Is Spelling a Cultural Activity? By. Shiwani Srivastava. Published August 14, 2009. We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Roz Thompson, public affairs specialist for AAA Northeast, will be returning as one of the judges at The Jersey Journal's 61st Annual Hudson County Spelling Bee.

John Paola, who won the 50th National Spelling Bee in 1977 with the word “cambist,” a dealer in bills of exchange. “Fortunately for me, it was a phonetic spelling. C-A-M-B-I-S-T,” he said.

Those in the physically active group jumped in place for 10 to 15 minutes while reciting times tables or spelling words. During the remainder of the 30-minute lessons, the children did basic ...