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Creature Feature Poll

Nixes are water spirits who lure people to their watery graves. (Painting by Arthur Rackham, image from http://www.wikipedia.org)
The guytrash is a malevolent creature with eyes like burning coals that haunts solitary roads. (image from strangeaccounts.tumblr.com)
Wyverns are evil mythical creatures that closely resemble dragons.
Dybbukim are evil spirits that possess and control humans. (image from http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

Happy Halloween! I thought a poll would be a fun way to wrap up our Creature Feature this month.

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vexillology (veksəˈläləjē)

 

Bhutan has one of the most interesting flags in the world.(©Christopher J. Fynn / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Japanese flag is beautiful in its simplicity. (Picture from http://www.reference.com)
The flag of Nepal is the only flag in the world that is neither a square nor a rectangle. (Picture from http://www.facts.co)
The Olympic flag consists of five interlocking rings on a white background. (Photo from http://www.mapsofworld.com)
The Olympics are a great time to engage in vexillology. (Photo from http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca)

The Rio Olympics are well underway, making this a great time to engage in vexillology.

Vexillology is the study of flags. It originates from the Latin word vexillum, which means flag, and contains the Greek suffix -logy, which means study of.

There are 206 countries, each with their own unique flag, participating in this year’s Olympics. Some particularly fascinating flags belong to the countries of Nepal, Bhutan, and Japan. Bhutan’s flag depicts the national symbol of the country, Druk, the Thunder Dragon.  Nepal’s flag is the only flag in the world that is not rectangular or square; it consists of two pennants stacked on each other, which represent the peaks of the Himalayan mountains. Japan’s flag is beautiful in its simplicity – a solitary red disc, symbolizing the sun, on a white background.

The Olympic flag itself is quite interesting. It depicts five colorful rings, each of which represents a continent. The interlocking rings represent the unity of the continents and the meeting of athletes from all over the world.

Are any of you vexillophiles? If so, which flags are your favorite?

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LEGO (lā-gō)

The LEGO rendition of Cinderella’s famous castle took 230 hours and 36,000 LEGO bricks.
The LEGO version of the Roman Colosseum was truly impressive!
The Pyramids of Egypt, all built with LEGOs, were amazingly detailed.
My sister and I love building with LEGOs. Currently, we’re working on the Millenium Falcon from Star Wars.

Many months ago, my family and I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. While we were there, we spent a majority of the time at the Brick by Brick exhibit. This exhibit featured gargantuan LEGO-built structures of famous landmarks from all around the world.

These buildings were awe-inspiring in their extreme attention to detail; each structure was made with thousands of LEGO bricks. My favorite structures were the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pyramids of Egypt, and the Colosseum in Rome.

LEGO is an abbreviation that comes from the Danish words leg and godt, which mean “play well.”  In Latin, “lego” means “I choose.” This seems to be the perfect name for a company that allows children of all ages to play with their product in any way they choose- limited only by their imaginations.

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Favorite Flowers Poll

 

Echinacea
Hydrangea
Clematis
Rudbeckia
Yarrow (image from http://www.calgaryplants.com)

Spring is in the air and many bright flowers are blooming in our garden.  Take a moment to look at the images and vote for your favorite flower!

 

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Insider’s Guide to the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee – Awards Banquet and Dance Party

Walker Robinson of John Yarmuth’s office gave us a tour of the Capitol Building!
Claire Elliott and Christopher Schuler of Congressman John Yarmuth’s office.
Dr. Bailly was even dancing at the party!
Visiting the White House was a highlight of our trip to D.C.
The dance party was so much fun!
Everyone enjoyed dancing at the party!

The morning after Finals, spellers had the opportunity to explore D.C. Thanks to Congressman John Yarmuth, my family received a visitor’s pass to the White House! I enjoyed walking through the rooms of the White House and especially seeing the portraits of former Presidents and First Ladies. We were also treated to a personalized tour of the Capitol Building by Walker Robinson of Congressman Yarmuth’s office. He was a fabulous guide and we all learned so much from him.  It was particularly interesting to learn that each State has donated two statues of notable people from their history. Kentucky’s statues are of Henry Clay and Ephraim McDowell. Visiting the White House was a highlight of my trip to D.C. and I want to thank Congressman Yarmuth and his staff for making this possible.

In the evening, we attended a fancy Awards Banquet at which we honored the top ten finalists. Afterwards, we all went to the Woodrow Wilson Ballroom for a dance party; this was my favorite event of the week.

Participating in the National Spelling Bee for the third time was an amazing experience. Becoming a national finalist was the proudest moment of my life. I tied for 22nd place, which is my highest rank ever. I made new friends and rekindled old bonds. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many people who share my love of words. Thanks so much to WHAS-TV for sponsoring the Regional Bee in Louisville; it was an honor to represent Kentucky at the National Bee.

Congratulations to all the spellers who participated in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee; you’re all winners!

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Insider’s Guide to the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee – Co-Champions are declared…again!

 

Nihar Janga, from Texas, is the youngest winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Finalists were invited to sit on stage and cheer on the top ten spellers competing this evening.
Jairam Hathwar of New York was crowned co-champion of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Congratulations to Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga, co-champions of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee!!!

