Fourth Grader Takes Spelling Test, Internet Can’t Cope With One Answer

A fourth grader from Ontario, Canada, has caused hysterics online for one of her answers in a spelling test. 

Tara Heshka (@eet_cake) posted an image of her 9-year-old daughter’s test from October 20 on Threads. Elliot had aced words like brought, thumb, anchor, receipt, doubt, limb, wrestle, February and scene. Then came word number 13—echo. Rather than writing it once, Elliot wrote the word echo over and over, each one smaller than the last, trailing across the page as if the word were literally fading into the distance. 

Heshka, 45, told Newsweek that Elliot is in French immersion at school and has spelling tests in two languages. 

“She brought three home and, since she usually gets the words all right, I just skim them and put them aside, but number 13 popped out right away, and I laughed and thought, ‘This kid,'” Heshka said.  

The mom of five with 53-year-old partner Edward said this is classic behavior from their daughter. “She’s the baby of five kids—next youngest is almost 17—and has charmed her siblings with her humor for years,” the mom said.  

“She does well in school but sometimes gets bored and adds little comments to her work to keep things interesting,” she added. “I hope her teacher appreciates them as much as we do!” 

The Heshka family first shared the image with a few friends and co-workers. “One asked me to send it to him so he could share with his wife, and I thought others would get a kick out of it, too,” Heshka said. “Never expected it would get this much attention.” 

Her post on Threads has gone viral, amassing more than 28,000 likes and hundreds of shares. 

Users couldn’t get enough of Elliot’s joke in the comments. 

“That’s clever, she should get an extra credit point for that! Especially as each one gets smaller and then disappears!” one wrote. 

“May she carry this sense of humor the rest of her life,” another said. 

A third commenter posted: “As a teacher I love things like this. I had a 5th grader who would spell the word and draw a picture of it. She was a delight!” 

Other teachers agreed that children like Elliot make their world “a better place.” 

Heshka enjoyed seeing the positive reaction from other Threads users. “She’s getting a lot of laughs and compliments on her humor and creativity,” she said.  

In a follow-up comment on her post, the mom wrote: “My daughter thanks you all for the lovely comments! She is very excited to be so ‘famous’ today.”