June 5, 2013
This year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee added a new compenent – a vocabulary test – to the prestigious spelling competition. But at Mounds Park Academy, understanding a word’s meaning has long been a priorty, and it’s obvious each day during Lower School lunch.
Every Monday at the end of the lunch period, a word is announced and then it was used in a sentence, giving the Lower School children a day to ponder its meaning. The next day a student explains what the word means. The third day synonyms are elicited from students, and on the fourth day they are asked for antonyms. Finally, on Friday, students attempt to spell the “Word of the Week.”
This schedule is followed each week of school so that by the end of the year they have been exposed to an impressive list of vocabulary words. This leads to annual Vocabulary Bee where we teachers and parents all astounded by the preponderance of vocabulary words the 3rd and 4th graders have amassed.
This year’s winners are (from left to right): first place, Ellen V. (Grade 4); second place, Hannah M. (Grade 4); and third place, Isak D. (Grade 4). Congratulations to these young wordsmiths!
