by Joni Astrup
Associate editor
Elk River Rotarians are delivering dictionaries to 480 local third-graders this fall.
Rotarians Tricia Downey and Lynn Caswell are personally handing out the dictionaries to third-graders at Lincoln, Meadowvale, Parker, Twin Lakes, St. Andrew, St. John’s and Solid Rock Christian elementary schools.
“The biggest cheer we get is when we tell them that the teachers want them to keep the books in school, but after third grade ends, they get to take them home,” Downey said.
The Elk River Rotary Club is collaborating with The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit that offers the dictionaries at a discounted rate to service clubs that deliver them to third-graders. The Elk River Rotary has participated in the project for the last five years.
The books contain a number of other things in addition to a dictionary, Downey said. They include the U.S. Constitution, information on planets and U.S. presidents, the alphabet in sign language, the periodic table and, the student favorite, the longest word.
Both Caswell and Downey said a paper dictionary remains relevant in the modern world.
As Caswell put it, “It doesn’t need batteries or cellphone reception or Internet.”
