How many third-graders have their own dictionary?

Thanks to the Burnsville Lions Club, every third-grader at 12 elementary schools in Burnsville, Eagan, and Savage now has his or her own Webster`s Classic.

The Lions purchased about 1,200 paperback volumes and visited classrooms this week to distribute them. The 38-year-old club purchased the volumes through the Dictionary Project, a national campaign to stoke the fires of learning by giving dictionaries to third-graders.

Most of the dictionaries will go to students in Burnsville–Eagan–Savage School District 191. Dictionaries will also go to third-graders at St. John the Baptist, a Catholic school in Savage, and Glendale Elementary in Savage, which is part of the Prior Lake–Savage School District.

The Burnsville Lions Club is the second Minnesota organization to join the Dictionary Project, which was first taken up by the Austin Rotary Club.

`Everybody I`ve talked to in the education area says it`s one great deal,` said Lions Club member Vic Berra, who retired in 1994 from a long career as teacher, coach, and athletics director in District 191.

`We want some feedback from the staff at the end of the year to see what kinds of things came out of it.`