Spring Branch ISD Featured News

 

What’s in a book? A lot if it’s also a gazetteer provided through the SBISD’s partnership with The Dictionary Project®!

What’s a gazetteer? It’s a dictionary and more. 

In support of our Limitless Curiosity Core Value, and to instill in our students the joys of learning and discovery, every SBISD third-grader receives their very own book, complete with far more than words and definitions. 

The books include multiplication tables, world maps, facts about all 50 states, a listing of US Presidents, and much, much more.  They also give students a tactile experience – like turning pages to find words in alphabetical order. 

For some of our children, their dictionary may be the first book they can call their very own.

For all our students, these dictionaries enhance literacy and vocabulary skills at the critical dividing line between learning to read and reading to learn.

Fifteen years ago, Housman Elementary School volunteer Ormonde Smith spotted a Wall Street Journal article about the Dictionary Project. The article described a national effort to promote literacy skills among the young by giving them a main tool for reading, spelling and oral pronunciation. What began as a gift of a single dictionary from a tutor to his student continues to be a district-wide initiative. 

In early September, more than 2,500 third-graders at 26 SBISD elementary schools received their dictionaries.

Excited students assembled in campus meeting spaces to participate in fun activities to explore and get to know how to use their new learning tool, including contests encouraging word exploration. In an engaging word-find game, students hunted for specific words, like “cartographer,” and the first student to find the word was honored to read the definition to their peers.

At one school, when the presenter asked if any students had older siblings who had received dictionaries, a little boy proudly stated, “my older brother got one when he was in third grade. Now he’s in high school and still uses it!” 

Many Dictionary Project sponsors attended and assisted with the interactive presentations and received enthusiastic thanks from students and teachers.

Thanks to our 2019 Dictionary Project®sponsors:

• Germaine Champion - Spring Branch Elementary
• Katherine Dawson and Chris Gonzalez -  Pine Shadows Elementary and Rummel Creek Elementary
• DKG Zeta Tau - Spring Shadows Elementary
• Doug and Pam Goodson - Frostwood Elementary and Wilchester Elementary
• Carroll Harkins - Sherwood Elementary
• Theresa Kosmoski - Valley Oaks Elementary
• Conley and Janet Juban - Ridgecrest Elementary
• Larry and Patricia McDowell - Edgewood Elementary
• Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church - Treasure Forest Elementary
• Mary Sherwood - Memorial Drive Elementary
• The Spring Branch Area Retired School Employees - Cedar Brook Elementary
• The Spring Branch Lions Club - Bunker Hill Elementary and Meadow Wood Elementary
• The Village Republican Women - Hunters Creek Elementary and Woodview Elementary
• Valley Oaks PTA - Shadow Oaks Elementary
• Wallis Bank - Terrace Elementary
• The West Houston Chinese Church - Westwood Elementary

Additionally, a grant from the Houston CPA Society supported distribution of dictionaries at Buffalo Creek, Hollibrook, Housman, Nottingham and Thornwood elementary schools.

 

“This program would not be possible without the continued generosity of our community members who believe in our students, our schools and this wonderful program,” said project coordinator Katie Redd. 

Putting a new dictionary in the hands of every SBISD third grader sends a powerful message to our students that the community supports their educational pursuits.

The Dictionary Project is just one of the many ways community members support literacy in SBISD. To learn more about the Dictionary Project, SBISD literacy initiatives or our SBISD Good Neighbor partnership recognition program, please reach out to Abby Walker, Coordinator of Strategic Partnerships and Volunteer Programs, at partner@springbranchisd.com.

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