Getting back to the basic of reading and marking America's 250th birthday with a little local history.

From mastodons to Abe Lincoln in The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends] The key to success may be right before you.

Entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said, “Reading is essential for those who want to rise above the ordinary.” It's been a challenge to improv the reading proficiency levels for thousands of children in Illinois and Iowa.

There have been improvements, but educators agree on one thing.

The better a child reads at a younger age, the better they'll have a chance to succeed as they grow older.

The Scott County Library System just received a grant that will open up the world of books for more children at its six facilities.

Christine Barth sat down with us to talk about the problem and the search for solutions.

This is grant money that helps you with your Learn to Read program.

What makes the grant so special?

And why is the program so special?

Yeah.

So, we really wanted to get back to basics with reading at the library, and get a really good foundational phonics set of collection.

We had some items, of course, but they were very old.

And we just really saw the importance of this.

And so, the Regional Development Authority to give us $10,000 to get this collection going.

It allowed us to get different formats.

Really a lot of items more than 600 items in the catalog right now available.

And just really to have this available for the whole community.

And this is really, we're talking about reading at the basic level.

This is for the youngest of kids.

And we've heard time and time again that kids have to reach reading proficiency, especially by third grade.

Or else they fall behind.

Yes.

Is that still the case?

I mean, the key is to get them young.

It is.

So reading proficiency by thir grade is a measure that's used.

If you look at those numbers, they're pretty bleak across the US.

I think we can safely call it a reading crisis.

We've got 40% of kids nationwide not reading at a basic grade level by third grade.

And if you look at that, measure the reading level of third graders in a community, you can predict, the prison rate, the high school graduation rate, the economic success of a community, the mental health of a community.

It's all impacted by this.

And the reading level by third grade, you can predict by reading readiness before you even enter school.

So we do have to catch them young.

And this collection is really designed to, to help families kind of fill that gap and, practice at home and just really learning, based on the science of how kids learn to read.

Now, earlier, because the science is different, it's almost going back to phonics, because I think I learned phonics... Yes.

Yes.

...back in the early Stone Age.

There's a period of time that w saw whole language approaches.

That's now kind of considered ineffective, right?

Correct.

So the reading wars have been going on as they're called since about the 1950s, 1960s.

And so it's kind of bee a little bit of back and forth.

But you had phonics instruction and then the whole language came up.

And that's more using cuing strategies, which is look at the picture and see if you can figure it out, look at the words around and look at the first letter and guess.

And so really it is guessing... Yeah.

...strategie and a whole generation of kids, especially millennials in many different states, including Iowa.

That's what th the schools were going to and, the scores started falling and things like that.

Now that we have new technology, brain scans, there's been a lot of like double blind, placebo controlled studies about how kids learn to read.

Stanford's done a lot of research that's very interesting.

We know that phonics is the most effective way.

And these are some of the products that you have.

I mean, it's even called Phonics Funhouse.

Yes.

You had a book “Look Up There” that that has, you know, electronics attached to it.

Tell me why these books are so special.

I mean, because this is the grant money that's allowing you... Yes.

Yes.

...to reach out.

Why are these books so special?

Yeah.

So I think one of the main criticisms of phonics is that they're boring.

And so something that the science of reading, is trying to bring back is, yes, we need the basics, we need foundational skills, but reading should also be fun.

And that's something libraries have always been good at.

But these are really phonics based ways.

So we have books, with an audio player attached so you can hear the word and see it at the same time, which is really, really important for kids because it is the letter sounds and how they work together, but that is how we would learn to read.

We have these.

They have kind of a silly name, but they're called Zoodles.

Ha!

And this is an audio speaker.

It's got games, it's got stories.

All phonics based, no screens, which is something that we hear from families a lot is how can we get, you know, learning and als less screen time for the kids.

And still use the technology that kids are using.

Yes, exactly.

So these are really fun.

We have those and then, you know, we have box sets, which is something that we've always had, but there's just a lot of really new stuff coming out from a lot of different publishers that is kind of step by step.