This is the third year in a row that co-champions have been declared. Jairam is a thirteen year old seventh grader from New York and is the brother of Sriram Hathwar, the 2014 co-champion. Nihar Janga is an eleven year old fifth grader from Texas. Nihar made history tonight, becoming the youngest ever to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Jairam’s championship word was feldenkrais and Nihar’s championship word was gesellschaft. Feldenkrais, a trademark, is a system of aided body movements intended to increase body awareness and ease tension. Gesellschaft is a rationally developed mechanistic type of social relationship characterized by impersonally contracted associations between persons.

 

 

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Insider’s Guide to the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee – Finals (Part 1)

45 Finalists prepare to take the stage.
Dr. Sietsema is the Associate Pronouncer and etymology guru for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I want his job one day!
There were reserved seats for spellers’ families in the front of the ballroom.

The Finals started this morning at 10:00 a.m. and were broadcasted on ESPN2. 45 spellers took the stage until only 10 were left. Round 4 was grueling and the bell was rung many times. Unfortunately, I was eliminated in Round 4 for incorrectly spelling bakshaish, an antique Persian rug with angular designs. Oecophorid, salele, tibourbou, zwitterion, bouleuterion, and jacopever were some of the other words included in Round 4.

Round 5 began with 21 spellers. Some especially difficult words in Round 5 were ocypode, Liechtenstein, noncompos, Nabokovian, glaucothoe, and pochoir. By the end of the round, only 17 spellers remained.

Not very many spellers were eliminated in Round 6, but caliginous, pesante, and monture were troublesome and eliminated 3 spellers. Round 7 started with 14 spellers. The most difficult words in this round were quinton, dulia, somma, and campagnol.

Tonight at 8:00 p.m., the top ten spellers will compete live on ESPN until a champion is declared. Good luck to all of the remaining finalists!

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Insider’s Guide to the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee – Rounds 2 and 3

Finalists received many requests for interviews this evening!
Round 3 was nerve-wracking for many of the spellers including me!
My sister has been cheering me on at spelling bees since she was 4 years old!
45 Finalists will compete tomorrow.

This morning, Round 2 of the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee commenced. The round started with 284 spellers. Unfortunately, a total of 34 spellers missed their words and were eliminated from the competition. Round 3 started with 251 spellers and saw 80 spellers eliminated. Unlike past years in which a study list was provided for Rounds 2 and 3, this year the only source of words for Round 3 was Webster’s Third Unabridged Dictionary.

In Round 2, I spelled lenticula correctly and was able to move on to Round 3, in which I spelled the word felicific. I certainly felt very felicific when Dr. Bailly told me I had spelled the word correctly!

Up to fifty spellers with the highest scores through Round 3 move onto the Finals which occur tomorrow morning and end in the evening. I am proud to announce that I am one of the 45 Finalists competing tomorrow morning!   I received a beautiful medal and I am just so thrilled to be a Finalist representing my home state of Kentucky. Please see spellingbee.com for the broadcasting schedule.

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Insider’s Guide to the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee – Round 1

What exactly are we doing with G-Wiz and Slapshot? You’ll have to watch the Bee Finals on Thursday night to find out!
Here I am doing an interview with Scripps Newsy.
Spellers getting ready to take the written preliminary test.

This morning, all 285 spellers sat for the preliminary written exam; this is Round 1 of the Bee. There were 12 spelling words worth one point each and 12 vocabulary words also worth one point each. There were an additional two vocabulary words worth 3 points each – one of these words came from a study list provided by the Bee while the other one came from the dictionary. The total number of points that can be accrued in Round 1 is 30.

The onstage rounds start tomorrow morning; each of the words in Round 2 and Round 3 is worth 3 points each. Of course, if a speller misses onstage, he/she is eliminated from the competition. Up to fifty spellers with the most number of points after Round 3 move on to the Finals which are on Thursday morning and evening. Finalists will be announced after Round 3 tomorrow afternoon!

This evening, all the spellers will be treated to a viewing of the top five videos of the Spellebrity Video Contest. The videos were created by some talented young filmmakers with the theme of encouraging kids to read more.

Addendum: If you would like to test your spelling and vocabulary skills, take the test!

 

 

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Insider’s Guide to the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee – The National Zoo and Opening Ceremony

Ms. Paige Kimble is the executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
My sister loved the bubble-making area.
The Opening Ceremony was fabulous!
Many spellers and their families sported their bee themed shirts today!
The caricature artists were very popular! .
I first met Gracie from Kansas in 2013 and it’s so nice to see her again this year!
Dev and Rani Jaiswal are possibly two of the nicest former spellebrities you’ll ever meet!

Spellers and their families enjoyed a fabulous barbecue at the National Zoo today. There were a variety of activities for everyone to enjoy, such as hula-hooping and dancing. Caricature artists and face-painters were on hand this year as well! Of course, we could also roam around the beautiful zoo at our leisure and enjoy all of the wonderful animals. This was a great opportunity to socialize with the other spellers and collect more autographs in my Bee Keeper.

This evening all the spellers attended a grand Opening Ceremony.  We were introduced to Scripps Spelling Bee staff, volunteers, and Bee officials including the pronouncer, Dr. Jacques Bailly, and the head judge, Mrs. Mary Brooks. Tomorrow is the first official day of competition; it begins in the morning with the preliminary written exam (Round 1). On Wednesday, Round 2 and Round 3 will take place on stage and will be live streamed on ESPN3. If you are interested in watching Rounds 2 and 3, please go to spellingbee.com for the broadcasting schedule.

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