Spelling Bee!

This week, the Fluency Class talked about Spelling Bees. We began with these questions:

What is a Spelling Bee? 

• It's a contest where contestants, children aged 11-16, are asked to spell words. In the National Spelling Bee, the winner can take home up to $40,000 in cash and prizes. Read about the past winners and their winning words.

Why is is called Spelling Bee?

• The word "bee" has long been used to describe a busy gathering of people who come together for a special purpose, such as quilting, spinning, logging, or raising a barn. "Spelling bee" in particular is an American term that came into use around the 1870s.

 Sierra Shoemaker

Then we read the story of 12 year old Sierra Shoemaker (shown above), the savvy speller, who out-spelled the judges! What was the word she spelled correctly? How did the judges' master have it spelled on his sheet? Why did Sierra appeal the judges' decision?

You may be interested in watching a movie about this topic, called Akeelah and the Bee. It's about an 11 year-old girl who works hard to make it to the National Spelling Bee. See the winning moment below:

Before beginning our own Spelling Bee, we tried our hand at a bit of spelling with this Spelling Bee game. These are challenging words, so be careful!

We ended the lesson by having our own Spelling Bee. Everyone did an excellent job, and prizes were given out to all! Below is the Spelling Bee list for ages 12-13. Which words are easy for you? Which are the most difficult? Why not get a few friends together and hold your own Spelling Bee just for fun!

abandon	abbreviation	absence	absolutely
absorb	abundant	accessible	accompanied
accomplishment	accurate	achievement	acres
adequate	adjustable	admit	admittance
advice	advise	afghan	alternate
alternative	amusement	analysis	analyze
ancestor	anniversary	appreciate	artificial
assistance	association	athlete	atmosphere
attendance	authority	bacteria	bagel
baggage	benefited	benefiting	bicycle
biscuit	bizarre	boulevard	boundary
bouquet	brilliant	brochure	bulletin
bureau	campaign	cancellation	candidate
capable	capital	capitol	category
celery	cemetery	changeable	chaperone
character	cinnamon	civilize	commercial
committed	committee	commotion	companion
competent	competition	complement	complex
compliment	compressor	concentrate	concentration
conductor	confetti	congratulations	consequently
controlling	cringe	culminate	culprit
deceive	delayed	democracy	deodorant
descendent	description	diameter	diamond
discourage	disgraceful	dismissal	distinguished
dreadful	economics	economy	elementary
embarrass	emotion	emphasize	encircle
enclosing	encounter	endurance	engineer
environment	episode	erosion	eruption
evident	exchange	executive	exhibit
expensive	extinct	extinguish	extraordinary
extremely	fabricate	failure	fascinating
fatigue	flagrant	foreign	forfeit
frequently	fundamental	genuine	ghetto
gossiping	gradual	graffiti	grammar
grievance	guarantee	harass	havoc
heroic	hesitate	horrify	hospital
humid	humility	hygiene	identical
idle	idol	illegal	illustration
imaginary	immediately	immobilize	impossibility
inconvenient	incredible	individual	infamous
influence	informant	inhabit	inherit
innocence	innocent	instructor	intelligent
interruption	introduction	involvement	irate
irresistible	jealousy	judgment	juvenile
kettle	knitting	laboratory	language
legibly	liquidation	management	maneuver
media	mileage	miniature	misbehaved
morale	mortgage	movement	murmur
musician	mysterious	negotiate	nervous
nuisance	nurture	oases	oasis
obedient	obstacle	obviously	occasion
ordinarily	ordinary	organization	pamphlet
panic	panicked	panicky	parallel
paralysis	paralyze	penicillin	pedestrian
phantom	pheasant	phrase	politely
popular	precipitation	principal	principle
privilege	procedure	pronunciation	psychology
puny	qualified	qualifying	quotation
raspberry	reasonable	receipt	receiving
recipe	recognition	recommend	recruit
reddest	reprimand	resigned	restaurant
rotten	sandwich	scarcity	scenery
secretary	securing	significance	simile
sincerely	sincerity	situation	skeptical
slumber	smudge	solemn	souvenir
spacious	specific	stationary	stationery
statistics	subscription	substitute	superintendent
supervisor	supposedly	threatening	tolerate
tongue	tournament	tragedy	traitor
transferred	transferring	transmitted	traveled
traveling	unfortunately	uniform	university
unnecessary	valuable	various	vehicle
version	vertical	victim	vigorously
violation	visualize	volcano	voyage
wealthy	weapon	wheeze	wilderness

Coding

Do you think that coding is a necessary skill for today's young people? This was the topic of discussion in our class last week. For most students, it's not something they often think is necessary, but it seems clear that in our increasingly technical world, the knowledge of coding is a beneficial skill to have. We then watched the video below:

