Rotary Distributes Dictionaries To Students

 Hundreds of third graders in Windsor, Windsor Locks and East Granby received their own personal dictionaries this month, thanks to an annual service project by The Rotary Club of Windsor and Windsor Locks.

A total of 560 copies of the 524-page `A Student`s Dictionary & Gazetteer` were distributed to the students Nov. 5.

The Rotary Club participates in The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit organization based in Charleston, S.C., that uses a network of sponsors to purchase and distribute dictionaries to third graders across the country.

`We have been doing this for several years,` said John Berky, chairman of the project. `We know that it is a great literacy tool and dictionary usage is part of the third-grade curriculum. Besides that, the students love to have their own book.`

Berky said club members pasted book plates inside each copy, so the student could sign his or her name. It was the fifth year of the project, which was begun by the late club member Peter Gross.