The Littleton Public Schools Spelling Bee was held at Newton Middle School on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

59 spellers from across the district in Grades 4–8 were invited to compete for spots to represent the district at the State Spelling Bee in March, and 43 spellers were able to participate. Spellers were either winners from their school spelling bee (written or oral), or they were one of the top spellers on the written test districtwide. The districtwide spelling test has 50 questions and is administered via Google Form. Some schools have a spelling bee club to administer this test, some schools administer to any student who wants to try, and some administer to entire grade levels.

Angela Christensen, Board of Education Vice President, was the pronouncer and led the spellers through seven rounds. The final round had nine students. Elliott Turman, a sixth grader at Newton, won by successfully spelling fastener and sangfroid.

Other words that came up in the seven rounds included vesper-time, phalanges, pomposity, aqueduct, and rond de jambe. 

Elliott will represent LPS at the State Spelling Bee along with five alternates: Delaney Ahl-Hinson (fifth grader at Sandburg Elementary School), Luke Dunn (fifth grader at Lenski Elementary School), Ben Fu (sixth grader at Euclid Middle School), Ashton Jonnard (eighth grader at Littleton Academy), and James Kennedy (eighth grader at Goddard Middle School).

Several LPS staff members supported the event and LPS extends a heartfelt thank you for making this opportunity possible for students! Jeanne Hildreth organized the event and arranged for trophies; Kevin Wood ran the sound system and lights; Liz Andrews, Kathy Nash, Lynn MacCoun, and Lisa Calkins checked people in and worked on crowd control; Katie Heissenbuttel, Breeanne Moore, and Melanie Sutton were judges; Scott Braun recorded and organized the spellers during rounds. 

Congratulations to all LPS spellers, and best of luck at the State Spelling Bee to Elliott and the alternates, Delaney, Luke, Ben, Ashton, and James!