聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 Affinity Credit Union in Kamsack made a donation last week to help further the cause of literacy.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 On behalf of Affinity, Bryan Cottenie and Andy Kazakoff, who are district trustees for the credit union, presented a cheque of $1,500 on August 24 to Carol Marriott of Healing Equine Assisted Learning and Literacy (HEAL).
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 This is a literacy program in partnership with the Chief Gabriel Cote Education Complex for the H.E.A.L called Literacy and Horses 鈥� Horses Inspiring Children to Read and Succeed, Marriott said. The program is modelled after the Arabian Horse Reading Literacy Project in Sherwood Park, Alta. 小蓝视频 conducted by Gary Millar, who has also worked with Westmount School in Saskatoon.
Information on Millar鈥檚 project can be obtained at: .
In the program, students meet the horse, in this case it is Shady Juno, a champion retired race horse owned by Vern Friday, she said. They are provided with equine reading materials, including horse books by Walter Farley like Little Black, the Pony, and the teacher encourages them ahead of time to practice prior to the session at the ranch where they engage with the horse by grooming, leading and other exercises, along with reading to the horse and creating art.
The purpose of the program is to motivate children to discover the joys of reading and learning through the magic of contact with live horses, she said. The goal is to spark the imagination of children so they will want to read and enjoy their own sense of creativity as they escape into a world of adventure, through books.
鈥淭his project has been funded over the past few years, and we currently have funds remaining for programming in 2016-17, by the Painted Hand Community Development Corporation,鈥� she said. The funds received from Affinity will be used further programming and will be used to purchase books, provide reading sessions for the students with the horses at Vern Friday鈥檚 horse facility and to provide nutrition for the students, and other resources and materials.
