COEUR d’ALENE — As Elks Lodge 1254 members began unboxing hundreds of dictionaries to prepare for distribution Friday, Secondary Transition Education Program student Justin Mannion couldn’t help but express his shock at the number of books.

“That might be too many books,” Mannion said. “I don’t know if we’ll get through them all in one day, but we’ll see.”

Even so, Mannion and his classmates made quick work of placing stickers and inserting bookmarks and red ribbons inside each dictionary.

“They’re fast; we can't keep up with them sometimes,” said Elks member and past Exalted Ruler Karen Magner with a laugh.

A total of 755 dictionaries will be gifted to third graders within the Coeur d’Alene School District by the Elks Lodge, a tradition that goes back to 1996.

“If you multiply that out over the years ... that’s a whole lot of dictionaries,” said Elks Trustee and past Exalted Ruler Pat Braden.

Each copy of “A Student’s Dictionary” is a classroom within itself: students can explore Braille, sign language, historical documents, biographies of each U.S. president and multiplication tables, to name just a few subjects contained among its pages.

“A third of the book is basically a baby encyclopedia,” Magner said.

The organization is a longtime supporter of student literacy through the Dictionary Project, which aims to encourage students to become strong readers, writers, thinkers and learners.

“For many of these students, it’s their first schoolbook,” Magner said. “They get so excited.”

The dictionaries are expected to be distributed in classrooms next week. 

    Justin Mannion was all smiles as he assisted Elks Lodge 1254 prepare hundreds of dictionaries on Friday, which will be distributed to area third graders.
  

    Students with the Secondary Transition Education Program worked alongside members of Elks Lodge 1254 at the former Borah Elementary School on Friday to prepare hundreds of dictionaries that will be distributed to area third graders.