Project gives dictionaries to Southern Indiana third-graders
Trey excitedly examined his new dictionary Friday morning.
`There`s over 32,000 definitions in here!` the 8-year-old announced.
`I found Pluto,` 9-year-old Nathan interrupted, pointing to the word and definition in his copy of Webster`s Dictionary for Kids, Special Encyclopedia Edition.
They weren`t the only ones at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School, in New Albany, to receive a free dictionary. Every third-grade student got a copy to keep, thanks to the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, or CFSI.
The foundation is partnering with The Dictionary Project, initiative to give a dictionary to every third-grade student in the United States, which also sends dictionaries to 15 other countries.
Mike Waiz, president and chief executive officer of CFSI, heard about that project at a meeting and decided to do something to help. So, the group is giving one copy to each third-grader in Clark and Floyd counties. On Friday, the group made its first stop on the two-county tour at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
`We found that dictionaries are a good tool to help the students with their reading, writing and their thinking skills,` Waiz said. `We`re hoping they`ll keep it and use it this year, as well as the year after and the year after that.`
Once he handed out the copies, the kids quickly opened them up, scanning for words they knew and learning new ones.
`It`s cool, because I`ve never had a real dictionary that has all these words,` said 9-year-old Jackie, as she started memorizing new words.
`I`m trying to look up words for Boggle,` she explained, adding that she plays at home with her parents.
`It`s cool, because we never had a real dictionary and now I can look up words I don`t know how to pronounce and stuff — and ones that I don`t know about,` Micah, 8, said.
`It`s really cool, because I can learn words that I haven`t even heard of or know about,` 8-year-old Lauren explained. `Plus, we get to take them home and we get to use them for anything, pretty much.`
Their teacher, Terri, was happy to see the students` excitement.
`They`re a class that likes to learn and explore. They`re thrilled,` she said, smiling as she scanned the room.
White said the class had been learning how to use a dictionary. However, those lessons proved to be a little difficult to teach when she only has five different copies.
`We don`t have a lot of extra money to buy extra stuff like this, so this is wonderful,` White added.
Waiz said CFSI will spend the next month stopping by every public and private school in the two counties — about 40 — to hand out approximately 3,200 dictionaries.
Last month, CFSI partnered with the community foundation in Harrison County to hand out dictionaries there.
ABOUT THE PROJECT
• In 1992, a woman in Georgia started the initiative by giving 50 dictionaries to students at a school close to her home. From that idea, The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit organization, formed and has grown into an international program.
For the 2007-08 school year, more than 2.3 million dictionaries were distributed to third-grade students in the United States. Last year, 29,440 Indiana students received dictionaries as part of the project.
• To learn more about the project, visit www.dictionaryproject.org
ABOUT THE PROJECT
• In 1992, a woman in Georgia started the initiative by giving 50 dictionaries to students at a school close to her home. From that idea, The Dictionary Project, a nonprofit organization, formed and has grown into an international program.
For the 2007-08 school year, more than 2.3 million dictionaries were distributed to third-grade students in the United States. Last year, 29,440 Indiana students received dictionaries as part of the project.
• To learn more about the project, visit www.dictionaryproject.org
