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<\/p>\n<\/b>Dictionaries are essential tools for every library learning commons, helping us explore and understand language. These reference materials are important sources for language definitions, meanings, pronunciations, word origins, usage examples, grammatical categories, tenses, synonyms, and antonyms. Nestled in the Parkcrest Elementary school library reference section is the Young Canada Dictionary.<\/i> This printed reference book is the softcover teacher\u2019s edition, which only differs from the hardcover student edition by the inclusion of a 16-page blue section at the front of the book. This section provides dictionary games, activities, exercises, skills, and prepared worksheets intended to aid teachers in their instruction. <\/p>\n
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Young Canada Dictionary <\/i>was published by Nelson Canada in 1980 and is a 212 page English language reference book aimed for elementary school aged children. \u201cThe Young Canada Dictionary is designed to bridge the gap between \u2018picture dictionaries\u2019 used in early primary grades and the \u2018junior dictionaries\u2019 in upper elementary grades. It exposes students to major elements of adult dictionaries, but in a format and level of complexity appropriate to their needs\u201d (Courtney and Stenson 3).\u00a0 <\/span>The cover is attractively bright red with a colourful array of the alphabet letters on the front. It has a sturdy plastic coated cover and a strong glued binding that has withstood repeated usage. The book is in great physical shape (not tattered, ripped or worn) despite our teacher-librarian noting its frequent use. This dictionary contains more than 6500 entries, and the word list was developed in consultation with a number of authoritative sources such as the high frequency lists of Dolch, Thorndike, Rinsland, Gates, and Stone, word lists of predominant Canadian spelling and reading programs and content words across Canadian elementary curriculum content. This abridged dictionary has a scope of language that is condensed to words suitable for elementary aged children with explanations written at a carefully monitored, elementary reading level.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The Young Canada Dictionary is arranged in formatting that is clear, simplistic and easy to follow for young children. The page layout is in two column format and the typography is large with a font that matches the primary printing model. Pages are unconvaluted with bright orange guide words at the top and bold black entry words listed in alphabetical order. Entry words are followed by an italicized abbreviation of it\u2019s grammatical category (adj. adv. n. pron. v.)<\/i>, it\u2019s definition in a short explanation suitable for children\u2019s understanding (eg. escape<\/b> – getting free, excellent<\/b> – very, very good) and an example of the word used in a simple sentence (eg. He was lucky to escape from danger.<\/i>) Verbs include past and present tenses (eg. examine – examining, examined<\/b>) and a noteworthy feature is the inclusion of \u2018usage notes\u2019 to highlight common confusions for young students (eg. except<\/b> – Note: Do not mix up except<\/b> with accept<\/b>; accept means \u2018to take something that is offered\u2019). In keeping with visual simplicity, pronunciations are only included for words that are non-phonetical (eg. fossil<\/b> – no pronunciation included, front<\/b> – (frunt) included). A large strength of this print resource is in the introduction section that provides a simplified three step guide on \u2018How to Find a Word\u2019 for students:<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Lastly, the inclusion of interspersed illustrations are visually appealing for young students and are used to \u201cclarify meaning when the entry word may be outside the student\u2019s experience, or when it cannot be defined briefly in appropriate-level vocabulary\u201d (Courtney and Stenson 3).<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 The simplistic, straightforward, unconvaluted pages of this reference resource make it highly user-friendly for elementary aged students. With the language carefully chosen to be suitable for the development and reading level of younger students, the Young Canada Dictionary<\/em> would be easily comprehensible by most elementary children. The book was published by a highly reputable company, Nelson Canada, who has been a strong publisher of excellent educational material for over a century. Despite the early publishing date of this reference (1980), the language included remains the words most commonly used for elementary ages in their writing, reading and curricular areas. A dictionary resource stands the test of time in many ways, however some updating or inclusion of new language for indigenous education (this dictionary still uses ‘indian’ for those who were first peoples of North Amercia), SOGI vocabulary and modern language idioms would be warranted. The\u00a0current cost of replacing this resource is $26.86.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Before evaluating this printed reference using the rubric for it’s format, authority, accuracy, currency, relevancy, purpose and curricular connections, it is also important to consider the pros and cons of using a print reference dictionary in general. Therefore, I have outlined some of the advantages and disadvantages below, followed by a highlighted rubric evaluation of the Young Canada Dictionary<\/i>.<\/p>\n Rubric Evaluation of Young Canada Dictionar<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/span>y<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>With the advantages and disadvantages of printed resources in mind, it is vital to\u00a0 <\/span>consider the needs of the school community in which this reference resource is located and the user community it serves. Parkcrest Elementary is a small elementary school of 12 divisions, grade K-7,\u00a0 <\/span>located in North Burnaby, BC. The school hosts a high ELL population (slightly over 50% of students, where English is not their first language) and improvement in Reading proficiency is currently a school-wide goal. The importance of access to quality word reference texts cannot be understated. A majority of the students in the school are learning (both in their speech and reading skills) English vocabulary, meanings, pronunciations, root words, suffices, prefixes, compounds and spellings. The school library learning commons has a small print reference section that includes 3 atlases, 5 dictionaries, 2 encyclopedias and 1 thesaurus. On display is a giant world atlas, with shelves underneath that hold an Atlas of the World <\/i>and Atlas of the World: Junior<\/i>. Dictionaries include the Concise Canadian Oxford Dictionary<\/i>, Illustrated Oxford Dictionary<\/i>, Young Canada Dictionary<\/i>, Webster\u2019s Third New International Dictionary <\/i>and The Dictionary of Nature <\/i>by David Burnie. There is one Encyclopedia of British Columbia, <\/i>one Websters New Dictionary of Synonyms <\/i>and one copy of Flags of the World <\/i>by William Crampton. <\/i>There is also a large book titled Pioneer Tales of Burnaby<\/i> by Micheal Stone. Close to the reference section are three desktop computers used for library catalogue searches and accessing district elementary web resources found here<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>There are also school-based links to online references including; The Canadian Encyclopedia<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> World Book Encyclopedia<\/span><\/a>, Countries of the World<\/span><\/a> and Canada Info.<\/span><\/a><\/span> There is also one magazine rack located in a different area of the library that holds former magazine subscriptions from Chickadee, Sports Illustrated for Kids, National Geographic Kids and Discovery Girls.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>Considering the high ELL population in our school, the need for English language vocabulary acquisition is high at this elementary level. It is important for the students to have access to a quality dictionary reference, written in simple language that is easy to understand. We know that \u201cthe ability to access enormous amounts of information at any time from almost any place is forcing schools to rethink teaching and learning\u201d (Riedling and Houston 7) and \u201cas school librarians, we must embrace the continual changes, not resist them\u201d (Riedling and Houston 105). Therefore, when considering dictionary reference resources it is just as important to explore electronic resources that are accurate, have good authority, easy format, and adequate scope.<\/p>\n\n
Advantages to using print reference dictionaries:<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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My well loved and well perused family dictionary.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Disadvantages to using print reference dictionaries:<\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n
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