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Ardenwood Spelling Bee

Ardenwood Elementary School had its annual Spelling Bee on April 23rd. Unfortunately, none of our GWN readers made it through the classroom Spelling Bee, so GWN can't say much about how the spellers felt. Diane Zhou, though, went last year. “They all look just as nervous as I did last year. Some people were embarrassed just like me, scared they would spell an easy word wrong,” Diane told GWN.

This year's Spelling Bee was short compared to last year. There were only 13 rounds, and the last 2 people only went 2 rounds. Last year, there were about 10 rounds before only two people remained. The last two spellers went on for about 45 minutes! This year's spellers were still pretty good, but it was clear only the person in Diane's 6th grade side of the class, Sahil, really studied the words.

Mr. Sakamoto, the P.E. teacher, told the directions. All the spellers were to say their name, spell it for practice (good, no one spelled his/her name wrong!), say their grade, room number, and techer's name, and tell their favorite animal. Mr. Tietze, a 5th grade teacher, was the announcer who told the rules and gave the words. The judges were 2 6th grade teachers and one teacher who came back to Ardenwood. 2 people were eliminated on the first round, 2 again the second, then 3, 4, 2, 0, and 1. Everyone took a bathroom break. The remaining people were really the spellers who practiced the words at all. When the Spelling Bee resumed, 2 people went out, then 1, 1, and 2. That left two people, 4th grader Sarah (in GWN reader Emily Wang's class) and 6th grader Sahil (in Diane Zhou's 6th grade side of the class).They went on for two rounds, but on the second round, Sarah spelled a word wrong. Sahil spelled that word and the next word correctly and won! Both will get to go to the District Spelling Bee on Tuesday, May 28th at Chadbourne Elementary School.

Fever

Diane Zhou had a 2-day fever on April 21st to 22nd! How sad! She still went ice skating for 40 minutes in the morning, but she skipped school. Thanks, GWN reader Emily Wang, for the delivery! Thanks also to Chloris Li who finished the whole delivery and emailed Diane news.

Diane went back to school not feeling so good on Tuesday. She was fine, but not in great condition. Too bad she didn't get to practice pull-ups and failed for the fifth year to do a pull-up!!! Good thing you're well now, Diane!