'Words for Thirds'

Donated dictionaries make an impression on students

Who would have thought 9-year-olds would take so much as a second glance at "Webster's Dictionary for Students, Special Encyclopedic Edition"?

They started out red and slick-covered and neatly trimmed.

But today, the 192 paperback copies might be a bit more worn than when they caused such a stir among Canyon, Ruder, Glacier Gateway and Deer Park third-graders five days ago.

The Hungry Horse and Columbia Falls students have spent the week thumbing through their volumes, uncovering maps and facts and words and adventures that beckoned so alluringly when the Grange women handed the children their own personal dictionaries Monday.

Five members of LaSalle Grange No. 47 introduced a little festivity to the classrooms as they came bearing gifts.

It's the third year that Grange chapters across Montana, under the parent Pomona Grange, have supplied "words for thirds" as a community service and education project. Other civic groups, such as local VFW posts, also present student dictionaries.

"It's a real prized possession for them," Ruder third-grade teacher Doris Guidi said.

So precious, in fact, that at the end of the year they can barely believe they get to take the dictionaries home.

Fellow teacher Teri Hovde admitted she can't make her students wait that long.

After a few weeks being safely tucked inside their school desks - and plenty of begging from the students - the dictionaries often are packed off for home where moms and dads and siblings can share in the goods, while the third-graders continue to use them for their school work.

The Grange visit dovetails nicely with the school's reading textbook series, which is emphasizing dictionary-usage skills right now.

"It's nice to have one in everyone's hands," Hovde said. "I have a big one on my shelf, but it's nice for the kids to see [one that looks different]. And to have something new … Some have probably never had a dictionary of their own."

Judging from the buzz when Grange member Amy Mansir stepped to the front and passed out the reference volumes, having something new of their own was a very big deal.

"Does everyone know what a dictionary is?" Mansir's asked, drawing plenty of nods. "Do you know how to use them?"

But already the students were absorbed, demonstrating that they did, indeed, know how to explore on their own.

Guidi took them to page 491, to page 502, to the list of presidents on page 497.

"Now turn the page and what do we see?" she asked her students. "Important events in United States history."

Individually and collectively, they discovered the table of weights and measures, commonly misspelled words, state capitals, countries and flags of the world, the Declaration of Independence, branches of government and - by far the perennial favorite - the map section.

"Too bad you didn't have this this morning when you had to list 10 states without talking to your neighbor," Hovde said, drawing rueful agreement from her students.

Mansir and fellow Grange members Jean Williams, Jean Warner, Judy Olson and Evelyn Sutton thoroughly enjoyed their day of continuing one of the Grange's newest projects. It has taken its place among the traditions of the 137-year-old National Grange - traditions of social gatherings, community service, helping neighbors in crisis, joining their voices for political action.

It's the country's oldest national agricultural organization, representing rural people in 3,600 communities in 37 states. It's "a cross-section of the real people," Williams said.

Those real people care a lot about education, and a lot about giving youths a leg up.

Guidi likes that model presented to students, "that they do something for someone else." Hovde treasures that her students "see the giving, see that they value education."

Hovde encouraged curiosity among her students while the Grange women were in their classroom. How do you join? she asked. There are different Granges typically located outside city limits, she noted - so do members always join the one closest to where they live? Not always, the class learned.

They explained their farm origins and where the money comes from to buy the dictionaries and do other projects such as giving college scholarships.

"One of our books was just talking about doing good deeds," Hovde reminded her students.

But in the end, it all comes back to the words.

As the third-graders are discovering, there are thousands of new words, parts of speech, pronunciation guides and grammar facts tucked in the front of their very own Webster's.

It could be the start of something big.

"You never know," Grange member Jean Williams said later, "you might be handing a dictionary to a future writer."

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com