ARLINGTON — The Arlington Kiwanis Club and the Friends of the Arlington Library delivered some presents to third-grade students in the Arlington, Lakewood and Darrington school districts just before the winter holidays.

On Dec. 9, the Kiwanis Club and the Friends of the Library conducted their third annual distribution of dictionaries to third-graders in all three school districts, with Arlington Kiwanis Club President Jim Chase estimating that approximately 410 dictionaries went to Arlington students, 130 went to Lakewood and 90 went to Darrington.

“That’s more than 600 total, about the same as last year,” Chase said. “The Kiwanis pay for half and the Friends of the Library pay for the other half.”

This year’s dictionaries only cost $780, less than $1.25 per dictionary, a thrifty price which Chase attributes to shopping smartly for dictionaries online.

“The kids are always very responsive to receiving these dictionaries,” Chase said. “They’re especially thrilled to get them as a gift before Christmas. We had conversations in their classrooms about what dictionaries can be used for, and about language issues such as words that sound alike but are spelled the same. It was all very fun and interactive, so the teachers were pleased, plus a lot of the kids had heard about the dictionaries from their older brothers and sisters getting them last year or the year before.”

The Arlington Kiwanis Club’s main fundraiser for the dictionaries is its Fourth of July auction, but it also conducts smaller fundraisers throughout the year, to support both the purchase of the dictionaries and charitable community projects such as its high school scholarships.

“Knowing the English language well doesn’t just help you out in school,” Chase said. “It also helps you advance further in whatever your future career will be after school.”