My name is Janet Lucas and I am the organiser of the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee. I would appreciate it if you could forward the information below about the spelling bee to parents of year eight students as the event has changed. It now starts when the US Spelling Bee starts (now) instead of next year when the students are in Year Nine.

The enrollment process has also changed. Schools must enrol directly with Scripps online in the US and pay $US99. Home schooled children are eligible for participation in the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee. They follow the same enrollment instructions as a school does but pay a $US10 enrollment fee.

Many thanks
Janet Lucas

Details on the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee

I am the organiser of the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee. This email follows a letter I sent to all schools with Year Eight students. The letter detailed the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee and the spelling bee programme.

I would love to receive an email from you if your year eight home schooled child is interested in taking part in this programme.

The aim of the programme is to help generate students’ interest in spelling and help them learn some new words. Home schooled year eight students that enrol in the programme will receive a word list of 50 words to start learning. They then do a Top 100 Test before October 30 and send the marked test to me.

I will prepare a ranking list based on the scores. The results will be used to identify the top year 14 spellers from around the country, who will then advance to one of five regional Spelling Bees in November.

The top fourteen finalists from the five regionals will advance to the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee Final, which will be held in Wellington on Saturday, 26 February 2011.

Any finalists who live outside of the lower North Island, together with one accompanying adult, will be given an airfare to fly to Wellington to compete in the final competition.

The overall Champion New Zealand Speller will then be flown to the United States to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, to be held in June 2011.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee, now in its 84th year, is the world’s longest running academic competition and has been held more times than the Academy Awards. The Bee has become a cultural phenomenon in the United States, with 11 million children competing in school competitions across the US as well as countries from around the world, including New Zealand. The competition is screened live in the USA on prime time TV.

How do I enrol?

To take part in the New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee, your home schooled child must first be enrolled with the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the United States of America.

To do so, go to www.spellingbee.com and follow the “Enrol Now” prompt.

When you get to the Scripps site, click on the box for countries without zip codes.

When you get to the NZ Spelling Bee programme page, you need to scroll to the bottom of the page and click next.

When you pay, it asks for state and zip. In State put, NZ and zip, 00000

The site will prompt you for your school details, a contact person, and the enrollment fee of US$10 (which must be made by credit card or equivalent).

When you enrol you will enter “home school association” under school type.

Once enrolment is complete, you will have immediate access to spelling bee materials provided by Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Email me and I will forward you the word list for year eights and the materials your child needs for the test.

Timeframe

17 August 17 – 15 October 15 2010 Schools with eligible students  enrol with Scripps National Spelling Bee
17 August 17 – 15 October 15 2010 Enrolled schools are emailed  all documents they need to run a school spelling bee (wordlists, test  sheet, participation certificate)
1-29 October  2010 Enrolled  schools run class and school spelling  bees
1 November  2010 All enrolled schools send test  results for Year Eight Spellers to New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee to  determine the semi-finalists
8 November  2010 Semi-finalists are  announced.
15  November 16  November 17  November 18  November 22  November Lower South Island Semi Final  in Dunedin  (2 finalists) Upper South Island Semi-Final  in Christchurch (2  finalists) Central North Island  Semi-Final in Hamilton (2  finalists) Upper North Island Final in  Auckland  (4 finalists) Lower North Island Final in  Wellington  (4 finalists)
23 February  2011 New  Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee Final  in Wellington
End of May  2011 (date  tbc) Champion speller travels to  Washington DC to participate in Bee Week and  compete in Scripps National Spelling  Bee

For more information please visit www.spellingbee.co.nz or email info@spellingbee.co.nz.

Yours sincerely
Janet Lucas
Event Organiser
New Zealand Vegemite Spelling Bee
www.spellingbee.co.nz
021 709 124