Free dictionaries for Chocolay third graders

For several years, a local service organization has been helping to inspire elementary school students.

The Chocolay Township Lions Club distributed dictionaries to third graders at the Cherry Creek Elementary School this morning.  The dictionary giveaway is part of the Dictionary Project, a worldwide initiative to help promote reading, writing, and creative thinking. Students were excited to see Lions Club members when they arrived with several boxes of brand new books.

“I think it would help us, so we don’t have to guess words, we can know what they are,” third grader Tiffany Ridolphi said.

“And those are their dictionaries to keep,” Chocolay Township Lions Club Secretary Larry Klaus said. “There’s a place for their name in them, and they can keep them and they go right through school, and that’s their dictionary.”

The Lions Club had planned on giving out the dictionaries a few weeks ago, but snow days have delayed the distribution.  Beyond helping to improve reading comprehension and writing skills, the dictionaries have had some profound effects on students in past years.

“There’s a place in the back of the dictionary that shows sign language,” added Klaus, “and one little girl was so happy, because now she could talk to her grandmother.”

In addition to giving away dictionaries, the Lions Club has also been organizing Halloween parties and Easter Egg hunts for the area’s youth for a number of years.