Rotarian George Klauber, right, helps third-graders learn how to use their dictionary. Also pictured are fellow Rotarians Dan and Ann Lasman. Contributed / Bridgton-Lake Region Rotary Club

The Bridgton-Lake Region Rotary Club distributed dictionaries to several third-grade classes throughout the Lakes Region as part of an effort to promote literacy.

On Nov. 14, several Rotarians gave out a dictionary to the three third-grade classes of Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton, who were all gathered in one room for the event. The following week, they distributed dictionaries to the four third-grade classes of Crooked River Elementary school in Naples.

In a press release, Erin Nelson, leader of the project, remarked that this was an “important project for (her, her family) and the Rotary Club,” and that the dictionary drive is just a small part of the wider literacy program that the Rotary Club is supporting at Stevens Brook.

Overall, the dictionary drive reaches close to 200 students annually. This includes not only the seven third-grade classes in the public schools, but also the students at NFI North Bridge Crossing Academy, a school for disabled children in Bridgton, as well as homeschoolers, who have the opportunity to learn from dictionaries provided through the library. Rotarian Carol Madsen, who was among those who gave out dictionaries at Stevens Brook, told the Lakes Region Weekly that the Rotary Club always tries to over-order dictionaries so that they can reach as many students as possible.

According to Madsen, the dictionary distribution drive has been going on for 15 years, and she was delighted to share how some of the students impacted by the drive still love their dictionaries and use them even into their 20s.

The focus of the drive is on literacy, which Madsen said that the Rotary Club was working at “from a couple of ways.” In addition to the dictionary drive, the Bridgton-Lake Region Rotary was able to get money from the Southern Maine-Coastal New Hampshire Rotary District to fund a longer-term literacy program to help Lakes Region students learn how to read. “Rotarians working on the (program) … encourage the use of the dictionary in one-on-one work with students,” said Madsen.

Madsen noted that literacy and homeroom teachers at Stevens Brook have found that children who went to school during the pandemic have “lost” their ability to learn how to read. Madsen said this was because of Zoom classes and masks negatively impacting the normal conditions under which children learn how to read.

Despite lingering concerns about learning loss, Madsen said that the excitement of the students has never waned over all the years that the drive has been going on. She noted that their interest today might be because of, rather than in spite of, the fact that a dictionary is something radically different than the many kinds of electronics that they have access to in their daily lives.

“It all comes down to literacy,” said Madsen, who noted that teaching a child to read determines whether or not they will be successful in adulthood, and that the dictionary is a tried and true method of educating them in this regard.

While the literacy program is currently focused on third-grade classes, in the wake of the COVID-induced reading deficit, they are considering expanding their scope. The Rotary Club was recently able to get a grant to help bring more books into the hands of local students. Madsen describes the program, in its first year, as a “pilot project” and says if it’s successful, it could be brought to other schools in the region and beyond.

Madsen told the Lakes Region Weekly about an acquaintance’s third-grade son, who had fallen in love with his dictionary, and was constantly looking up new words. Stories like this, she said, are heartwarming to hear, and she loved that children were fascinated to have a book in their hands that will “tell them things, how to use a word in a sentence, how to spell the word.”