Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee School Histories 1905-1955"Since the pupils of our schools should have an active part in celebrating Saskatchewan's Golden Jubilee, the Department of Education, in partnership with the Saskatchewan Teacher's Federation, has planned a social studies unit to make this participation possible." -Department of Education to all schools in the province of Saskatchewan 1944-1945 school year. An outline was sent out, not to be adhered to precisely, but rather used as a guide to follow in order to set out an illustrated and written booklet regarding the history of the school community. All pupils, where possible are encouraged to partake in the project, and the teacher should encourage an student editor to coordinate the several aspects and turnings of the project. Those in the class should return to the appointed editor with interviews of individuals in the community, maps and charts drawn up, and stories written of the history in the area. The teachers were briefed as to which aspects of the standard course curriculum in social studies could be omitted to allow for time to be allocated in school for the historical booklet research. When the booklet is finished the aim is to display the finished result at exhibitions, libraries or other centres for viewing. It was thought that the local newspapers or the community board of trade may desire to use portions of the completed historical booklet in print.
In conclusion, the booklets ~about 2,000 histories~ produced by the students of the Saskatchewan One Room School Districts were as diverse as the school districts and pioneers themselves. Though the schools and teachers were presented with outlines to assist with the report writing, the development of the community, its settlement and economic growth presented unique stamps of character on each separate chapter and finished booklet. If one needs to find history of a certain district in Saskatchewan, perusing these microfilms is well worth it, the students presented a valuable encapusation of time in their reports which should indeed be treasured by future generations.
It is wise to do some groundwork for smaller communities as the Centralization of the one rooms school house came about in 1955 / 1956 with towns and villages housing the Larger School Units, and the one room schools with a small enrolment were closing. The larger consolidated school unit classes writing the reports would ofttimes include the history of these historical one room school houses. As these booklets are still under copyright, they cannot be shared online. It is best to step into the Archives of Saskatchewan and have a look at the microfilms themselves. |
