Bee Season has started!

I haven't posted in a long time. Sorry about that! Life has been busy.

Bee season has started! I had my class bee in early November, and then won my school bee on December 2nd. I'll be going to the district bee on January 21st along with 8 other top spellers from my school. I've been studying quite a bit. After finishing the Consolidated Word List last year, I'm going over my circled (difficult) words again, and I've also been studying word roots and going over Spell-It with my dad, my spelling coach. Thanks so much to him. I would never have gotten as far as I did without his help.

I hope to return to Nationals this year. It was an incredible experience last time. Good luck to any aspiring spellers out there!

In other news, we're going to Texas tomorrow and we'll be staying there for Christmas to be with family. I'm excited because it will be warm, compared to the usual 10F here. Brrr!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Anja Beth

Radio Interview

I'm being interviewed live on KS95 today at 8:40 am Eastern! If you're in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, try to listen!

Semifinals

Well,, I didn't make it to Semifinals.I was one point below the cut.I got 27, and the cut was 28.The good news is that I can try and come back for two more years, so hopefully I can make it to Nationals and make the Semifinals next year.Good luck to all the remaining spellers!

Update on scores

I got my two oral words.They were ludicrous and koinonia.I got them both right.I found out how I did on my written test.I got 21 out of 25.My total score is 27 out of 30.I'll find out what the cut score is at 5:45 Eastern.I'll post again to say whether I made it to Semifinals.I'm being interviewed on KS95 radio tomorrow morning at either 8:40 or 9:10 Eastern.I'm ot sure if it's live, but if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, it might be on then.

Here I am in D.C.! It's a ton of fun, but REALLY hot.I'm melting.We got to see the White House (from the outside).There were Secret Sevice guys inside the fence with machine guns.DO NOT make them mad. We also went to Arlington National Cemetery.That was really amazing, albeit the heat. We saw the changing of the guard.Those soldiers stand there in 85 degree heat in long-sleeved shirts and long pants that are black! I also took a writing class at the Spy Museum with the author of the Gilda Joyce series.That was fun. Yesterday we went to a speller BBQ at a place called Turkey Run.It was so much fun.They had ice cream and snowcones, and you could play volleyball or baseball and a bunch of other games. My Round One test is today. It's 50 words, only 25 of which count, but you don't know which 25.You get a point for each word you get right.Then, tomorrow, I'll have two oral spelling rounds.You get three points for each of those two words.At the end, they add up your total score (max is 31) and make a cut to the top 50 scorers. I've met a bunch of really nice people.They give you this book called the Bee Keeper.It has a page for each speller and staff member, and you try to get everyone to sign yours.So far, I have 151 spellers and 6 staff.I'm halfway there!

Leaving Tomorrow!

I'm leaving tomorrow! I'm so excited. I went to get my nails done today, and when I came home, my friends came running and screaming out of the backyard. They had put up signs with hard words all over the front yard.It was a COMPLETE  surprise. They kept it a secret for weeks!We had ice-cream sundaes, too.It was a ton of fun.I can't wait for tomorrow!

Studying Update

I'm getting very excited. We leave for D.C. two weeks from yesterday. I am up to "O" in the Moderate section of The Consolidated Word List, and my dad has been quizzing me orally. I'm very excited to meet all the other spellers from around the country.

Studying

I've been studying the Consolidated Woird List, which is a list of all the words used in previous National Spelling Bees.I've gottem through the "Frequent" ones and am on the "B" words in the "Moderate" section.I've also been studying the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Prefixes and Suffixes, which helps with root words.I'm getting very excited.We leave in less than a month!

Thanks very much to Lockridge Grindal Nauen for sponsoring my trip to D.C. 

Introduction

Hi, I'm Anja Beth.I'm a 6th grader, and I'm going to the National Spelling Bee!In the future, I'll post things about my life, my friends and preparing for the Bee.