Third-graders can now look it up, thanks to the Valley Grange

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — In what is now an annual tradition for students in three area school districts when they reach grade 3, third-graders at the Milo Elementary School and Brownville Elementary were each presented with their very own dictionary from the Valley Grange on Oct. 25 through the Grange’s Dictionary Project.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

   YOU’VE GOT MAIL — Milo Elementary third-graders Valarie Parker, left, and Abby Herbest each pull out a letter to their classrooms from the Valley Grange during the organization’s annual Dictionary Project presentation on Oct. 25. The letters contained the words patron and husbandry, and the over 40 students looked up the definitions in brand new dictionaries given to them by the Valley Grange. Looking on is Valley Grange Dictionary Project Program Director Walter Boomsma.

    The Dictionary Project helps to improve the reading ability and comprehension of all children and encourages students to utilize dictionaries that are theirs to keep so they will be able to use the English language more effectively. For the last five years the Valley Grange of Guilford has presented dictionaries to SAD 41 pupils, and between the district and RSU 68 and SAD 4 the organization has distributed well over 1,000 books.
    “I’m from the Valley Grange and the Grange is kind of like a club,” Valley Grange Dictionary Project Program Director Walter Boomsma, who was joined by Valley Grange Master Jim Annis, said to the more than 40 Milo Elementary third-graders in Tina Johnston and Andrea Mills’ classes. “It was a club that was started many, many years ago right after the Civil War, and it was and is all about farming.”
    Boomsma then showed several of the staves used by Grange officers during meetings, each replicating a farming tool such as a spud, pruning hook, shepherd’s hook and an owl. The students correctly guessed that an owl statue would have been used to scare animals away from a farmer’s crops. “We use this in the Grange to remind us to keep our eyes open and look around us all the time,” Boomsma said.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    THE FLAG IS UP — Coming forward during the annual Dictionary Project presentation at Milo Elementary are grade 3 students Valarie Parker, left, and Abby Herbest along with Walter Boomsma of the Valley Grange. On Oct. 25 Boomsma and Valley Grange Master Jim Annis presented dictionaries to third-graders in Milo and at Brownville Elementary, and this fall have also given dictionaries to students in RSU 68 and SAD 4.

    The next part of the presentation involved a mailbox Boomsma and Annis had brought with them. “Many years ago most people lived on farms and getting the mail was tough,” Boomsma said. “People didn’t want to have to go into town every day.” He then explained how during the 19th century the Grange worked with the federal government to establish rural free delivery for citizens across the country.
    “The flag is up, which means there is mail in the mailbox,” Boomsma said. Abby Herbest, representing Mills’ class, and Valarie Parker from Johnston’s class both came forward to pull a pair of letters out of the mailbox.
    Boomsma said each letter contains a word most of the third-grades do not know, but “we are here today to give you your very own dictionary,” so the pupils can learn what each selection means. Mills’ class looked up the word patron or “a person who provides financial support.”
    “One of the ways we give support is by giving every third-grader a dictionary,” Boomsma said.
    The students in Johnston’s class looked up husbandry in their brand new dictionaries, with the word being defined as “thrifty management of resources.” Pointing to his Grange shirt embroidered with P of H, or patrons of husbandry, Boomsma said, “One of the things we want you to do is make good use of your dictionaries.”

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

    DICTIONARIES UP — Milo Elementary third-graders get ready to see who can look a word up the fastest in their brand new dictionaries, given to them by the Valley Grange.

    He then asked the students what they thought is the population of Maine. After a few guesses, ranging from 300 to 30 million, Boomsma said, “One of the cool things in the dictionary is the answer to that question.”
    At the end of the presentation Boomsma asked the third-graders what they learned that morning. Responses included “not every word is in the dictionary,” “there is a really long word that’s almost one page,” “if you run across a hard word you can look it up,” “I learned there is information in the back of the dictionary,” and “how many people live in the state of Maine.”