by Mari Radtke
Every year, Chapter FX P.E.O. of Paullina gives to each 3rd grade student in the South O’Brien District their very own dictionary. The dictionaries offer a wide variety of topics for children to use as reference. Sign language is a big hit with third grade students. This year in Mrs. Sickelka’s class, that’s where the students went to and began mimicking the hand positions to learn the letters!
Pat Menke and Vickie Frisbee presented the dictionaries to all third grade students. Part of the presentation is giving the students an overview of how to use the dictionaries. They were taught how to use the guide words to help find the work they were looking for. They were taught how to read the information about the word; part of speech, pronunciation key, definition and more.
The students’ reactions to the reading tool is a fun thing to watch. It is surprising how quickly they learn to use it and find hidden pieces of knowledge found within – like the solar system!