Rotary Club donates thesauruses to students By Kristin Will Turley Publications Reporter NORTH BROOKFIELD - Thesauruses are handy. Convenient. Practical. Third graders  at North Brookfield Elementary School will now be able to find a plethora of synonyms to describe the usefulness of a  thesaurus after the Rotary Club of the Brookfields donated such books to the school Dec. 8. In addition to projects  dedicated to helping eradicate polio and distribute clean water, the Rotary Club works on promoting literacy. Rotary Club President Dave Howe and member John “Bud” Lane visited the elementary school to distribute 49 thesauruses and inform  the students of the variety of projects of which they are a part. Two thesauruses were given to teachers while the remaining 47 were given to each third grade student. A bookplate was attached to the inside page where each student could write history or her name.\

What is significant about the donation of the thesauruses is that each student is able to keep the thesauruses as their own. “It helps them own their vocabulary a little bit,” Howe said. The students were excited to receive the educational gift and were given a bit of advice from one teacher who informed them that a certain teacher they might encounter in the fourth grade isn’t too fond of the word “nice,” and they should learn other words from the thesaurus to replace it. The group of students together thought of synonyms for the word “good,” without the use of a thesaurus, and giggled when Howe asked how many of them thought the word “thesaurus” was the name of a dinosaur.

This is the third year the Rotary Club donated thesauruses and dictionaries to the local schools. After lining up to receive their thesauruses,

the students proudly marched out of the school’s Bell Area, their faces already submerged in the thesauruses’ pages. “I like to read,” said 8-year-old Maia

Ostromecki. Her friend Aleena Laythe, also 8, agreed. Laythe’s favorite word is “fantastic,” she said. And without the help of her new thesaurus, Laythe named a few synonyms for her favorite word, including “great.” “The teachers seem to really appreciate it,” said Howe of the Rotary Club’s donation. “It gives them an extra tool.” Third-grade teachers Deb Lyons and Cathy Farr were quite thankful for the thesauruses. “We just find it so helpful for the kids,” Lyons said. Farr said there is an enthusiasm for the thesauruses from her students.

“They become fascinated with words,” she said. “I see my kids have their noses in dictionaries and thesauruses all the time.”