Dictionary Project

Elks are part of The Dictionary Project.  As an Elks charity established to assist 3rd graders in learning to read, this project has spread from a small town where it began to a national program–and the Elks are both serious sponsors and presenters.

In fact, 2,398,506 dictionaries were given to students in 2011 and overall, 17,145,332 children have received a dictionary to date. The California-Hawaii Elks Association is proud to be an active contributor of time and resources to The Dictionary Project.

The goal of this program is to assist all students in completing the school year as good writers, active readers and creative thinkers by providing students with their own personal dictionary.

What’s in the Dictionary?

Dictionary Standing On Wood

  • Words for large numbers (do you know what 10 to the 100th power is?)
  • Common Standard International Unit symbols (like km=kilometer)
  • Standard International Factor Prefixes (so what’s 1,000 gigabytes called?)
  • Periodic table of Elements
  • Multiplication table
  • Roman Numerals
  • History of the United States Flag
  • Basic Civics Lessons
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • The United States Constitution
  • Bios of all the United States Presidents
  • States of the US and statistics about each one
  • Maps of the World
  • Facts about each country of the World
  • The Planets
  • Sign Language
  • Braille
  • The World’s Longest Word

Check out how the Elks present the dictionaries watch this engaging video which shows one such presentation (compliments of Thousand Oaks Elks Lodge No. 2477):

Click on the video to start.

Want to get involved? Consider these motivations for your Lodge to become involved.  The Dictionary Project is:

  • A hopeful literacy project that will encourage kids just learning how to read, the appropriate reference book they’ll need to stay on track and grow.
  • An opportunity to be involved in a hands-on project that doesn’t involve a great deal of time.
  • Relatively inexpensive to your Lodge.
  • An opener of doors into the schools of your community, paving the way for other youth projects–Scholarships, Essay Contests, Scouting, Hoop Shoot, and more.
  • Lends itself to media coverage to let the community know of the good works Elks do, and of your concern for our Nation’s young people.

 

Remember: Elks Care, Elks Share.