Dorie Anderson, Elwood Elementary PTO, Elwood Elementary School, Elwood, IL

 I am a 3rd grade teacher at Elwood CCSD #203 in Elwood, Illinois.  Our PTO has purchased dictionaries for the last 2 years, and I cannot tell you how much of a difference it has made to our 3rd graders.  They love their dictionaries and use them all the time. They have word races, sit and read them just for fun, and they all try to sound out the longest word (which is shown on the back pages of their dictionary). The librarian has commented on how much easier it is to show them all the things a dictionary can be used for, and how much they love to look words up.  They are constantly asking "Can we check that word?"  They will take them home in the evening just because they want to look at them and they always bring them back the next day.  Our 4th graders (who received the dictionaries last year) brought them in at the beginning of this school year and continue to use them diligently. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this wonderful project and I can’t thank our PTO enough for their continued support in supplying the dictionaries to us.