Every third grader in the Brookings-Harbor School District — about 110 pupils — received a free age-appropriate dictionary at an assembly held before Winter Break on Dec. 12.
The dictionaries were given to the students by the Brookings Harbor Rotary club and purchased through The Dictionary Project.
“This is one of the favorite service projects of the Rotary Club of Brookings-Harbor,” said past Rotary President and Rotary Board of Directors member Charles Kocher.
“There is nothing quite like hearing a 10-year-old child tell you that this is the first book that they have owned personally — that they can put their name in,” he said.
In addition to word definitions, the books also include a simple atlas, metric conversion tables, and more — including what is supposed to be the longest word in English, and takes up an entire page of the books, according to Kocher.
The club places a nameplate in each book that also includes the Rotary 4-Way Test, an ethics credo used by Rotarians.
The Dictionary Project reports that more than 3,500 Rotary Clubs in the U.S. also provide the dictionaries to their third graders. The Rotary Clubs throughout Southern Oregon (Rotary District 5110) adopted the program in 2005, reaching more than 2,700 students each year.
While every Rotary Club chooses its own projects, literacy is encouraged as a major focus by Rotary International, a worldwide organization, According to the Rotary International website, 17 percent of adults worldwide are illiterate.
Local Rotary President Judy May-Lopez along with Charlie Kocher explaining the purpose of the dictionaries to the 3rd graders. Look how excited they are!
The local portion of the funding comes from the annual Raining Cats and Dogs raffle held each summer. Support also comes from The Rotary Foundation and The Dictionary Project.
Ken Olsen has been a teacher with the district for 14 years – just about as long as the local Dictionary Project has been around as well.
“The kids absolutely love the dictionaries,” Olsen said. “We usually spend at least a half hour as soon as we get back from the assembly exploring them.”
“We use them to find correct spelling for words, but as they get comfortable finding words in them, they use them as a resource for how to use the word in a sentence, how to use the word as a verb or noun depending on the usage, and in general just a resource to aid in writing projects,” he added.
The third-grade teaching team includes Mr. Olsen, Ms. Carrillo, Ms. Lundquist, Ms. Siri and Ms. Ryan.
“We have also been working with Rotary long enough that this has almost become a generational event. Kids remember when brothers, sisters, and cousins got their dictionaries when they were in 3rd grade,” Olsen said.
The Rotary Club also helps the third graders later in the year by providing a week of free water safety lessons in cooperation with the City of Brookings Swimming Pool.
The teaching team uses the assembly, along with other events with local service clubs throughout the year — such as the Lion’s Club hearing and eye screenings — to introduce service organizations to the students and the benefits of volunteering.
“I think that is the real benefit to the kids, it starts the process of instilling in them a desire contribute to their community in anyway that they can,” Olsen said.
That’s the definition of gift that gives on giving.
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