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First Putnam Valley Spelling Bee A Success
Winner Veronica Toone celebrates her April 25th final round victory with her medal and trophy.
The English Language Arts (ELA) Subcommittee of the Education Enhancement Committee (EEC) of the Putnam Valley Parent Teacher Association (PTA) recently announced the launch of a new reading initiative entitled "Putnam Valley Reads - The Standard is 25." The title refers to the goal of encouraging Putnam Valley's students to read 25 books or their equivalent every year.
As part of the PTA EEC's wider literacy efforts, Spelling Bees were held in the Putnam Valley Elementary School's (PVES) third and fourth grade classes this spring. Parent coordinators for the Spelling Bees were Patricia Boltin and Maria Gambardella. The spelling bees were modeled after the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and drew more than 60 initial contestants.
At the final round on the evening of April 25th, Elias Wynshaw, son of PVES third grade teacher Linda Rappaport, and himself a former competitor in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee (he placed 45th in the nation), read the words to the eight finalists. Teacher Denise Hayes was the moderator and teacher Barbara Parmly was the judge.
District representatives in attendance were Superintendent Gary Tutty, Board Trustee Guy Cohen, PVES Principal Jamie Edelman, Assistant Principal Louise Frangella, and a number of teachers from all grade levels. The eight finalists were third and fourth grade students Alessia Zegarelli, Alexander Craven, Adrian Silva, Alexei Smith, Patrick McCormack, Olivia Ricker, Robyn Torregrosa, and Veronica Toone, each wearing a yellow beeshaped tag with a number from one to eight one it. Throughout the competition they were referred to only as "Speller Number One," etc.
Examples of words that the contestants spelled correctly were "decorative," "awkward," "pulsate," "insanity," "nucleus," "decorative," and "aqua." Words that proved to be challenging were "bleach," "naturalism," and "constitutional," among others. The very supportive audience of 135 parents, family, PTA volunteers, friends, and community members numbered more than one hundred. Whenever a new word was announced, audience members' heads could be seen bobbing in rhythm to the spellers' voices. Applause was both loud and plentiful.
The final round winner was fourth grader Veronica Toone, correctly spelling the word "subsequent." Veronica received a trophy and a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card and every contestant received a personalized medal to commemorate his or her participation in what the EEC hopes will become an annual event.
For more information on the Scripps-Howard national program, visit www. spellingbee.com
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