What is Spelling Bee?

A spelling bee is a competition where contestants are asked to spell English words. The Spelling Bee is an important academic tradition and one that challenges children to perform at their best. In addition to motivating children to achieve academically, this event is an important stepping-stone to the County Spelling Bee Competition students may enter in middle school.

Last year, more than 3,000 public and private school students from 26 schools throughout Monterey County participated with the hopes of bringing home the title.Date: February 23rd, 2013

How Does It Work?

The Lyceum Spelling Bee consists of four competitions, the first three of which are conducted at your school.

Preliminary Competition: 
All 4th and 5th grade students take written tests in their classrooms. There are separate tests for 4th and 5th graders, and the top 20 students from each grade move on to the Semi-Final Competition.

Semi-Final Competition:
The top 20 spellers from each grade complete another written test. The top twenty overall students move on to the Final School Competition.

Final School Competition: 
The top 20 overall spellers participate in a school-wide oral competition. The top 4 students (2 finalists and 2 alternates) move on to the county-wide competition.

County Final Spelling Bee: 
Two students from each school compete for the title of “Top Speller” in the Monterey County 4th and 5th Grade Spelling Bee at San Benancio Middle School.

Each week, students are given a list of words to study. For the Preliminary and Semi-Final Competitions, the test  includes ONLY the words that the students have studied. For the School Final and County Final Competitions, the test may include additional words NOT studied by the students.

Media Coverage: Monterey Herald (2009)