After watching the video, the students wrote down their thoughts about what they thought of the idea of learning to code. Below are some of their comments:

We need coding classes because it can help us later on in our jobs. On our MacBook, we already use programs and apps, but with coding, we learn how to think. ~Luna

Coding:

• teaches you how to think
• it's fun
• it can change your life
• We can be the programmers of the tomorrow and the "wizards" of the future.
• We will feel like we have magic powers. ~Jasper

Coding:

1. Opens a new world for you so you will know more about computers.
2. If you know how to code, you can make things that change the world.
3. You can earn a lot of money with it.
4. Coding makes you think clearer and helps you appreciate the real things in life. ~Bart 

We really need to learn to code because we can make each other websites to practice our lessons, and we can fix our own MacBooks and iPads. We can make our own site and put our homework and things on it. ~Roemer

With coding we can:

1. make a lot of money.
2. you can be proud of us when we make websites.
3. we can repair our own computers. ~Julian

We need to learn coding because of the following reasons:

• You can earn a lot of money.
• You can help the world.
• You can make social media. ~Yannick

We need to learn how to code because it's important to make programs, software, and to learn and have fun and so on. ~ Emma

Do you know how Facebook was created? It was by coding. Also, computer games are created by coding. Because the world is changing through computers, I think children need to learn coding. It can help us when we do our homework, and when we get a job, it will help us in our work. 

We should learn coding because:

• it's fun.
• you become smarter.
• it is a skill for the future.
• you can make your own website. ~Nanne

If we know coding:

• We can become smarter with our computers.
• We have more of a chance for a job because we now have "extra abilities." ~ Sanne

We need coding skills because it is fun. We can help people by making programs. We are living the the computer period and if we learn how to code we can make games or programs to help us with our homework. ~ Micha

I would like to lean how to code because I think it's fun to learn, and it's maybe helpful for later. It's also cool to know how to make your own website. ~Yvonne

We need coding classes because it's fun, and you are also learning at the same time. In other lessons, you only learn something, but with a PC, it's only fun learning! ~Marnix

We should learn coding because:

• then you can get a better job with these skills.
• we will learn more and get smarter in a fun way.
• we will all have new opportunities for the future
• Coding will be like learning to play an instrument. ~ Tara

It is fun! and you can learn a lot from it. It's handy because we already have a laptop, so then we can use the laptop not only for reading, but also to code! I think is it a very nice idea. You can help people, and in class, you could get a mark for a game that you made--How nice is that?!! ~ 

The school would be famous if someone from here learned coding and later made a famous program! ~ Iris

Meteorite!

A meteorite hit Russia on Friday, February 15th. The classes of TTO "interviewed" a number of people to get their perspective on this unusual event. Below are a few excerpts from interviews with worried people, normal people, scientists, and aliens (yes, aliens!).

Wow! A meteorite crashed on the earth! I wonder from what material the meteorite is made? Maybe there are kinds of metal that we don't even know about yet. Or...aliens. I wonder if they are friendly or hostile?
~Normal person Davy

The people who want to meet an alien are crazy! Aliens don't exist--it's just science fiction. It's better to look at the meteorite and study it. Maybe it's from a new planet. Maybe we will discover some new strange materials in it.
~Scientist Roemer

OMG!!! This is unbelievable! I am in shock! Waaaaaaaah! We're all gonna die!!! I loved you my friend, and my mom and dad. And also my brothers, sisters, my dog, my cat, my birds, my fish, my aunts my niecs, my nephews, my aunt and uncle. --Everybody!!!! I hope that there are nice cupcakes in heaven......oooooooohh...I don't want to dieeeee...
~Worried person Romy

Meteorites are very interesting things. They are part of other things that turn around the planet like a ring. Sometimes they go out of their orbit and hit the Earth.
~Scientist Sem

BOOOOOOO! I'm an alien. Gna Gna Gna. You don't have to be scared of me. Gna Gna Gna. I like to eat horses and cheeseburgers. Gna Gna Bliep. I'm sorry, I'm hungry. Jam Jam. That was a lovely horse. Now back to my ship. It's in the garden. Gna Gna Gna GLIEP. Crunch Crunch.
~ Alien Alpaca Unicorn.

Why is everybody so scared of the meteorite? It's actually aver nice that someone is sending us a meteorite. It's a sign of friendship from an alien in space. I can say this, because I'm an alien, so they're already my friends. Aliens are friends to people to, but people don't understand...
~ Alien Yvonne

Meteorites are just burning rock from outer space that sometimes hit the earth with a lot of speed.
~Normal person Jasper

Bleewrgh peeeep. I am an alien. With my alien friend Veerle, I'm going to the earth! I know I would like the earth! Bliewrp! I'll go in a big spaceship with the alien boss, Jesse. He said to me, "Put your human costume on and we'll go! Tomorrow we'll go!!
~Cryptic message found among the meteorite debris from unknown alien.

