Students with their dictionaries, Franklin-McKinley Dictionary Day, April 10, 2008.

According to educators, third grade is the crucial time to capture and focus excitement and curiosity about words and language. Children at this age have the reading maturity to use a tool such as a dictionary, but have not become "set in a pattern" yet from reading failures. For this age group, the possibilities are still limitless and a simple thing like a dictionary can make a world of difference.

Our kids attend California public schools. Because we believe kids can "fall through the cracks" even in the best schools, we don’t distinguish between income areas. Instead we prefer to work with entire school districts rather than individual schools.