Amazon Kindle joins the Scripps National Spelling Bee to blend tradition and technology enforcing reading as a lifelong skill.
Kindle will be a presenting sponsor of the Bee.
“We want to help students be the best readers, writers, speakers and listeners,” said Paige Kimble, executive director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. “Before our students were great spellers they were great readers. Our mission is to give kids the tools they need to learn, and our new year-round relationship with Kindle will enable us to expand our reach to parents, teachers and children to reinforce the message that early reading leads to great spelling and vocabulary.
Kindle’s sponsorship provides technology to build word lists for school-level study materials. Vocabulary Builder, one of the many features on the Kindle, generates lists of words students explore through the device’s dictionary option. These lists can then be created into flashcards students can use to help memorize definitions. Beyond memorization, Vocabulary Builder also puts the selected words into context to help solidify their meaning.
Word Wise, another Kindle application designed to boost literacy skills, simplifies finding definitions by having them automatically appear above difficult words to help readers tackle more difficult books. This leads to a better, less interrupted reading experience for students.
PODCAST: Recapping the 2015 Spelling Bee Finals
Kindle also developed FreeTime, a reading environment where kids earn achievement badges when they reach reading milestones, and a progress report updates parents on their child’s reading time, number of words looked up, badges earned and books read.
“Our mission is to enable and inspire a passion for reading at any age,” explained Neil Lindsay, vice president of Amazon Devices. “We all love seeing kids lose themselves in a good book, and with tools like Kindle FreeTime, Word Wise and Vocabulary Builder, young readers comprehend more and gain reading confidence faster, which encourages them to tackle more challenging books on their own. We share a love of words with the Scripps National Spelling be and are excited about this collaboration.”
Kindle will be an integral part of Bee Week and spark new Bee initiatives during the school year. The Scripps National Spelling Bee will soon announce a variety of promotions aimed at extending the Bee experience for spellers and encouraging awareness of the many benefits of the Kindle reading platform.
At Bee Week, students from all 50 United States and several countries come to Washington D.C. to spell their way to the coveted championship in front of a live and televised audience. The 89th Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place May 24-26 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in the Washington D.C. area. ESPN will broadcast live from the championship finals from 8-10 p.m., Thursday, May 26 EDT.
