Rotary Club Dictionary/Thesaurus Project 2025
 

       Thanks to Rotarians Dominic Mantuano, Paul Tavaras, Gus Chagaras, David Chess, Joe Dolan, Cathy Huda, Gary Jacopian, Sharon Palumberi, Pat Patusky, Don Putrimas & Mike Suntag, the Stratford Rotary Club distributed 460 Dictionaries to 3rd grade students and 471 thesauruses to 5th grade students this year!  The Dictionary/Thesaurus project is an important Club project, designed to promote literacy skills.  Our club partners with dictionaryproject.org to purchase books for our students each year.  According to their website:  "Using a dictionary helps a child develop skills in two areas that will improve both reading and writing ability.  First, independently looking up words in a dicitonary requires a student to think critically, cultivating problem-solving skills.  Second, by learning the meanings, part of speech, and other properties of a word, a student acquires knowledge, building vocabulary...A student who has a dictionary of his or her own is more likely to use it, and use it often, than a student who only has access to a classroom dictionary."   I am pleased to share that several of our teachers have talked about the ways their students use these tools in the classroom and beyond.  We've even heard from parents that their students have packed their dictionary and thesaurus to take to college.

       If you haven't had the opportunity to participate in the Dictionary/Thesaurus Project, I encourage you to join in the fun next year.  For many of the students, this is their first interaction with Rotary Club and an opportunity to develop an awareness of the role volunteers play in our community.  

 

Thank you!

Sheri