Kiwanis Club donates dictionaries to third graders

MOSES LAKE - A third grader at Larson Heights Elementary was really only interested in looking up one word in his brand-new dictionary.

"Can we look up zombies?" he asked.

The Moses Lake Kiwanis Club believes that even in a computer age a dictionary is one of the basic tools of a literate society. The club and their dictionary partners have spent the month of October making sure third graders in the whole Moses Lake School District have those tools.

Part of the process of learning how to spell is learning how to use a dictionary, said Mary Frederick, who was one of two Kiwanis members distributing the dictionaries at Larson Heights Wednesday. Information, including proper spelling, is available on computer, but kids can't look up words until they have some idea how to spell them, said Kaye Ward, who was also distributing dictionaries at Larson.

Third graders at every elementary school in the district have received dictionaries, as well as the third grade at Moses Lake Christian Academy, Covenant Christian School and Crestview Christian School.

A number of local businesses and service organizations helped support the project, Logan said. They include Moses Lake Clinic, Moses Lake Community Health Center, Walmart, Horizon Credit Union, American Basic Foods, Soroptimist International of Moses Lake, Friends of the Moses Lake Library, PEO and the Moses Lake Police Benefit Association.

Update: This story was previously incorrectly attributed the Moses Lake Lions