The Mount Sheridan Spelling Bee was introduced in 2014 as a fun and educational way for primary and high school students to engage in spelling. The program includes activities to encourage all students to engage with spelling and to promote improved literacy in combination with the English K-10 Syllabus. The Spelling Bee competition helps students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts, and develop correct English usage.
We are about to head into our 4th year of the Annual Mount Sheridan Plaza Spelling Bee and we are so excited. 273 from 21 primary and secondary schools participating in 2016 and growing. Registration closes Friday 19th May. The winning Schools from 2016 were Category 1 Years 3&4 Woree State Primary School, Category 2 Years 5&6 Whitfield State School, Category 3 Years 7&8 Trinity Bay High School and Category 4 Years 9&10 Freshwater Christian College.
How do schools enter the Mount Sheridan Plaza Spelling Bee? Registrations packs and expression of interest forms were sent to all the Schools within the Cairns region. Please ensure that you include contact details for the teacher who will be looking after the entry. All teachers must provide a direct email address (preferably your departmental address for government school teachers) to assist with our organisation. Entries can be submitted before schools know the names of the students they will be entering.
How much does entry cost? There is no cost associated with the Mount Sheridan Plaza Spelling Bee.
What are the competition stages? Schools follow official competition procedures to select students (a maximum of 3 per team) to represent the school in the heats. These will take place between Saturday 7 March and Saturday 28 March (Semi & Grand Final). The Mount Sheridan Plaza Coordinator will advise schools of the dates and times of the heats when all registration packs are received. The 3 top scoring teams will enter the semi final and the two highest scoring teams from the semi final will move onto the Grand Final.
What does the School Spelling Bee Coordinator do? School Spelling Bee Coordinators should submit the registration forms for their school prior to Friday February 20 2015 and submit the names of the school’s representatives. Once all the details are finalised, they’ll receive an email with details of the date and time of the heat their school will be attending.
What are the competition procedures? At each heat, a maximum of 6 teams will compete and 2 teams will move through into the Semi Final. This is followed by elimination rounds of increasing difficulty. The announcer reads the word, then a sentence including the word, and then repeats the word again. The team will select a team captain and they will write the respective word on a piece of paper and at the end 10 words the Mount Sheridan Spelling Bee Coordinator will collect all 10 pieces of paper and the team captain of each team will stand up and spell the word out loud. Students have 45 seconds in which to spell the word. Contestants may ask the announcer to repeat the word – this is included in their 45 second time limit. Any self-corrections must also be made within the time limit. At the second bell, any incomplete spelling will be taken as the contestant’s final answer. When a student has finished spelling a word, the announcer will either state ‘That is correct’ or ‘that is incorrect. The correct spelling is…’
How is a winner determined? At the heats, the elimination process continues round by round. To win the competition a contestant must spell more words correctly than all the other teams. If all teams in a particular round misspell their words then no one is eliminated.
What are the prizes? All competitors receive a certificate of participation. The winning School receives shield with their school names engraved on a plaque, $1,000 Cash and each individual winner receives a gold medallion and a iPad mini, the individual runners up receive a silver medallion and an iPod Touch and all participants a medal for participating..
If you have any questions about the Mount Sheridan Plaza Spelling Bee, please contact Kay Judd, Spelling Bee Coordinator on (07) 4036 3150 or email kjudd@mtsheridanplaza.com.au