OSWEGO, NY – Just prior to the holiday season the Oswego Elks Lodge 271 representatives toured the local elementary schools and continued its support of area youth.
For the seventh consecutive year the local fraternal organization has rallied to assist education with the donation of hundreds of student dictionaries to third graders throughout the Oswego City School District.
Jan Pashley and James Dillabough were joined by other Elks and school district officials as they visited Charles E. Riley, Frederick Leighton, Kingsford Park, Fitzhugh Park and Minetto elementary schools to present the dictionaries.
Once again in 2010 nearly 400 Oswego third graders are the beneficiaries of the nationwide “Dictionary Project.”
Pashley said, “This is a very worthwhile project that we have been involved in for several years. This is a great learning resource for these students and we are happy to be brining this program to our schools.”
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Cathy Chamberlain said, “We are so grateful to the Elks for this generous donation of dictionaries for grade three students. This resource will be a wonderful tool for them during their daily classroom instruction. We are very fortunate to have this type of community support from one of our valued organizations like the Elks.”
The excitement was evident as the Elks members journeyed from classroom to classroom presenting each student with their new book.
Immediately after receiving their new books the students proudly put their names on their newest possession.
Students busily thumbed through their new books and discovered a variety of subjects that they didn’t know were in the dictionary.
This project provides for learning and organizing dictionary skills that are beneficial for all students to improve writing, comprehension and grammar.
The “Dictionary Project” has been supported by the Oswego Elks Lodge.
It originated in 1995 as Mary French of Charleston, SC, created the program to distribute dictionaries to as many third graders as possible.
In the last 16 years, French, her board of directors and a network of volunteers, have raised enough money to put a dictionary in the hands of every public school third grader in South Carolina.
The Elks have adopted this effort in New York State.
Currently the “Dictionary Project” has been implemented in all 50 states and the Oswego Elks Lodge once again displayed its dedication and commitment to Oswego’s children with the generous donation.
missing or outdated ad config