Spreading the word: Rotary donates student dictionaries

The Polson Rotary Club distributed more than 400 student dictionaries to third-grade classrooms in 12 Mission Valley schools, both public and private, this fall.

Polson Rotary Literacy Project chairman Dave Fansher reports dictionaries were also dropped off with the Lake County School Superintendent’s office for pick-up by parents of home-schooled students.

The dictionary deliveries and presentations occurred in schools as far north as Dayton, as far west as Hot Springs, and as far south as Arlee. Class sizes ranged from just two students to well over 100 third graders per school.

The student dictionary project was started by the Ronan Grange more than 30 years ago. Polson Rotary took over the project in 2015 under the direction of member Ken Siler. Since then, Polson Rotary has distributed over 3,500 dictionaries in the Mission Valley.

According to Fansher, the club tries to visit each third-grade classroom in order to let students know they are valued and supported by Rotary.  The presenter briefly explains what a civic organization such as Rotary is and what it does.

A brief explanation of the dictionary follows. This dictionary is unique in that the first half is an 11,000-word dictionary but the back half is an information resource covering topics such as the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, bios of all U.S. Presidents, and facts about the states, other countries and the planets.

Also included is information about Braille, American Sign Language, world geography, the Periodic Table, multiplication tables, the water cycle, weights and measures and more.

The Rotary presenter stresses that the dictionary is a gift to the individual student and is theirs to keep. Even though the dictionaries belong to the students, Fansher says many third-grade teachers choose to incorporate dictionary use into weekly classroom learning exercises before students take them home at the end of the school year.

Fansher reports that Polson Rotary checks periodically with the schools to make sure the dictionaries are still needed and useful in this digital age. He has so far been reassured that the dictionaries are a valuable resource and to keep them coming every year.

“When Rotary members see the excitement of the students upon receiving their own personal dictionaries as well as the fulfillment Rotarians feel when delivering them, we hope the project continues for many years to come,” Fansher says. 

He adds that the organization appreciates the various school districts “for allowing us to enter their classrooms and to interact with their students. We take this privilege very seriously.”

For those interested in getting involved in Rotary, the club meets at noon every Tuesday, downstairs at Bunkers Restaurant at the Polson Bay Golf Course, 111 Bayview Drive.