By Mary-Justine Lanyon
Each year the Rotary Clubs on the mountain and Soroptimist International of Rim of the World distribute dictionaries to the mountain’s third-graders and thesauruses to the fifth-graders.
On Wednesday, Jan. 8, members of the Crestline-Lake Gregory Rotary Club visited four third-grade classrooms and three fifth-grade classrooms.
While some may ask (and have) why we distribute actual books to the students when they can look the words up online, third-grade teacher Mark Warhol and fifth-grade teacher Stephanie Plemons will be using the books in lessons with their students. In addition, one third-grade teacher told us it is difficult for the young students to navigate the technology.
While Rotarian Mary-Justine Lanyon chose a word for the third-graders to find in their dictionaries, Superintendent and Rotarian Dr. Paul Sevillano passed the books out to the class. (Photo by Armand LeSage)
When we asked the third-graders if they know what a dictionary is, hands shot up. They knew a dictionary gives you the meaning of words. We explained what the bold words are at the top of the pages (they are guide words). One student reminded everyone that the words are arranged in alphabetical order, from A to Z.
We then randomly opened a dictionary and asked the third-graders to find a particular word in their copies. They were excited to call out the page number when they found it. The first student to respond read the meaning of the word aloud.
The students’ dictionaries have a number of extra features at the back: a table of weights and measures, a metric table, American Sign Language, Braille and a map of the U.S. Several students tried to pronounce the longest word in the English language, which is a protein.
The fifth-graders knew what a thesaurus is; some even knew the words synonym and antonym. We did a similar exercise with them – having them find a particular word, tell everyone the page it is on and then read aloud the synonyms and antonyms.
We reminded the fifth-graders their thesauruses will help them in writing essays and answers to test questions – making their writing more interesting.
Each class thanked us enthusiastically for their gifts. The books are theirs to keep; inside the front cover is a bookplate with the Rotary 4-Way Test and a spot for them to write their names. Some teachers ask the students to keep their books in their desks for in-class use; all students will eventually take their books home.
The third- and fifth-graders at Lake Arrowhead Elementary School and Charles Hoffman Elementary School will also be receiving these gifts from their Rotary and Soroptimist friends.
0 Comments