Legacy of Literacy
"Empowering Every Learner Through Literacy"
Legacy of Literacy has embarked on a very exciting 2026-2027 school year! Christine Gibson, Early Learning Superintendent invited applications from our schools for a number of initiatives. Following is a bit of information about those initiatives and the schools that were awarded. Check back throughout the year as we update on their stories!
Book Vending Machine
Medstead Central School was awarded the book vending machine for the next couple years. This came with a bit of seed money to stock the machine. We look forward to hearing how Medstead incoporates their literacy goals!
One Book, One School
School applied for a school-wide shared reading experience where every student will receive a copy of the same book.We have three schools awarded this opportunity:
- Connaught Elementary School
- Lawrence Elementary School
- Luseland District School
We are so excited to see the family engagement and school literacy goals that will emerge!
Family Reading Backpacks
School were invited to apply for funds to fill Legacy of Literacy Backpacks with books and family literacy resources for one of their classrooms. Each school applied for a specific classroom:
- Bready Elementary School - Kindergarten
- Hafford Central School - TBD
- Hartley Clark Elementary School - grade 3
- Kerrobert Composite School - grade 5/6
- Macklin School - Kindergarten
Literacy Innovation
What could a school do with $1500 to pilot literacy ideas? Well, these schools decided they had a plan and were awarded the funds to show us how!
- Battleford Central Elementary School
- Bready Elementary School
- Kerrobert Composite School
- Luseland District School
- Norman Carter School
You will have to check back to see how they put the awarded funds to use in their schools!
Legacy of Literacy was made possible from the Stromberg Family Fund. We thank Robert and Sandra Stromberg for their investment in Living Sky School Division students.
Families who read together, grow together!
What if we could ensure every student is reading at grade level? Perhaps we can!
Children who can’t read at grade level by grade three are four times less likely to graduate than a child who does read proficiently by that time.[1]
In Living Sky School Division, 47% of grade three students began the 2023-24 school year reading below grade level. Literacy is a foundational skill, without it subjects such as math, science, social studies and more become increasingly difficult and could cause frustration. Problems in literacy may even explain some behavioural issues experienced in classrooms. By addressing gaps and skills in reading, performance across all subjects is more likely to improve.
Thanks to a generous donation from the Stromberg Family Fund, set-up and managed by Robert and Sandra Stromberg, the Living Sky Innovation Fund is launching special programming to support literacy across the division in hopes of achieving this dream. The Stromberg’s believe in improving their community and see literacy as a way to provide support in an impactful way. They hope their initial donation will inspire others to help support the new program as well.
“Legacy of Learning” is a support program where interventionists work one-on-one with grade two and three students experiencing difficulties in reading. The first intervention ran from February 26th to April 26th in the Battlefords schools and Unity Public School. This program will expand to other schools as more interventionists are found.
Brenda Vickers, director of education, shares, “We are so thankful to the Stromberg’s for supporting our division with their generous donation, and for their willingness to ask, ‘what if we could?’ To help children learn to read is an incredible gift.”
For more details about how you can get involved with the Legacy of Literacy or support the Living Sky Innovation Fund, contact:
Christeena Fisher, Executive Assistant/Special Projects
P: 306-937-7931
E: christeena.fisher@lskysd.ca
[1] “Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation General Perceptions of Full Day Every Day Kindergarten.” July, 2023, Insightrix Research Inc.