Southwick Rotary Club President Mike Parent hands out dictionaries to students at Powder Mill School this week. (Photo submitted)
SOUTHWICK – The Southwick Rotary Club donated 100 student dictionaries to Powder Mill School third graders this week.
While dictionaries may seem like a tool of the past given easy access to technology, Powder Mill School Principal Erin Fahey Carrier said they are still a needed resource.
“When you look up a word online, you get an adult dictionary,” said Fahey Carrier. “These are student dictionaries geared toward young people.”
Rotary President Mike Parent said the club members are happy to support students.
“The goal of this project is to assist young children in becoming good writers, active readers, creative thinkers, and resourceful learners. Educators see the third grade as the division line between learning to read and reading to learn,” said Parent.
The Rotary club has been part of this project for several years and selected a dictionary that offers more than word definitions.
“The contents of the book contain all of the elements of the best dictionary,” Parent said. “This book has more than 35,000 words and their meanings will help to better understand our world.”
Parent also said to succeed in school and in life, students must be able to use the English language effectively. They simply cannot learn all that they need to know without being able to understand the words they hear and read, and without knowing how to use the right words to convey their thoughts and ideas clearly. A dictionary is an essential tool for a quality education, he said. They cannot do their best work without one.
Fahey Carrier agreed.
“We love dictionaries! We still use dictionaries in the classroom and the students can keep these and continue using them as a resource at home,” she said.
Students are encouraged to look up the spelling, meaning and pronunciation of words. Parent said they can have fun spending time looking for new and useful words to expand their vocabulary.
“Learning new words gives will give them a feeling of satisfaction,” he said.
The donated student dictionaries include over 150 pages of supplemental information. Key features include the constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, brief biographies of all U.S. presidents, world maps and information about all 50 states, countries of the world, and planets in our solar system. It also contains the longest word in the English language.
