Confident fifth-grader wins Lake Elsinore district bee

By: AARON CLAVERIE - Staff Writer
"Vorspiel" is winning word | Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:38 PM PST ∞

LAKELAND VILLAGE ---- Ernie Arellanes pronounced the word "vorspiel" like someone who knew how to spell the word "vorspiel."

And the confident Ronald Reagan Elementary School fifth-grader followed through, nailing the word, defined as a musical prelude or overture, to win the Lake Elsinore Unified School District's Gordon Kiefer Memorial Spelling Bee, held Thursday night at Lakeland Village Middle School.

The winning word is on the "advanced" list given to students to prepare for the bee, one of numerous spelling contests held this week in Southwest Riverside County.

If it sounded as if Ernie knew the word immediately after it was announced by spellmaster Kim Cousins, the district school board president, it was because he did.

Ernie, 10, said he had studied the word during weeks of preparation for the event, which included a qualifying bee at his school, a Wildomar magnet school for multi-age classrooms and constructivist teaching methods.

After school, Ernie said he would spend about an hour each day going over his list of words. One day, he only spent a half hour studying, he disclosed, taking special care to not misrepresent his studying routine. His parents helped, too.

"My dad (quizzed me) one time when I went to his house," Ernie said, holding in one hand his blue and gold trophy topped by a triumphant cartoon bee and his participation certificate.

During school, his teacher, Dionna Fitch, encouraged him to work on the advanced list as well as lists containing eighth-grade level words.

One of the nice things about Ronald Reagan, Fitch said, is that children can work at their own ability level.

Before his school's bee, Ernie told Fitch that he might not be able to participate. He hadn't been feeling well and he hadn't been studying as much as he would have liked, he said.

After some encouraging prodding, Ernie signed up, won that event and earned his ticket to the district event.

The bee runner-up was Logan Karlen, a fifth-grader from Luiseno Elementary in Corona.

After 34 of the 37 entrants were dispatched by words such as "solemn," "privilege" and "klomp," Logan, Ernie and fifth-grader Abigail Heiselt from Rice Canyon Elementary in Lake Elsinore went toe-to-toe-to-toe for multiple rounds.

Logan: "B-e-g-o-n-i-a. Begonia."

The judges: "Correct."

Ernie: "F-l-a-i-l. Flail."

"Correct."

Abigail: "W-r-e-s-t-l-e. Wrestle."

"Correct."

Back and forth they went until the judges decided to ratchet up the difficulty and asked Cousins to unseal the advanced list.

The German word for housewife, "hausfrau," and, "einkorn," a primitive type of wheat, were unfamiliar to Abigail and Logan, respectively, but they both received hearty applause from the audience and hugs from their family for a job well done.

So what's next for Ernie? A county event? D.C.'s national spelling bee?

He mulled the questions and said, "I just want to keep up the good work."

His father, filming the proceedings from the front of the stage with a camcorder, smiled proudly.

Contact Aaron Claverie at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or e-mail aclaverie@californian.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.