The Annual Meeting of  Camp Rotary, Inc. will be held directly following the regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Lynn, on Thursday, January 29, 2015, at 11:45am.  The purpose of the meeting is to fulfill our annual meeting requirement, and any other business as necessary for the management of Camp Rotary Inc.

 

The Rotary Club of Lynn recently distributed dictionaries to 3^rd graders in the Lynn Public Schools.  The Dictionary Project of the Lynn Rotary Club, sponsored by Equitable Bank, distributed over 1,000 dictionaries to 17 elementary schools as a positive effort in supporting literacy in the schools.  Rotarians visited all the 3^rd grade classes within the schools to distribute the dictionaries, explain their use, and to have fun in finding words in the books.  Rotary members distributing dictionaries interacted with the students, having them find words and interesting items in the dictionary.  Students were told to put their names into the dictionaries, and that the books were theirs to keep at the end of the school year.  Both teachers and students are thankful for the books.  The students love that they get to keep the dictionary and teachers are glad to have another resource for their classrooms.

 

The Dictionary Project of the Rotary Club of Lynn is held in concert with efforts from The Literacy Project, a national literacy support group, and has been an annual effort by the Lynn Rotary.  According to the Literacy Project, the following rationale is given for distributing dictionaries to 3^rd graders:

 

“We chose third grade as the year to give dictionaries to students for two reasons. The first is practical: third grade is the year in which dictionary skills are taught in most schools. The second is no less practical, but broader in scope: third grade represents a critical juncture in a child's education. This is the year a student makes the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. All formal education from this point through college is premised upon the student being able to read and to understand what he or she reads. If we as a community want our children to succeed in education, we must ensure that they have the resources and encouragement to become strong readers by third grade. “

 

Additionally “As of 2009, 93% of children ages 3-17 lived in households with at least one computer, and 77% used a home computer to access the Internet. It is still likely that almost one in ten American children do not have access to a computer at home. Children in minority ethnic groups or low-income households are much less likely to have a computer at home

Even for children with computer access, a dictionary provides benefits a computer cannot. Dictionaries are portable and can be used anywhere. A child has a sense of ownership of a book that encourages exploration. And only a dictionary can provide that delightful experience of looking up a word and getting sidetracked by all the other fascinating words on the same page.”

 

The Rotarian participation in this project has brought joy and delight to hundreds of 3rd graders in the Lynn Public Schools along with their teachers and Principals.  Teachers and principals continue to express support for the project even in this computer world.  As for the Rotarians, all the participants reported great fun and enthusiasm by students and teachers and all expressed future participation in the project.  It is a favorite activity among club members.  They like to get to meet the enthusiastic students.  The Rotary Club was again fortunate to have the generous support of Equitable Bank in sponsoring the purchase of the books.  The following Rotarians and guests participated in the project: Barbara Maitland, Rev. Bill Simpson, President Wendy Silva, Past President Obie Barker, Elaine Kurkul, Marika Payton, Jim Harris, Dave Richardson, Tom Lynch, Rich Cuffe, Lisa Campbell, Bob Kennedy, Mark Kennard, Ray Bastarache, Jan Reardon, Joyce Elliott, and Ralph Reid.  We were also grateful to have the participation of Catherine Latham, Superintendent of the Lynn Public Schools, and the participation of Equitable Bank again as sponsors.  Special thanks were given to Jim Harris for chairing the project as he has so well for many years.  All in all, Rotarians, teachers, principals and especially the students reported a great event!