Oh my God--the Earth is going to explode and we're all going to die and then aliens will take over the earth---Noooooo!
~Worried person Iris

I'm very interested in that meteorite. It's amazing that one fell to Earth! I hope we can discover new materials that are useful for the planet...
~Scientist Nathan

There were found aliens in their own lands, Alilania. One alien, Viza (a girl) was very interested in the Earth. She would look every day toward Earth to watch people. But, she wasn't nice and thought that all Earthlings should die. Her brother Oxes gave her help to make an evil plan. February 15, 2013 would be the day to scare people on Earth. They made a stone, sat in it and flew to Earth yelling, "THE ALIENS ARE THE BEST FOREVER, REMEMBER THAT!!!"
~Excerpt from Fiction From Alilania, by Alien Mara

Ohhh nooo! Ohhh nooo! This is the end of the world! I'm so scared! Maybe the aliens are going to take it over----or vampires---or spooks, or....
~ Worried person Nanne

Today a meteorite hit the Earth. It is very cool, but a lot of windows were smashed by the shock wave. I want to know more about it. Maybe there are aliens in it!
~Normal person Wanne

Yeah....I'm gonna rule over the world! I"m gonna be the kind of everything! But first, I have to send meteorites to the earth so they can be scared. WHOEHAHAHAHAHAA! I want to rule over the world with my best friend Iris (also an alien), and we can live on the earth without anyone else, except the other aliens, who will come to populate the earth!
~ Unidentified alien

Oh no! What if  this meteorite will kill us! Or aliens will come to Earth and rule the whole Earth! ...Maybe there are already aliens on Earth right now, and we don't know it yet...Oh, I'm so worried and scared about what's going to happen. We really need to do something about this, otherwise we're all gonna die!!! --I'm really freaking out here! Help us, please!!
~Worried person Tara

WROE HA HA HAAAAAH!!! I will conquer the world with a shower of meteorites and I will send armies of aliens with lasers! WROE HA HA HAAAAH!!!
~Alien Marnix

I am an alien, and I look like a human. I've been waiting for this meteorite my whole life! I haven't eaten anything for 30 years (that is how old I am)! Meteorite is my food. The aliens brough me this meteorite. They told me it would fall in Russia, so now I live in Russia! It's really yummy because it is so hard and crunchy. But I am really mad at my alien friends because they didn't tell me that they would send it on the 15th of February--just after Valentine's Day!
~Alien Leila

A meteorite is a giant rock that is flying around in outer space. The power of a meteorite is very strong and can damage the earth, especially when they are very big.
~Normal person Bart.

I am an alien. Now I live on Mars because my own planet exploded. We knew about the meteorite and we wanted to tell you, but we were too late! Sorry about that, but you guys on Earth were very lucky because it wasn't so big that the Earth exploded, just like my planet. I'm homeless now...Maybe I'll meet you soon.
~Greats (Miriam) the Alien

AHHHHHHH!!! A meteorite just crashed to the earth! I hope no one was underneath! Did aliens come out of it? I hope not--They might take over the world! I don't want to think about it....But I have to....!
~Worried person Sanne

If a meteorite crashed into Middelburg, I'd go there with my space ship and look at the damage. Maybe I could take people whose house was destroyed with me to my planet and give them a place to live. There is going to be another meteorite crash soon, but I don't know where...I could try to warn them, but I don't think they will believe me.
~Alien Isabel

AAAAAARGHHHHH! A meteorite on Earth! What if there are aliens now on Earth? What if they're coming to destroy the world? I don't want to die at this age--I'm only 38! I've been crying all the time since the meteorite hit because I 'm so afraid to meet an alien. I hate those green, jelly, blubby, spooky aliens with one eye and an angry face. It's unbelievable! The only word they say is bliep bliep bliep bliep...
~Worried person Hannah

Hello, my name is "A" and I am an alien. I have already lived here on Earth for a thousand years. Nobody knows me as an alien, and if I begin to tell someone about it, they just say "Yeah right, really? Oh please, stop it." All the people also think that meteorites are dangerous, but that's not true. It's just trash from Aliens.
~Alien "A" Luna

Oh my! I am so scared...What if there are aliens who take me to their home? I have to stay in my house because I am not safe here. If I go outside, I might be taken away! --Oh, I'm so worried...Aliens are so scary!
~Worried person Amber

I want to meet an alien. I think they are friendly, and trying to stop the meteorites from hurting us.
~Normal person Marijn