Rotary partners with Premier Literacy for Dictionary Project

The Winnetka-Northfield Rotary is honored to have Premier Literacy partner with us for distributing both print dictionaries from the Dictionary Project organization (see dictionaryproject.org) and accessible electronic dictionaries from Premier Literacy, to local school children.

Premier Literacy, a division of Premier Assistive Technology, recently partnered with The Rotary Club of Winnetka - Northfield in June 2009 to sponsor a charitable distribution of dictionaries to over 500 third-grade and special needs students in the Winnetka and Northfield public schools. This initiative is yet another in the continuing efforts of the Winnetka - Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation to support charitable activities locally, nationwide and internationally.

Ken Grisham, President / CEO of Premier Literacy, explains, `We were approached earlier this year by Dr. Jeanne Beckman of The Rotary Club Winnetka - Northfield to participate in their annual campaign to make dictionaries available to local students. We were pleased to be able to collaborate with Rotary to contribute to a campaign such as this that involves one of the cornerstone elements of literacy anywhere. One of our products, the Ultimate Talking Dictionary software application, is a natural fit for this initiative, particularly with the rapidly expanding presence of digital books and use of the Internet in our classrooms. We wholeheartedly endorse this effort and look forward to continued participation with Rotary in similar dictionary distribution campaigns elsewhere.

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Stay tuned for our Rotary club's next project where we will provide warm coats and dictionaries to Lawrence Hall.

Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield Distributes Dictionaries to Local Students

Members of the Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield hand out dictionaries as end-of-school year gifts to third graders at Winnetka’s Crow Island School. Rotarians from left to right, Penny Lanphier, Literacy Chairperson Dr. Jeanne Beckman, Incoming President Rich Lalley, and Joe Fell.

Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield Distributes Dictionaries to Local Students

June 11, 2009 (Winnetka, IL)


Continuing its 85 year tradition of community service, The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield this week provided a end-of-year gift to every third grade student in the Winnetka and Northfield public schools. Working with The Dictionary Project and Premier Literacy, local Rotarians acquired and distributed printed and computer software dictionaries to third graders at Winnetka’s Hubbard Woods, Greeley and Crow Island schools and Northfield’s Middlefork school. Gifts were also made to all special needs students throughout the two districts. The project was funded by the club’s charitable foundation and a grant from Rotary District 6440.

“Promoting education and literacy is a core value of our club, reflecting the priorities of the community in which we live and work”, said Joan Evanich, Chairperson of the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation. “We look for and support projects throughout the world, including in our own back yard.”

“We chose to provide these gifts to third graders because that is the time when reading skills rapidly advance”, said the club’s Literacy Chairperson Dr. Jeanne Beckman, who initiated the project for the club. “Dictionaries and thesauruses are great tools to help children further their vocabularies, allowing them greater pleasure and benefit from reading.”

The Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Charitable Foundation contributes to local, national and international charities and service projects. Local recipients include the Hadley School for the Blind, the Glencoe Educational Foundation, Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, Communities in Schools Chicago, Haven Youth and Family Services, Jewish Vocational Service and Employment Center and Lawrence Hall Youth Services in Chicago. Internationally, the foundation has supported schools and libraries in Uganda, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Viet Nam.

The Rotary Club of Winnetka-Northfield meets Thursdays from 12:15 to 1:30 at the Winnetka Community House for lunch and a speaker. Membership is open to service oriented residents and workers of the area. Guests are welcome to attend. To learn more about the club and its schedule of lunch programs, visit www.wnrotary.org.

