​On January 17, 2012, Prairie Valley School Division participated in its Fifth Annual DEAR Challenge.

To highlight the importance of literacy, Prairie Valley School Division’s Board of Education challenged students and staff to participate in a special Drop Everything And Read time with a theme of “Take the Learning Journey… Around the World”.

Students were encouraged to read various types of material about other countries or stories that come from other places in the world.
Students may have read informational text about the culture, geography, climate, and animal life of countries around the world. Some read historical fiction or contemporary novels about characters living in other places.

Other students discovered more about different cultures by reading folk or fairy tales or nursery rhymes that originated in other countries. Some even read international newspapers using our provincial online databases.

Through these various forms of reading, students gained a deeper understanding of the world around them. Experiences like this expose students to the diverse world that exists beyond their locale which helps them develop into good global citizens.
Trustees participated in the DEAR challenge at Balgonie Elementary School. Each member joined a class to read stories about other places in the world. They shared stories about Antarctica, Argentina, Ukraine, China, Kenya, Australia just to name a few locations.

Prairie Valley School Division managed to “visit” all seven continents and 135 countries on their reading journey around the world. Schools organized their DEAR time in various ways: some had students pair up with a buddy to read, others had classes or grades adopt a continent to focus on.

Regardless of what it looked like at each school, Prairie Valley students sure set out on an extensive learning journey.

View a map of all the countries students visited