Manitoba Success Stories

In my work with adult students, I am often caught between material that either starts at an inappropriately high academic level, or that is obviously designed for first graders, and therefore of no interest to adults. I have never found any resource as good as the programs from Essential Skills. They have created a range of products that are high interest and easy to access, regardless of age or skill level. Thanks for creating a terrific set of resources.

Jim Parry-Hill, Teacher
Gretna, Manitoba

We are an ESL school. The students use Essential Skills programs everyday. Sight Words and Phonemic Awareness are very important in our classroom. I really like the pronunciation of the words in the programs. We have 11 lab licenses.

Elaine Owen, K-9 Teacher
Rosebank Colony School, Miami, Manitoba

By far the most widely used programs in the school. We are big supporters of Essential Skills.

Dan Brown, Principal
Principal, Principal, Manitoba

This is our 5th year with Essential Skills programs. We use them daily. I have children who have brought up their skills from non-reading to reading. We are totally satisfied. I believe they are most beneficial as children can only learn to read if there is the visual and auditory component simultaneously - that helps them the most. That is the biggest bonus with your programs!

Helene Fraser, Resource Teacher
Lundar Collegiate, Lundar, Manitoba

We use Essential Skills programs daily for drill & practice. We started students on Phonemic Awareness and Super Phonics and found real success with K-1 students so we purchased more programs for the grade 2 and 3 students. The kids like the programs and are motivated by the star system. The Marks Manager is used as a resource for the teachers to show a child's progress.

Duncan McRae, Resource & Computer Teacher
Elm Creek School, Elm Creek, Manitoba

My kids use Essential Skills programs everyday - Sight Words in the morning and Mastering Numeration in the afternoon. Once they know how to do one program they can do the others. I love the programs - they are very much a drill and not cluttered with a lot of animation the way programs tend to be. The kids have definitely made performance gains - the more they use the programs the better they get!

Teena DeJaegher, Grade 1 Teacher
Gladstone Elementary, Gladstone, Manitoba

This is a Hutterite Colony school. My students use Essential Skills every day. They really enjoy it and I have noticed gains. Phonemic Awareness and Super Phonics are very good. We also like Sight Words. We bought the two Spelling Stumper programs this year. The kids like the programs - it's an extra activity for them with instant feedback. The screens are clean, not too cluttered. They are not like a game - they look like work but they are fun. I love the programs.

Noel Rogowsky, K - 8 Teacher
Marble Ridge Colony School, Poplarfield, Manitoba

We have 18 Essential Skills programs and we love them. Our students use the Essential Skills programs on a daily basis starting in grade one and they work through them until the end of grade three. The children always look forward to using the programs and they all work at their own level and pace. The Essential Skills programs are organized in a way that motivates children and allows them to progress step by step through their core reading and math skills.

Frances Friesen, Educational Assistant
Elm Creek School, Elm Creek, Manitoba

We are using our 9 Essential Skills programs as a remediation tool for 15 - 20 minutes every day. The younger children like Super Phonics, Reading Comprehension and Numeration. The older children are using the Vocabulary Builder programs. I have seen improvement in the children's' performance by utilizing the programs. They are very motivated by seeing their scores. I have recommended the programs to other schools.

Faye Guibonche, Resource Teacher
Philomene Cahrtrand School, Camperville, Manitoba

I was looking for high interest, lower vocabulary materials when I came across a series from Essential Skills. The stories are interesting for older kids and have colorful illustrations on each page.

Linda Fraser, Resource Teacher
Victoria School, Portage La Prairie, Manitoba