Follow-up on dictionary project plus

Our orders are in, the District Simplified Grant check is on the way, and we should be able to distribute our dictionaries in the first week of June. Here's what our project entails:

For the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary’s literacy project, the traditional Rotary Dictionary Project (one book for every 3rd grader), will be combined with added bonus of the Ultimate Talking Dictionary (computer software that is a full dictionary that reads aloud the definitions, so that every third grader in the Winnetka and Northfield public schools(plus one dictionary for each special needs and ELL student in all grades between kindergarten and eighth grade),can not only have his or her own traditional print dictionary, but can own his or her own copy of dictionary software to look up words on a computer at school or at home. Here’s a description of the Ultimate Talking Dictionary:

The Ultimate Talking Dictionary (UTD), is not only a comprehensive dictionary, but has other robust, integrated features that make it unlike any other dictionary anywhere. Like all other Premier products, UTD reads everything to you. The dictionary contains over 250,000 words, terms, jargon, and even proper nouns like geographic entries (e.g. cities, countries) and historical persons. UTD has a complete thesaurus built-in that allow you to quickly find synonyms and their corresponding definitions. The “Power Search” feature lets you look up words when you only know a partial spelling. Premier’s unique Interlink technology incorporates complex cross-references between all words in the UTD so you can quickly find related terms and definitions, even when you only have a vague concept of a word.

1. How will this project meet the needs of the community?

Even though many of the students in these two communities have family incomes that are far above those generally viewed as in need, most, if not all, students can benefit from additional vocabulary support and encouragement. The dictionary project has repeatedly demonstrated that students feel great pride in ownership in having their own personal dictionary. Additionally, many students have some barriers to easy acquisition to vocabulary growth, whether due to unidentified or identified learning challenges, disabilities, and/or English language learning. Combining both traditional dictionaries with software versions allows equal access and provides a foundation for lifelong learning.

This is a great kickoff to the local service project our incoming president, Rich Lalley, has planned. Stay tuned...

Obama Inauguration: Oh Yes I Can

On January 20th, I joined many fellow Chicagoans who shivered in the falling snow while watching Obama's speech on the Jumbotron at the Daley Plaza in Chicago. While I could not hear the speech, I watched the closed-captioning (provided with Dragon voice recognition technology, I'm sure)and was struck with the hope that we can get our great country back on track.

Obama's speeches are full of rich vocabulary, full of vision, and full of the love of history. Without a good education, Obama would not be where he is now, guiding us back from the precipice of illiteracy, financial ruin, and overall despair.

So many times, individuals are discouraged from achieving their full potential in learning, whether due to the Pygmalion effect of low expectations for people of color or for people with disabilities. So today, I wrote a little piece to speak to the belief that any and all individuals CAN achieve their full potential.

Oh Yes I Can

Give me a lap to hear the books and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Give me the excitement of hearing about the world through books and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Walk me to the library and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Give me the books to learn and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Give me a dictionary to learn the words and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Give me the microscopes and test tubes and computers and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Give me the tools to learn and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Mentor me and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Share your excitement in learning and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Take down the barriers to learning and I will learn
Oh yes I can!
Try to discourage me from learning, and I will tell you
OH YES, I CAN!

©Jeanne D. Beckman

Parents everywhere, please join me in taking back the education of our children. Read to them, and if you struggle to read, seek out literacy classes and computer technology at your library to read to you and your family. There is no shame in difficulties in reading unless you refuse to ask for help in learning to read. Turn off your televisions and read, read, read.

Who was it who said, those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it? Obama's speeches certainly reflect that he knows history and is using his understanding of it to bring our country back to greatness. He would not have learned history if he had not read an abundance of books on every subject he could find.

Please join me in asking yourself, "What have I done today to encourage a child to reach for knowledge, understanding, and to walk the path toward community and country contributions?"

Winnetka-Northfield Rotary wins two grants

Dr. Jeanne Beckman, literacy chair and board member of the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary, is pleased to announce that our Rotary club is the recipient of grants from both the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary foundation as well as a district simplified grant (DSG) from District 6440 of Rotary International. Here is a description of the project:

For the Winnetka-Northfield Rotary’s literacy project, the traditional Rotary Dictionary Project (one book for every 3rd grader), will be combined with added bonus of the Ultimate Talking Dictionary (computer software that is a full dictionary that reads aloud the definitions, so that every third grader in the Winnetka and Northfield public schools(plus one dictionary for each special needs and ELL student in all grades between kindergarten and eighth grade),can not only have his or her own traditional print dictionary, but can own his or her own copy of dictionary software to look up words on a computer at school or at home. Here’s a description of the Ultimate Talking Dictionary:

