SOLANO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - The 45th Annual Solano County Spelling Bee was held virtually, with the preliminary round beginning on Saturday, March 27, 2021, and the final round will be on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. The Spelling Bee is open to all public and private schools serving 4th – 6th grade students. This year, 25 schools participated in the preliminary round, each eligible to register two top spellers.

“Spelling Bees serve as a way to improve a student’s comprehension skills; strengthen listening, spelling, and writing proficiencies while expanding on a student’s extensive vocabulary,” says Solano County Superintendent of Schools Lisette Estrella-Henderson. “Students participating in the Spelling Bee competition also have the opportunity to gain confidence in public speaking and learn to be gracious winners, while having fun with their peers.”

This year’s event will take place virtually. Instead of students being eliminated for misspelling one word in the preliminary round, they will each be given 20 words that gradually increase in difficulty. Then, there will be four rounds that include four words. Each round will increase in difficulty and have a higher point value. Students will be encouraged to spell as many words correctly as they can and will earn more points for harder words in later rounds. Students with the highest point total will advance to the final round which will follow the traditional Spelling Bee model of single word elimination.

Top spellers from the Saturday, March 27^th event will be competing in the final round of the Solano County Spelling Bee on Tuesday, April 13th.

For more information, please contact Director of Youth Development Ken Scarberry at 707-646-7601 or email [email protected].

Solano County Office of Education (SCOE) provides leadership, support, and fiscal oversight for charter schools and Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield-Suisun, Travis, Vacaville, and Vallejo school districts which serve approximately 63,000 students. Solano County Superintendent of Schools Lisette Estrella-Henderson is elected by voters of Solano County. The Superintendent is a state constitutional officer who serves as the chief executive officer of SCOE and as a liaison between local school districts and the state.