Firs you start with the sounds, then you start putting them together.

Then you learn the consonants and put them with the vowels, things like that.

And it's all just very research based, but also with fun stories.

This is going to be available throughout the county, throughout Scott County.

Yes.

I think that's an important element as well because we're talking about some rural areas.

I'm not saying it's a backwoods by any means.

No.

You're really trying to reach people near where they live.

Absolutely.

So, the Scott County Library has six branches and a traveling bookmobile.

Your card, you can have, item delivered to any of those places for pickup.

So if your branch doesn't have the particular item you want, you can have it delivered.

It's all free.

We also belong to River Share.

So if you live in Davenport Bettendorf, LeClaire, Muscatine, Clinton, any of those places, you can place a hold on many of the books and things.

Or you can come visit our branch and use, use your card in Eldridge, for example.

Tell me about when a parent should be looking at improving their child's reading.

I mean, when does it start?

Because for me, you know, being a kid of the 60s we didn't really start reading until kindergarten Now it's much sooner than that.

Well, I think really the key is not necessarily when the kids should be reading.

I think second grade to be reading a chapter boo is still sort of the baseline, but preparing reading readiness, it's singing songs together.

It's reading stories together.

It's learning letter sounds is even more important than the shapes, of course, the shapes of letters and sight recognition of letters and things like that.

We have put together kits and they have a parent guide in them.

The kits do, and it gives you some ideas of just how to incorporate it.

It's all very play based at a young age too.

It's not lik let's do a bunch of flashcards.

Right.

The kits have like board games for kids and, a lot of sound, like a sound mat with all the letters, and you press them and it talks about sounds and their songs and things like that.

So really, you should be starting sort of that pre reading skills as soon as you can talking to your kids.

That's a big thing for vocabulary and things.

And then the phonics I would say preschool is when you would really do some of the more academic things.

Because when you're reading to a child, they love to sit in your lap they love to look at, you know, it's always the same book over and over and over again.

Yeah, but but it's kind of a process I never really thought about it is to make a child, more, that tha books are a part of their life.

Uh huh, right.

Its someing that they can, you know, grasp on to later.

It's really the key is to share adults books with children.

Yes.

Yeah.

Working together as a family, doing a lot of play based things.

Certainly the love of reading is important, but also these basic skills are really important.

Many schools are doin a great job of teaching phonics.

Some are kind of doing a blended method of that whole word and phonics or, things like that.

And so you really want to be asking a lot of questions about the reading curriculum and, and that, but kids can't learn to love to read as adults and have successful careers as adults if they don't have the basics.

So that's reall what this collection is about.

There has been improvement in, reading scores in Iowa in particular.

Yes.

And I know that Illinois is going through big changes as far as reading programs are concerned in the testing.

You must be somewhat optimistic that things are getting better.

And do you attribute that a lot to the return to phonics education?

I think, I think so, I think you can see a difference.

I think really when the Covid pandemic hit and kids were at home, parents noticed a lot more too.

And so there may be a little bit more, family involvement and not just like, oh, well, they'll learn at school, or maybe they already know how to read.

So a little more awareness of that.

I do think that, Iow and actually most other states have signe some reading laws on the books now that at least some kind of phonic curriculum needs to be taught, I think that will make a difference.

It's not too late.

You know, kids, kids can get caught up.

They can learn to read.

Even children with disabilities and severe disabilities can hav some kind of reading progress.

Especially with the phonics curriculum, I thought it's interestin that you say that kids can catch up, tell you a little bit more about that, because as you said, to be competitive, to be successful, they have to have these skills.

Yeah.

So I just don't think it's really ever too late.

I mean, adults can still learn to read or lear another language or something.

Now, is it easie when you're when you're smaller?

Probably.

But w we also, got a different grant, from the Moonligh Chase in Eldridge to get phonics based chapter books.

And so this is one example.

This is a DK publication about Hurricane Katrina, and this is really, decodable.

We call them decodable chapter books.

And so all the words in here are going to be able to be sounded out.

You're not going to have a lot of sort of surprise words or trick words in these.

