When Libby Elementary teacher Susan Bednasek retired from teaching, she decided something needed to be done about it. In 2012, she along with additional dedicated literary advocates, started the Platte County Early Literacy Project. The goal? Getting books in the homes and hands of every child in Platte County – before they start school.
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WHEATLAND – “In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines.” “Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus.” “I think I’ll move to Australia.” “I’m so rumbly in my tumbly.” “I do not like green eggs and ham.”
A sentence of a children’s book has the ability to conjure an instant response in kids and adults alike. Not usually the same, but significant. Memories of the story itself, being read to by a loved grown-up or the proud moment a child is able to read a beloved book on their own. But too often children grow discouraged when learning to read when they are not able to grasp the concepts as quickly as their peers. Feelings of frustration and inadequacy are instant roadblocks that can sometimes cause a bright learner to veer off course, sometimes permanently. But there is a way to prevent this from happening and it’s simple – read to them from infancy.
Studies have shown that a child’s brain is 85% developed by three-years-old and 95% by five. Babies who don’t hear more than one language in their first year begin to lose the ability to hear all the different sounds of foreign languages and most will never sound like a native speaker after that first year. Reading is similar. The words in stories and books are different than the day-to-day words used in a home. How often do you hear, “Llama Llama Red Pajama,” in a day? But hearing those silly, rhyming words as an infant or toddler makes them able to recognize them down the road. Add the rich language of all the marvelous children’s books available these days and those kids that have been read to will have heard more than 30 million words when they start learning to read themselves at school. A distinct advantage over those kids who missed out on regular story-time.
Australian children’s author and college professor, Mem Fox, has said, “If every parent understood the huge educational benefits and intense happiness brought about by reading aloud to their children, and if every parent- and every adult caring for a child-read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in our lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation.”
It’s the kindergarten teachers who see the difference and the struggles. Children coming to school for the first time eager and excited to learn lose their enthusiasm when it’s so much harder for them than the other students. When Libby Elementary teacher Susan Bednasek retired from teaching, she decided something needed to be done about it. In 2012, she along with additional dedicated literary advocates, started the Platte County Early Literacy Project. The goal? Getting books in the homes and hands of every child in Platte County – before they start school. The problem? Funding. Bednasek has scoured resources from every angle. State, federal, local businesses, consistency was the problem.
“When we began there wasn’t any funding. Wyoming Kids First was the first one that helped me get it off the ground. Then there was no money, begging for money, little bit of money, cut off, never consistent,” Bednasek explained with frustration. “How can I reach every baby born in Platte County or living in Platte County up to age 3, make a relationship with the families and teach the vital importance of reading to babies and the huge impact it makes?”