Memorize Words for a Spelling Bee

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G B-E-E.

Spelling Bee.

Sound familiar?

It is sort of difficult to memorize a lot of words for one little competition, especially if you are not the best speller on earth. But if you want to win, and are willing to make a true effort, these tips will help--guaranteed!

Steps

  1. Make up creative ways to memorize the words. For an example, the word arithmetic. It sounds fairly hard, right? Well, think of the word this way: A-rat-in-the-house-might-eat-the-ice-cream. Take the first letter of each word and you get: "arithmetic." Now, when that caller says, "ARITHMETIC!" you'll know exactly what to spell. Although this might not work if you need to learn 400 words, but it will definitely help if you are struggling with 1 or 2.
  2. Study daily up until the competition. As soon as you get the study guide, start studying. Whenever you have free time, before you go to bed at night, it doesn't matter. But not having to cram three days before the Spelling Bee really does make a difference...if your brain learns the words slowly instead of rapidly, it will give you time to process the information--plus, your brain doesn't enjoy having to handle so much stress which is caused by impossible words and very little time.
  3. Pick an area to study. A nice, quiet room with good lighting would be an ideal place. Choose a day where you have nothing else to worry about, time, and your ready-to-think brain. Also, make sure there are as little distractions as possible. (TVs, the neighbor's dog barking, music, etc; should not be heard/seen at this time.)
  4. During regular chores/activities, think about the words. This can be done in any way, really. Like, while you are walking the dog, spell the word c-a-n-i-n-e in your head. Or, when you are doing the laundry, d-e-t-e-r-g-e-n-t. You should probably do this after your study--don't try to guess how to spell a word, you may misspell it. (English has some very weird rules that are sometimes not followed.)
  5. Get Help. If you are struggling over a few words. Don't stress out. Get a reliable adult or friend to help you test on your spelling words.
  6. Relax before the competition. You've studied, you've worked, you've done everything you can--now it's time to shine! Study as little as possible during this time, you probably just want to kick back and watch a movie. (Try to watch Akeelah and The Bee, it has some good tips.)br>
  7. Have an interest in memorizing words. Interest is of importance in study. If you are lazy and want to do nothing, you won't memorize words any more.



Tips

  • Stay relaxed and don't get stressed if you mess up a word.
  • If you don't remember a word, pronounce it. Many kids choke just because a word sounds long...usually, though, it's spelled how it sounds.
  • Don't overwork your brain trying to memorize these words--spelling is, believe it or not, supposed to be fun when you do a Spelling Bee!
  • Study, study, study, but not too hard. Your brain could get messed up. Take a 5 minute break after 10 words.
  • Take pride in your studying, even if you accidentally misspell something in the Bee. You may get angry, but hey, you made it this far!
  • Don't let other people laugh if you want to study. If you want to make it to the Nationals, study all year long!
  • Record words on an iPod, recorder, or something you access everyday. Put sticky notes on your wall with important words. Take a break every half hour or so, and learn roots. They will help.
  • Don't worry about memorizing every word in the dictionary- that simply isn't possible.
  • If you are struggling with spellings of certain words, list them down and then go through the list a couple of times before asking someone to read out the list and you spell the words in it simultaneously. That way you can remember it.
  • As an alternative, you can learn word roots and spelling rules from different languages. Both will help in a spelling bee.

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