Rebekah Pinkerton, 11-year-old from Coeur d'Alene, participated today in the first preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Her dad, Dan, tells us Rebekah spelled most of the words in the written test correctly including oracular, theatricality, quietive, infobahn, and acetarious, but missed Kafkaesque, vitelline, and hukilau. 

The next preliminary rounds are oral and begin Wednesday morning. Rebekah is speller No. 53. Early risers in the Pacific time zone can watch on ESPN3 (www.espn3.com) as Rebekah participates in Round 2 at 5 a.m. Round 3 at 10 a.m.

Roughly 10 million kids competed in local spelling bees nationwide earlier this year. Rebekah is one of 275 winners of those regional contests. She won the North Idaho spelling bee hosted by North Idaho College in March. The Coeur d'Alene Press sponsored her trip to the national competition in Washington, D.C. 

After Round 3 Wednesday, just the top 50 spellers will remain.

Good luck, Rebekah!

How would you do at the national spelling bee? Test yourself here: http://www.spellingbee.com/sample-test