AUSTINTOWN How do you spell giving?

More than 600 dictionaries will be given out through a community service project.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Many local third-graders will soon find it easier to learn about lexicography, the Sixth Amendment and the country of Kazakhstan.
This week, Austintown Rotary Club will give dictionaries to third-graders in the Austintown and Jackson-Milton school districts, St. Joseph and St. Anne schools, St. Christine Elementary School and Immaculate Heart of Mary School.
The dictionaries include world maps as well as copies of the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence.
Third-grade pupils at Watson Elementary School in Austintown got the dictionaries last week.
Gary Reel, community service chairman, said Rotary is handing 625 copies of Webster's "Classic Reference Library, New Encyclopedia edition."
"It seems like a small project, but it affects 600 kids," said Reel, a former Austintown teacher. "The goal is that they would have something for reference."
Teachers' helper: Shelly Culp, a third-grade teacher at Watson Elementary, said the dictionaries will be used to teach pupils spelling and English.
In the past, each pupil had to buy a dictionary.
"It brings continuity to the classroom," Culp said.
Thomas Inchak, director of instruction for Austintown schools, added that he feels the dictionaries are, "only going to help the reading process."
"There's such a big interest now in literacy and reading," he said.
Reel noted the club is giving out the 2001 edition of the dictionary. It includes some words that have recently been adopted in America, such as "hyperlink."
The dictionaries also have large print and are "user friendly" for third-graders, Culp said.
"[The pupils] love them, they're very excited," she said.
Community project: Reel said Austintown Rotary Club conducts a community service project each year. Past projects have benefited the homeless and senior citizens, he said.
The club decided to donate the dictionaries to the pupils after learning that a Rotary Club in South Carolina had conducted a similar project.
Reel said the Austintown Rotary Club most likely will donate dictionaries to the new class of pupils next year.
hill@vindy.com