Spelling and Cultural Literacy Bees for the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas
On March 7, St. Joseph’s Academy had a Spelling Bee for first through fourth grades in the morning. From 11:30 AM to 1 PM the fifth through eighth grades had a Cultural Literacy Bee. We had the three houses as teams: Kateri, Jogues, and Solanus. Kateri won 1st prize, and Jogues won 2nd. Though there was only a prize for first place, the other two teams were given points as well as Kateri.
A Spelling Bee, for those who don’t know, is when the students from each class stand up in front of the rest of the school. Then the students are asked to spell a word. There are some words like beware, foul, and hare. If the student spells it correctly, he or she remains standing, and the next student is given a new word. If the word is incorrectly spelled, the student must sit down. This goes on until two people are left. If one spells two words in a row correctly, that person is the winner!
The Cultural Literacy Bee, for fifth through eighth grades, was played like this: The three teams sat in three circles of chairs, divided according to their house. Six teachers for six different subjects thought of questions to ask the teams. The six subjects were: Religion, History/Geography, Music/Art, Science, Math, and Literature/Grammar. There were questions such as, “What is the square root of 64?” or, “What are the five kingdoms?” or even, “Finish this nursery rhyme…” Each team got a chance to answer. If one team got it wrong, the others had a chance to steal it for one point. If the first team asked answered correctly, they got three points. As it was, Kateri came out on top with 85 points.
These Bees don’t sting you, only your brain. These are also fun and bring the students closer together. Although they are stressful, competition is always good for school spirit and House spirit.
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