The Ultimate Talking Dictionary (UTD), is not only a comprehensive dictionary, but has other robust, integrated features that make it unlike any other dictionary anywhere. Like all other Premier products, UTD reads everything to you. The dictionary contains over 250,000 words, terms, jargon, and even proper nouns like geographic entries (e.g. cities, countries) and historical persons. UTD has a complete thesaurus built-in that allow you to quickly find synonyms and their corresponding definitions. The “Power Search” feature lets you look up words when you only know a partial spelling. Premier’s unique Interlink technology incorporates complex cross-references between all words in the UTD so you can quickly find related terms and definitions, even when you only have a vague concept of a word.

1. How will this project meet the needs of the community?

Even though many of the students in these two communities have family incomes that are far above those generally viewed as in need, most, if not all, students can benefit from additional vocabulary support and encouragement. The dictionary project has repeatedly demonstrated that students feel great pride in ownership in having their own personal dictionary. Additionally, many students have some barriers to easy acquisition to vocabulary growth, whether due to unidentified or identified learning challenges, disabilities, and/or English language learning. Combining both traditional dictionaries with software versions allows equal access and provides a foundation for lifelong learning.


2. How will the sponsoring club or clubs work together to implement this project?
The Literacy committee’s project for our club is a “traditional plus” project, which will deliver a personalized copy (with a Winnetka-Northfield Rotary nameplate inside) of DictionaryProject.org’s Webster’s Dictionary for Students Special Encyclopedic Edition dictionary plus a copy of the Ultimate Talking Dictionary to every third grader at Winnetka and Northfield schools. Additionally, a copy of both will be provided to each child in first through eighth grades with an IEP or 504 (i.e. special needs students) and English language learners (ELL), regardless of grade in school so that every child can experience success by having an equal opportunity to acquire the rich vocabulary of the written word.

In addition to attending an assembly where our club members will deliver these dictionaries to the schools, Rotarians will also participate in a hands-on project of converting books on the third grade reading list (at the Winnetka-Northfield public library) into accessible text via scanning each one into accessibility software (loaned by Winnetka-Northfield Rotary Club to the public library, a 2007 district award-winning Winnetka-Northfield Literacy project). School-provided library copies of these traditional books will be scanned, and their accessible versions will be placed on a CD in a Rotary bookplated pocket inside the front cover and returned to the respective school libraries.

Hands on component:
Ø Rotarians going to schools and presenting “dictionaries with a difference” to assembly of 3rd graders and possibly assembly of special needs students
Ø volunteering reading books aloud, either at schools or at the public library
Ø Northfield: possible facilitating special thesaurus projects at school request
Ø Age-appropriate mentoring student projects of making books accessible
Ø Scanning 3rd grade book lists into accessible print
Ø Scanning/mentoring of scanning of other book lists into accessible print as project matures
Ø Accessibility software utilized in library with possible student and parent mentoring

Stay tuned to find out how we plan to "pay forward" this project

Winnetka-Northfield Rotary wins district literacy award!

District 6440 Governor Mike Erikson announced at the Rotary District 6440 Conference that the Winnetka Northfield Rotary was one of the recipients of the District Literacy Committee's Excellence in the Promotion of Literacy Award for their numerous projects, including accessible literacy library projects which are growing beyond the local libraries toward national and international library participation. Accessible literacy projects allow all individuals, including those with disabilities, to read about their world and make it a better place.

Award-winning Literacy Projects coming soon!

The literacy committee of Rotary District 6440 just completed a video that featured some of the 2006-2007 award-winning literacy projects of the district's Rotary clubs. This video will be shown during the district's conference in Itasca, Illinois on April 25th. Check back here for a You-Tube video of these wonderful projects.

On April 26th, the 2007-2008 award winners will be announced during the awards luncheon. Check back here for a list of the winners and the great projects.

Are you going to the conference? Here's a link to the district website where you can download a registration form:
District 6440 website
Hope to see you there.
Jeanne Beckman