ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- More than 3,000 3rd grade students are heading home with some new reading material. Volunteers passed out free dictionaries this morning.

It's a tradition 16 years in the making, designed to honor two former Rockford School Board members. Students will use the dictionaries in class for the rest of the year, and will get to take them home in May.

The dictionaries are purchased with private donations, no school funds are involved.