The Brundidge Rotary Club has embarked on its annual dictionary tour of schools.

Brundidge Mayor Jimmy Ramage and Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport, both Rotarians, visited Pike County Elementary School Tuesday morning and presented student dictionaries to the third grade students.

Other members of the Brundidge Rotary Club will visit Goshen Elementary, Banks School and Pike Liberal Arts School to present student dictionaries to the third grade students there.

Anita Grant, PCES principal, expressed appreciation to the Rotarians for the very useful gifts to the students.

“Even in this technological age, there is a great need for dictionaries,” Grant said. “Using a dictionary helps develop skills that that you don’t necessary develop through the use of computers. And, too, many of our students don’t have computers at home so these dictionaries are much need resources.”

Grant said the dictionaries the Rotarians presented are personal books.

“The students take ownership of them and take good care of them,” she said. “Of course, they have textbooks but they have to be return. These dictionaries are theirs to keep.”

Grant said that, when she was growing up, she would ask her dad how to spell a word.

“He would always say, ‘Look it up,’ That’s what we want to encourage our students to do, ‘Look it up,’” she said.

Chris Saffold, PCES third grade teacher, said that, when a student looks up the spelling or the definition of a word, he or she is actively involved in the learning process.

“Using a dictionary takes students back to the basics,” he said. “It increases a student’s vocabulary and develops a set of skills that, if you don’t use, you’ll lose.”

Saffold expressed appreciation to the Brundidge Rotarians and said the student dictionaries will be often used in his classroom.