Murray Rotary gives dictionaries to third-graders

Seven years ago, Joyce Torniquist left money that was set aside in a perpetual foundation that would provide dictionaries to Murray third-grade students.

Murray Rotary spokesman Don Lowe said Torniquist loved the project.

“She understood the benefit of kids learning and understanding at this age, how their vocabulary was expanding, how they could use these in writing reports and left the money for this expressed purpose,” he said.

In October, 1,800 students in Murray as well as in Emery County and McDermott, Nev., received dictionaries that also have an atlas section, Murray Rotary Vice President Ron Jensen said.

“When we present the books, we have students thumb through the book, look up words, [and] tell us what the definition means,” Jensen said. “We ask them to turn to the almanac and look up Utah’s state bird, or see that there is American Sign Language so they can learn how to spell their name.”

Lowe said that students are amazed that on the last page of the dictionary, there is the longest word in the English language — 1,909 letters long.

Horizon third-grader Kaden Carrell plans to put the dictionary to use.

“Whenever I have trouble spelling a word, I can look it up and learn their meanings, too,” he said, adding that he has a spelling test every Friday and can use the dictionary to help his preparation.

Eight-year-old Stanford Zito said that not only can he look up words, he can use it for writing assignments and other things.

“I can just look to see what I can spell and I can learn sign language,” he said.

Third-grade teacher Melinda Flint said that the dictionaries will be useful.

“With our curriculum, we look up words, learn their pronunciation, learn synonyms and antonyms,” she said. “We can use them with our journal writing and even in our habitat reports that we’re working on now.”

Teacher Cassie Tabrizi said that she also plans to use the atlas in social studies.

“Students are fascinated with facts about places and things around the world,” she said. “This will enrich their education.”

Murray Rotary is one of 35,000 Rotary International clubs throughout the world. The dictionary distribution project is one of many service projects the group performs each year.

Recently, Lowe said the group helped build a school in Mexico and now the enrollment has doubled so they are adding a wing to the building. Locally, they also have helped coordinate a blood drive for the American Red Cross.