Valley Grange patronage

of third-graders through Dictionary Project

By Stuart Hedstrom
Staff Writer

MILO — Upon reaching grade 3 students at both Milo and Brownville Elementary have been presented with their own dictionaries for the past seven years thanks to the Valley Grange of Guilford. This year’s SAD 41 third-graders were given their dictionaries during a visit by a pair of Grange members on Oct. 29, with 48 dictionaries handed out in Milo and about 20 being given in Brownville.

The Valley Grange’s Words for Thirds Dictionary Project includes grade 3 in both RSU 68 and SAD 4 with over 1,600 of the reference books being presented in the last 14 years.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

PATRONS AND HUSBANDRY? — Milo Elementary third-graders Samantha Sinclair, left, and Mercedes Whitney reveal the contents of letters addressed to both grade 3 classes during the Valley Grange’s annual Dictionary Project presentation on Oct. 29. Valley Grange Dictionary Project Coordinator Walter Boomsma then asked how the students can find out the meaning of words they do not know, and the answer was to look up the definition in their brand new dictionaries. The Valley Grange presented about 70 dictionaries between Milo and Brownville Elementary last week, following similar programs for RSU 68 and SAD 4 third-graders.

“We’re here from the Valley Grange,” Program Coordinator Walter Boomsma told Tina Johnson and Andrea Mills’ classes. “The Grange is really old, I think it was started in 1867 and it was all about farmers.”

Boomsma, who was joined by Valley Grange Master Jim Annis at the presentations in Milo and then Brownville, said today the Grange uses four staves at its meetings with each representing a farming tool — a spud, shepherd’s hook, pruning hook and the owl.

“We have one more thing that was used by farmers and the Grange came up with this idea,” Boomsma said. “This mailbox is called an RFD mailbox, because back when the mail started farmers had to go into town to get their mail.” He said this caused some problems for farmers living far from the town center so the Grange worked to get the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail to farms at no expense.

“You’ve got mail,” Boomsma said. He had a student from each class, whoever had a birthday closest to Oct. 29, come forward to take out an envelope. Mercedes Whitney pulled out the letter for Mills’ class and Samantha Sinclair had the second letter for Johnson’s class. The letters featured the respective words patron and husbandry.

“How do you find out what these two words mean?” Boomsma asked, as the students knew they could look up the definitions in their brand new dictionaries.

“The reason we had you look up these two words — remember we are from the Grange — is we are called Patrons of Husbandry,” he said.

“This is your dictionary, you get to keep it forever,” Boomsma said. “That’s why we want you to be good stewards. I have kids in high school who still have their dictionaries.”

At the end of the presentation the third-graders were asked what they learned. Responses included “the longest word in the dictionary,” “I learned there are farmer’s tools,” “steward is a person who watches over things,” and “why they use mailboxes.”

 Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

THE FASTEST USE OF THEIR NEW DICTIONARY RESOURCE — Near the end of the Valley Grange’s annual Dictionary Project presentation at Milo Elementary on Oct. 29, Program Coordinator Walter Boomsma had the two grade 3 classes race to see who could up a definition first.