Pawling Rotary Celebrates Dictionary Day with Third Graders

Pawling Rotary Celebrates Dictionary Day with Third Graders

Since 2004, the Rotary Club of Pawling in New York has partnered with The Dictionary Project to promote literacy among third grade students. Over the past two decades, the club has distributed about 2,800 personalized dictionaries to students in Pawling’s public and private schools. This year, the tradition continued at Mizzentop Day School, where third graders excitedly received their own dictionaries from Rotary Youth Outreach Chair John Ammaturo and Dictionary Day Chair Dick Harshbarger. The annual event, known as Dictionary Day, is a much-anticipated celebration of language, learning, and community support. As students flipped through the pages and uncovered the “idiosyncrasies” of the English language, smiles and laughter filled the room. The personalized dictionaries are more than just books—they’re tools that inspire curiosity, improve literacy, and open up a world of learning. Projects like this align with the mission of The Dictionary Project to ensure every child has access to a dictionary, helping them become better readers, writers, and thinkers.