NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. — Children in Jessamine County get to announce to the community when they've read their first book.
Their way of announcing? Ringing the clock tower bell at the county courthouse.
What You Need To Know
- Jessamine County Public Library celebrates each child who read their first book
- In a Literacy Bell ringing ceremony, children are invited to ring the courthouse clock tower bell
- The pandemic has caused reading gaps in young children according to a study conducted by Standford University
- Last year, they canceled the Literacy Bell ceremony due to the pandemic
"Well, this is basically the first book I've ever read basically because I have another Amelia Bedelia book, that is like two times smaller than these words," said Arden Banus.
It’s the first book in the Amelia Bedelia book series she’s reading.
"This is my bookshelf. I have a little bit too many books," Arden said while showing her bookcase.
The second-grader is looking forward to reading chapter books eventually. "This is the perfect reading level for me," Arden said, finishing the Amelia Bedelia book.
The perfect reading level didn’t happen overnight. With her mom’s help, Arden read her first book around Thanksgiving 2020.
"She read her first book when we were doing Hooked on Phonics and it was one of the books at the end of a session and it was very exciting," Rebecca said. "I think I cried and she probably wondered what was wrong with me."
Now, Arden can speed read a Mo Willems book while Rebecca listens.
"Knowing that me and her kind of did that together and just the independence that it brings in and you can no longer spell words for children because they know what you’re saying," Rebecca said.
In Nov., Jessamine County Public Library highlighted her accomplishment in their annual Literacy Bell Ceremony. Arden along with many other children in the area announced to the community they read their first book by ringing the bell in town.
"Early literacy skills are so important to establish at a very young age anyway, it's harder to get a 7, 8, 9-year-old interested in reading if that's not already been part of their routine as a child," said Kate Irwin, the Children’s Program Coordinator at the public library.
Last year, they canceled the Literacy Bell ceremony due to the pandemic.
"It's really important for kids to have a good foundation in reading before they get to third, fourth grade because then they get into word problems in math. And if they can't understand what they're reading, it's going to make the problems that much harder for them," Irwin said.
She said in a recent study conducted by Stanford University, the pandemic has created larger consequences.
"They found that the normal reading progression was was was delayed by 30% in these children," Irwin said.
In the coming years, she said, it will take a collective effort of teachers, parents, and librarians to encourage reading to children to fill the learning gaps.
"I think as a society, it's going to be impacting us for many years. Again, as I said, if they don't have those early reading skills, it's not just going to affect preschool, it'll go into affecting first grade, second grade, third grade for many years down the road," Irwin said.
For Rebecca, having her two daughters read means independence.
"We've always taught them that if you can if you know how to read and you enjoy reading, you can teach yourself how to do anything," Rebecca said.
Jessamine County Public Library hosts the Literacy Bell ceremony twice a year, in the Fall and Spring. It’s dedicated to volunteer Joan Eastman, who has since passed away. The program started 12 years ago.