GUSTINE - Third-grade students at local schools are receiving new dictionaries this fall, courtesy of the Gustine Rotary Club.

Now in it’s fifth year, the annual youth service project provides each third-grade student at Gustine Elementary, Romero School and Our Lady of Miracles School with their own dictionary to keep and take home at the end of the school year.

“It’s an exciting experience to hand out the dictionaries to the kids each year and see their reactions as they thumb through the pages of their new books,” described Alvin Amaral, project chairman.

The dictionaries put a wealth of information in the hands of students to use in their studies and for their personal enjoyment of the book.

Learning to use language properly is key to developing reading and writing skills, not only to spell words correctly, but to put them into use, play with them, learn about tenses and origins. A dictionary is a valuable resource in providing this information.

In addition, a dictionary in hand opens up possibilities beyond the original task. It can broaden the imagination of its reader as looking for one word may lead to the discovery of others.

That’s exactly what happened when a group of students at GES received their new dictionaries last week. Within seconds of returning to their seats, the books were opened and so were the eyes of the young explorers. Beyond the listing of words they found pages listing U.S. Presidents, another displaying international flags and another with facts about the solar system. At another table a group of students discovered the Braille alphabet among the pages.

The realization that the new book they were exploring belonged to them seemed to bring an enthusiasm all of its own. Wide-mouthed smiles, “oohs and ahhs,” a bounce of pride and ownership as they kept discovering the wealth of information that had been bestowed upon them.

Third grade students at Gustine Elementary School received their new dictionaries last week. Romero and OLM students will be receiving theirs this week.

The idea was originally presented over five years ago to the Gustine club by their district governor as part of the organization’s literacy goal. The first year, the local club received a simplified matching grant that helped pay for the purchase of the books. Since then, fund-raisers held throughout the year allow the local youth service project to continue, along with the many other service projects of the Rotary Club of Gustine.