It's a long-standing tradition for the Rotary Club of Sparks. Each year they give dictionaries to every third grader in Washoe County.
"This is a dictionary that doesn't have any pictures or anything like that, so it's kind of an adult-type dictionary," said Rotarian Mike Hix. "And what's great is that we're in our 18th year and many of our Rotarians have had students in college come up and say hey, I remember you, you came to my school and gave me a dictionary and I still have it, I'm still using it!"
It's a way to address one of the clubs key issues - literacy. The goal is help third graders read at or above grade level by the end of the school year.
"Ideally, if a third grader is at that level it ensures a huge success for the rest of their lives relative to literacy and being able to read," Hix said.
A lot of Rotarians drop off the dictionaries in person and make sure the students know how to use them. Hix delivered the books to third graders at St. Albert the Great Catholic School in Northwest Reno on Monday.
"We like to go in and talk about how important Rotary is and show that we're dramatically involved in the community and doing really good things," Hix said. "We ask them to write their names in their dictionaries and we challenge them to look up words they don't know and put a mark next to every word they look up."
It's something some students started doing immediately.
"I plan to use it," said Ryan, a third grader. "Like if I see one word I don't understand I flip to it, and then if I find another word I don't understand I can look that one up."
The Rotary Club of Sparks raises money to donate 5,000 dictionaries every school year. https://sparksrotary.org/
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