The Friends of Foothills Schools Foundation (FFSF) has been awarded a substantial grant for a new literacy initiative.
Grant funding of $70,000 was awarded from the Calgary Foundation to help support students going into Grade 3, who are not reading at grade level.
“We were looking for a program or a project that we hoped would be beneficial to our school kids where we could support them,” said Marica Borovich-Law, FFSF Executive Director.
The foundation visited schools and met with parent councils, and a common concern emerged around literacy, where students were not reading at grade level.
Following the meetings, the foundation began to look at literacy programs and found inspiration from the Red Deer Public Schools Foundation Reading College.
Through their research, the foundation created a Literacy Playground program, where eligible children receive hands-on, active learning activities with a focus on improving reading skills through phonics, fluency with an emphasis on sight words, and comprehension.
When Borovich-Law found out the foundation received the grant funding, her initial reaction was excitement, which quickly turned into how the organization is going to execute the program.
“It was a lot of glee, a lot of joy, a lot of yay," Borovich-Law said. “Then on other side of the coin, it became ‘How do we make this happen?'”
Eligible students will be identified based on their results from the Castles and Coltheart Reading Test.
“Those are some of the numbers we're looking at for kids, to help those kids with their reading, and develop their love of reading,” Borovich-Law said.
The Literacy Playground accommodates 24 students, with groups of eight assigned to each instructor.
There will also be additional volunteers who have the proper qualifications, knowledge of the curriculum, and experience with literacy programs to support students.
The program is fully funded through the FFSF, with no cost to students.
Transportation and meals will also be provided to help reduce barriers, and students will receive all the materials needed for the program.
Borovich-Law explained that the program is needed to help bridge a gap caused by the pandemic.
“Teachers couldn't evaluate kids who were having reading difficulties, and they couldn't give them one-on-one or help them at that time,” she said.
Adding, “Our foundation felt that we were in a position where we could offer some support to our school division and our students.”
Parents who are interested in having their children enrolled in the program are asked to visit the FFSF website and fill out an expression of interest.
“We're accumulating all of the expressions and then, based on a number of factors, we'll look at which students could particularly benefit from this program,” Borovich-Law said.
The program is in three sets, and runs from Aug. 18 to Aug. 29, Sept. 19 to Oct. 24, and Nov. 10 to Nov. 14
Parents are asked to ensure that their children will be able to attend the full three weeks of the program before applying.
“This is a commitment to those specific days,” Borovich-Law said. "That's the only way this will do the most amount of good and give kids the most amount of instruction, facilitation, and improvement to their reading scores, literacy, comprehension, understanding, but more importantly, their self-esteem and confidence.”
Based on the response from the community to the program, the FFSF is hopeful to continue the program in the coming years.
“We're trying to give students the best possible experience that will make it interesting, make it fun, and teach them, but at the same time, we want to motivate them to want to read,” Borovich-Law said.
For more information on the program, click here.