Students receive dictionaries from generous Rotary patrons

Thanks to the Wallkill East Rotary Club, every third-grade student in the Pine Bush Central School District received their very own Webster’s Dictionary.

A large letter written on a large white poster paper is in the background. It thanks the Rotary for their gift of the dictionaries. In front are two students, a girl on the left with longer dark hair and a black shirt, wearing a black mask and holding a red dictionary. The boy on the right has short dark hair and is wearing a red white and black shirt, blue mask and is holding a red dictionary.

It’s a tradition that goes back to the spring of 2008. Dr. William Bassett, a member of the Rotary and a former superintendent of Pine Bush schools, said the group has several service areas, one of which is the community’s youth, with a focus on education. After that initial distribution in the spring, the Rotary has gifted dictionaries to our students every October since.

Four third grade students sit at their desks and hold up their red webster's dictionaries. All are wearing masks, one is waving.

In third grade, students are learning dictionary skills and having a dictionary of their own helps tremendously. Plus, they are really thrilled to receive them.

A girl with black braids, wearing a pink ribbon in her hair and a striped shirt, writes her name in her dictionary.

At Circleville Elementary School, each third-grade class watched a video where Dr. Bassett explained that the Rotary mission is service to the community. Each student then looked up the word service!

A girl with long blond hair, wearing a purple face mask and a red and black check shirt, has her dictionary open and uses her finger to point to a word.

In Rosemarie Lindsay’s and Kristen Furia’s classes, the students raced to be the first to find ‘service’ in their new dictionaries while looking closely at the guide words at the top of the pages.

A boy wearing a dark shirt and a red and blue mask holds his new dictionary open.

Three students - a girl with her backk to the camera, a girl on the right wearing a pink shirt and blue mask with her hand raised, and a boy with dark hair raising his hand with his thumb up.

Seth VanGaasbeek’s students also looked up ‘service’ and then followed up with searches for goat, penguin and unicorn! Their skills were improving as the day went on.

A girl with dark hair, wearing a blue patterned sweater and a red plaid face mask, looks at her open dictionary.

All three classes collaborated on group thank you notes to the Rotary, expressing their intent to learn new words and definitions, and grateful for the Rotary’s kindness.

A class of 23 third-grade students stand together. Two in the front hold a large yellow poster with a note on it thanking the Rotary club for their gift of dictionaries.

The tradition continues!

Two students, a boy and a girl, hold a large yellow poster with a thank you note for the Rotary. A girl in a pink jacket and beaded braids looks at the note and reads it. Another girl holds the red dictionary.

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Students receive dictionaries from generous Rotary patrons