Carbondale-Breakfast Rotary Club Donates Dictionaries to Illinois Third-Graders

Members of the Carbondale-Breakfast Rotary Club in Illinois recently handed out 312 dictionaries to third grade students attending several of the elementary schools in the Carbondale and De Soto areas. Rotary District 6510 Area #6 Assistant Governor Mr. Richard T. Sarao shares an email that he received from a teacher who works at a Carbondale school that has for many years been included in the Rotary Club’s annual Dictionary Project; “…I teach 5th and 6th grade Literature and I can tell you that the students use the dictionaries that they are given in 3rd grade. When I teach my students dictionary skills it really is more of a review because they already know how to use the dictionary because when they are given the dictionaries in 3rd grade they are taught how to use them. I have heard students refer to the dictionaries that they were given and how they still use them today. I had a student this year when we were talking about using dictionaries to look up words that they do not understand when reading he raised his hand and said that he uses a dictionary and I said that was great and he said no you don’t understand, I use the dictionary that I was given in 3rd grade not Google! That brought the biggest smile to my face!” Mr. Sarao further shares one of the experiences that he had while distributing dictionaries to students this past year; “…when we delivered the dictionaries to the Desoto IL 3rd grades … I met the Principal Mr. Nathanial Wilson. He told me what a great thing we are doing for his school and also that he still has his dictionary he was given in the 3rd grade.” Accounts such as these are most gratifying in that they help demonstrate the lasting impact that dictionaries may have on the eager young minds of the students who receive them.