How to Organize a Spelling Bee

Classroom activities often include spelling bees. Spelling is a very important part of a child's education, and it's often part of class work and homework as a subject. Organizing a spelling bee in the classroom is a fun way to get the children to brush up on their spelling skills and get everyone involved in the learning fun.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Brainstorm as a class all of the spelling words that have been quite difficult for them to master. When organizing a spelling bee, you do want to have a variety of easy, medium, and difficult words. Include a few difficult words so that way the students are more apt to study for the spelling bee.
2. Pick a prize for the winner of the spelling bee challenge. Students are often motivated by simple prizes such as a free homework passes or the opportunity to be teacher's assistant for the day. The prize doesn't have to be something material.
3. Organize the spelling bee in such a way that all the students have a chance. While you don't want the children who have difficulty with spelling to fall out of the competition early on, you also don't want all of the words to be easy.
4. Study with children many times before the actual spelling bee event. Modeling a spelling bee ahead of time may put all anxiety and fears aside for some of the children. Discuss with the class while the spelling bee is important, it's also important that they don't get too worried about the spelling bee challenge.
5. Create fun ways for the students to study the spelling words before the spelling bee actually happens.
6. Decide as a class exactly how the spelling bee is carried out. Decide on the rules such as timing and how a person is eliminated.