From Lesson #7 – Dictionaries

Dictionaries are often a source of frustration in the school library. What problems are inherent in print versions? What "special" dictionaries are essential in Canadian schools?

I just remembered someone writing about having a massive, monster-sized dictionary sitting on a pedestal in their school library. One of the libraries I worked in still has one!! The students got a kick out of opening it up and finding some strange definition of unfamiliar words in it.
Yes, dictionaries can be overwhelming for students and time consuming when attempting to grasp the concept of alphabetized searching. I am tutoring a grade 3 students currently and am encouraging him to use the dictionary but if spelling is not your forte this becomes a difficult task but he is improving in his searching abilities and it is strengthening his spelling. I have also introduced him to the thesaurus, an invaluable source in my opinion...I love them and it is such a great way to expand student’s vocabulary.
When considering dictionaries a major concern is accommodating reading levels so wide-ranging and varied dictionaries are beneficial to have in your library. As mentioned in Riedling, “an elementary level dictionary should include words likely to be used in reading and writing by an elementary school student.” (Riedling, 2005, p.59) Some examples may include:

1) Canadian Oxford Dictionary and Concise Oxford Dictionary
2) Random House English Dictionary
Note: I like to have 2 different styles to choose from and an abridged and unabridged version.3) Merriam-Webster dictionary due to its “almost anything goes” stance. (Riedling, 2005, p.58)
4) French-English Dictionary
5) Picture Dictionary for primary students
6) Roget's International Thesaurus
7) Special topic or subject dictionaries e.g. rhyming, slang and quotations dictionaries are great, natural history, sports, bibliographical or science dictionaries for example.

It is also useful to include on-line or web-based dictionaries because sometimes they have the ability to be updated more frequently and it is a quick and easy tool for students to use and access. Some examples I found in Reference Skills by Ann Riedling were Dictionary.com which I thought would be a good choice for elementary schools because it includes Fun and Games and Thesaurus.com, Merriam-Webster Online as a reputable and extensive site and Net Lingo, the Internet Language Dictionary. When considering dictionary choices it is also important to consider Canadian language-based dictionaries due to differentiated spelling compared to the U.S. versions, most dictionaries provide both spellings to choose from.