Looking up tricky vocabulary words will be easier for Mid-Del Schools third graders, thanks to a donation from the Midwest City Rotary Club and Rotary clubs around Eastern Oklahoma County.

Brandie Williams teaches math and science at Schwartz Elementary to the school's 50 third graders. As she explains new words and concepts, her students can consult their new dictionaries. In the back of each of the books are tables and informational pieces covering an array of topics. Students can learn about measurements, information about the planets, and can view pages dedicated to the world's different languages and cultures.

The decision to give the dictionaries to third graders was not random. The dictionaries are ordered from the nonprofit Dictionary Project. The group's mission states, "Educators see third grade as the dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn."

Williams has seen proof of that in her years teaching third grade.

 "Third grade is a big year for dictionaries," she said. "They learn about the dictionary, thesaurus and library skills."

The dictionaries also give the children a possession all their own, and a stepping stone of knowledge right at their fingertips. In addition to providing the books, Rotarians personally distribute the books and shake each student's hand. The dictionaries include a Rotary label and the student's name.

"We talk to them about how when someone gives you something, you make eye contact and say, 'Thank you,'" Midwest City Rotarian Ed Miller said. "That's so much better than just giving them to the school and letting them hand them out."

FIVE-YEAR PLAN
Miller has spearheaded the project since the Midwest City club started participating in the dictionary project in 2005. The idea came from other rotary clubs around the state and the country that were involved in the yearly dictionary project. The first year, Miller said Rotarians ordered 1,224 dictionaries for third graders in all Mid-Del public schools. After that initial effort, club members decided to include private schools in Eastern Oklahoma County and surrounding school districts like Crooked Oak. With more schools on board, the program grew to 2,304 dictionaries ordered in 2007.

"Our Rotary club did it for all of the 17 Mid-Del elementary schools," Miller said. "It grew from there."

As word spread, the Del City Rotary Club and the Eastern Oklahoma County Rotary Club members wanted to be part of the project. The Del City club took over Del City schools and the Eastern Oklahoma County club supplied dictionaries for third graders in Choctaw and Nicoma Park. For 2010, 2,800 dictionaries were ordered. Miller said they cost about $1.70 per book. Funding comes from Rotary members and local banks.

Williams said it was a red-letter day for her students when the dictionaries arrived. This year they were delivered in Midwest City in mid November.
"When they got the dictionaries, there was not a quiet kid in the room," she said.

Miller said the goal is to give children an educational tool, but a valuable lesson is built into the exercise.

"We want the students to learn the importance of community service," he said.

With the success of the project since 2005, Miller said the Midwest City club has no plans to slow down. He called the initiative an ongoing community service project that he hopes to see continue for many years to come.

For the students, Williams said they take pride in ownership and tote the books back and forth each school day. At the end of the year, the dictionaries are theirs to keep.

"They keep them in their backpacks and the dictionaries travel with them," Williams said.

photo Sen. Cliff Aldridge (R, Midwest City) reads to a third-grade class. Photo/Kelley Chambers