“You mean I can put my name in it? And it’s my very own to keep? Wow, I have never owned a book before – I’m going to take it home and share with my brothers and sisters!” That’s what we hear over and over when we distribute almost 450 beautiful American Heritage hard cover dictionaries to third graders in six Central Kitsap School District (CKSD) Elementary Schools.
Pictured below are Chuck Kraining and Rotary Exchange Student Julian from Chile with 75 boxes of books in the staging area.
Every year the Silverdale Rotary Club partners with the East Bremerton Rotary Club (they do the ordering) to cover all 12 elementary schools in CKSD – upwards of 900 3rd graders total.
We hand the books out to 3rd graders and show them where to write their names in the books. Pictured below is Rich Arper talking with students.
The books have been labeled with the following:
_________________________________
This Dictionary Belongs to:
_________________________________
Provided by: Rotary Club of East Bremerton and the Rotary Club of Silverdale
The Four Way Test
Of the things we think, say or do:
- Is it the TRUTH?
- Is it FAIR to all concerned?
- Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
- Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
New Rotarian Galina Georgieva, the project coordinator, talking about the Four Way test. Note the word ‘fair’ upper left – serendipity!
We talk about Rotary and the Four Way Test and look up the word ‘Beneficial.’ Then we ask:
- “Who has heard about Rotary?” Typically, no hands are raised. But, when we ask,
- “Who has heard of the Silverdale Rotary Duck Race?” Lots of hands go up!
This is our opportunity to tell about how the dictionaries are paid for and what Rotary does in the community with Duck Race proceeds. And it doesn’t stop there. When Silverdale Rotarians are out selling Duck Tickets for our Duck Race raffle at the end of July, we often hear, “Grandma, these are the dictionary people!” Then we get to hear the thank you’s from grateful parents and grandparents, and even a Green Mountain Elementary 3rd grade teacher who said last week, “I still have my dictionary!”
The elementary teachers take our literacy project one step further, and the students hone their looking-up, writing, and drawing skills on Thank You notes to Silverdale Rotary.
For new Rotarian Galina Georgieva who coordinated the distribution with the schools, this was her first experience with a big Rotary project. She remarked, “It was such a great experience. Everyone (school staff, teachers and students) were very appreciative and happy to see us. We had lots of great questions from curious kids asking about Rotary and wanting to learn more about the organization and what we do.”
“And, now more and more students actually know what the word ‘beneficial’ means!”
