My Word! –

Fourth Graders

Get Dictionaries

By Nancy K. Crevier

Newtown Rotary Club President Pat Caruso, past president Brian Amey, and Sergeant at Arms Mike Snyder were at Hawley School, Monday afternoon, November 21, to present dictionaries to each of the fourth grade students.

The Newtown Rotary Club has been giving dictionaries to fourth graders, districtwide, since 2003, said Mr Amey, as one of the many local community services the club performs. Earlier on Monday, the men had taken part in a dictionary presentation at Middle Gate School. They expected to deliver dictionaries to each fourth grader at Sandy Hook and Head O’ Meadow Schools on Tuesday, and to St Rose School, Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, and Fraser Woods School following the Thanksgiving break.

Gathered in the multipurpose room of the school, the children listened attentively as Mr Amey explained the purpose of the Rotary Club.

“We are a service club, with over 34,000 clubs worldwide,” he said. “The Rotary Club does projects to help our community, and communities all over the world,” added Mr Amey.

Holding up one of the paperback dictionaries, Mr Amey then jokingly asked the children, “Do you know what this is?” When he asked how many of the students owned a computer, every hand shot high in the air.

“Well,” Mr Amey said, “you are not always going to be near a computer. And what happened to your computer last week when the power went out?”

While some of the students said that their computers had retained power, the majority of the children answered, “We couldn’t use our computer.”

That is one reason that the fourth grade students will find the dictionaries quite useful, Mr Amey said. Additionally, the book contains an atlas, and a list of the system of units and weights and measures, among other information, he said.

“Use them well,” admonished Mr Amey, as the children eagerly waited for the teachers to pass out the books.

“It’s just a nice service we do for the kids,” said Mr Snyder.