The Connecticut Spelling Bee – Noah Webster House

Welcome!How To Register Eligibility FAQ Contact Us!Featured Spellers from 2018

School champions on stage for the 2018 Connecticut Spelling Bee.

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is proud to sponsor Connecticut’s regional spelling bee with the Hartford Courant.

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society is located in and around Noah Webster’s childhood home. In West Hartford, Webster was tutored by local minister Nathan Perkins and nurtured into the intellectual whose name we all recognize. He changed the course of American education by penning the “Blue Backed Speller” and made the first (and largest single-person) attempt to unify our new nation through shared language. His 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language was the first to define distinctly American words. For those words already known to the English-speaking world, Webster made their spelling more intuitive.

The work, comprising a staggering 70,000 words, took Noah Webster 22 years to complete. An American Dictionary of the English Language has morphed into Merriam-Webster’s, which is the final authority for the Scripps National Spelling Bee today.

The importance of a state-wide spelling bee cannot be overstated. Students who study pronunciation guides and etymology become attuned to language trends, enhancing both written and verbal communication. Scripps National Spelling Bee champions have proven time and again that the study skills and understanding of how words work can clear the path for any career. A glance at past champions’ careers; spellers become doctors, lawyers, journalists, biologists, professors, and the list goes on.

This is an opportunity for students to grow their knowledge base and gain confidence. Our goal is to make the competition accessible for all students and host a fair Bee in our central location of West Hartford. We are here to help you get your spelling program off the ground in any way we can.

In order for your student to participate, their school or home school group must be enrolled through Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The regular enrollment period is October 16, 2018, through December 16, 2018. The per-school fee during our Regular Enrollment Period is $235. During the regular enrollment period the fee for an individual home school family is $185.

Teachers and administrators may visit spellingbee.com to enroll their schools in the Bee for the 2018-19 program year.

The winner of The Connecticut Spelling Bee (the state’s “Regional Bee”) will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Eligible spellers in The Connecticut Spelling Bee must meet these requirements:

The speller must be enrolled in a school registered through Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The speller must be in 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.
The speller must have been declared a champion of their school spelling bee taking place on or before February 15, 2019.

A speller qualifying for the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee must meet the complete list of Eligibility Requirements as listed here: Eligibility Requirements

When is The Connecticut Spelling Bee?

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Where will it be held?

Hoffman Auditorium at the University of Saint Joseph, 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT.

When do I have to register my school’s champion speller?

Friday, February 22, 2019

When should our school’s spelling bee take place?

Friday, February 15, 2019 at the latest.

How do we receive study materials?

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society cannot distribute study materials. Everything you need can be found on spellingbee.com. School coordinators have full access to study guides, spelling lists, and helpful databases. Please contact your school coordinator for more information.

How do I login to spellingbee.com?

You must be registered through Scripps to use a login. School coordinators, if you are experiencing any difficulties with the website, please contact Scripps directly: https://secure.spellingbee.com/public/crm/

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