Okotoks' Percy Pegler School welcomed Calgary Stampede royalty on Monday.

The Stampede queen, Meagan Peters, and princesses, Brittany Lloyd and Lizzie Ryman, read books to the school as part of an initiative Percy Pegler runs each Monday to help students become more engaged in literacy.

Dinah Van Donzel, principal, says after the celebrity readers present to the school, students get to work on their skills.

"The second part of the assembly we send the kids off where we have mentor reading time so the older kids read with the younger kids where we get to a place in the year where the Grade 1s are even reading to the older kids," she says. "The neatest part is that these strategies are also taught in the classroom, you can hear the older kids using and emulating those strategies the teacher is using with them."

Lloyd says literacy has made an impact on her life and role as Stampede royalty.

"Being literate is so important, not only in life but in what we do as the Stampede queen and princesses, we do a lot of reading... being able to understand and comprehend is key."

Van Donzel says this new initiative benefits more than just the students.

"During that time we'll have half of the teachers in the school collaborating together on what we call professional learning community time while the other half of the school supports the literacy time so it solves all sorts of different pieces in our school."

Van Donzel adds so far Mondays have proven to be a perfect time for the increased literacy support for kids on a one-on-one and structured basis.