Dictionaries donated to Springfield students

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Hundreds of third-grade students in Springfield have been given brand new dictionaries from a local publisher. Federal Street Press, a division of Springfield-based Merriam-Webster, distributed the 400 dictionaries to students at five different schools across the city Monday. 22News was at the Milton Bradley School on Mulberry Street Monday as students received the new reference books, which they may use both at school and at home. The dictionary donation is part of a nationwide effort called the Dictionary Project; which is designed to promote reading and writing skills, as well as critical thinking. The director of the program, Mary French, told 22News that the idea is to both build their learning skills, and their confidence; saying that a greater familiarity with words “really empowers them to become better readers, active listeners, and learners; really overcome a fear of people because they don’t understand what they are saying.”