Mukilteo Kiwanis donates dictionaries to students

 Kiwanis Club of Mukilteo delivered about 800 dictionaries to Challenger, Discovery, Fairmount, Horizon, Odyssey and Olivia Park elementaries as gifts to third-grade students to use at school and at home.

The goal of the club’s Dictionary Project is to assist all students in completing the school year as good writers, active readers and creative thinkers by providing them with their own personal dictionary.

‘We feel the gift of words is one of the best things we can give to children,’ said Kiwanis member Darlene Cónkle.

This is the third year the club has sponsored the national Dictionary Project to benefit schools in the Mukilteo School District.

‘The first year we did two or three schools, and then we doubled it,’ Cónkle said.

According to the project’s Web site, many teachers see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn.

The dictionaries contain much more information than a typical dictionary, Cónkle said. She said it is a handy reference guide with lots of details.

For example, students can look up historical information about the United States presidents and the Constitution. They can also look up information about countries all over the world, the solar system or look at maps.

The dictionaries were paid for with about $1,440 raised during the Kiwanis Club’s many fundraisers, including the annual salmon bake, GA Day barbecue and pancake breakfast.

For more information on the Dictionary Project, go to www.dictionaryproject.org.