Dictionaries give students the definition of learning

Elementary students were at no loss for words Wednesday.

The Wood River Rotary Club gave copies of Webster dictionaries to every third grader in the Wood River-Hartford School District.

`We passed out 78 dictionaries,` said Dr. David Ayres, Wood River Rotarian and assistant governor for Area 10 of Rotary International District 6460.

Rotarians also gave the learning instruments to third-grade students in the Roxana School District.

Other volunteers to help pass out the books included Scott Levan, Frank Akers, Nick Darr, Max Emery, Martha Billiter, Dick Bell and Pat Devening.

According to the Dictionary Project web site, more than 1.9 million dictionaries are donated annually to students nationwide by various corporate, individual and club `sponsors,` who purchase the books at $1.75 a copy.

Why third graders? Studies show that the third-grade level is when students are starting to read independently, build vocabularies and learn to use dictionaries.

This is the second time the Wood River organization took part in the Dictionary Project. Earlier this year, the Rotary received a grant to help pay for the dictionaries.