
Yaaayyyyyy Emmmmmmaaaa!
Post a Comment