And so this looks like a book that someone else in third, fourth or fifth, sixth grade might be reading.

So you're not going to be singled out for that.

But this is going to really help you get caught up.

And then, this other set here too.

And so we're just getting these and this is brand new, to our system.

And we're really going to be having tha for some of the kids who maybe did fall behind in preschool, kindergarten.

Well let's let's still work on that with something that's interesting to them.

Well, and as you pointed out, the learn to read is really more than books.

You also have learning guides.

I mean, there is the ability for parents to better help their child.

Yeah.

So we have a portal on our website.

It's called Learn to Read.

So if you visit the Scott County library website you can find that easily.

There's websites.

So there's of cours lots of lots and lots of apps.

There are some free ones, some are pretty expensive.

I don't know that you need to go go that far, but, just sort of a guide of where to get started.

And if you are worried that your kid has a learning disability, there's different resources on our website of where you can get that evaluated and things like that, so.

And tell me once again, available in all the Scott County Library, locations, but but also outside of Scott County, how do you think that this this could be somewhat transformative because because it's now available.

Yes.

I mean, I think we've had really good feedback.

This was something that was asked for, we had parents asking us.

We had tutors, we had homeschoolers.

We just had people saying, hey, you're doing some stuff about dyslexia.

That was kind of our previous grant project, but you really don't have the phonics collection.

It's just not available.

We're having to buy it all ourselves.

And so we responded to that feedback, and I think, I think it gives people the power to kind of fill in the gaps where they need to.

This is, if you think about it, in the grand picture of what a library supposed to do.

This is the base.

I mean, this is exactly what libraries are supposed to do.

Yes.

And I think historically, all librarians and libraries want kids to love reading.

And we've done a really good jo of having a diverse collection for a lot of different types of kids and different, age levels and things like that.

But I think this is a missing piec in some libraries, is sort of, they cannot love reading if they cannot do it.

And so that's where we want to just have the resources available for people.

I remember and I don't know if it's still the big deal is the Harry Potter series.

I mean, I had, kids that just absorb the stuff.

And really, you could see th love of reading at that point.

Uh huh.

And this sets that up.

I mean, are you still seeing certain books series that are that are bringing kids in that that are in a little bit older ages?

Yeah, I think we are.

Certainly Harry Potter is still popular.

Still, yeah.

But, every year there seems to be something that pops up.

Graphic novels are really popular.

Sometimes those aren't as popular with the parents, but we see a lot of good value in those as librarians because often they have a pretty advanced vocabulary, and you have to hav that visual literacy component to of paying attentio to the the little clues in the, in the pictures, along with the words, so we we see a lot of demand for that, but it just kind of depends on the season.

There's something that pops up, but I think libraries trying to be pretty responsive to their communitie and kind of see where the trends in reading are going and things like that.

But we hope that this just opens up those stories to more kids, because we don't want those 40% of kids not reading at grade level to not be able to enjoy those same stories that their peers are.

Our thanks to Christine Barth with the Scott County Library System.

In a moment American History with a slan you'll only find in the cities.

But first, we're past the midway point of February, and that's sur to bring a smile on some faces.

So why not go out and enjoy yourself?

Here's some ideas to consider, thanks to Visit Quad Cities.

Check out the things t do this week in the Quad Cities.

Start your week off by listening to visiting artist Barron Ryan perform at the Butterworth Center Library.

Next, watch Doug T perform Comedy Hypnotism at the Adler Theater as part of the Laugh QC Thursday Night Comedy Series.

Then, if you're a Disney fan, you can't miss out on Disney Night Trivia in the Redstone Room.

There will be raffles and a dress up contest.

Then grab your tickets for Sawyer Brown.

They'll be back performing in the Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center.

Finally, enjoy Funktastic 5 as part of the Winter Jam Fre Concert Series at the Rust Belt.

For more events like these check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com History is not jus told by historians and scholars.

It's a collective responsibility.

And as we celebrate the 250th birthday of the Declaration of Independence, there are plenty of storytellers and perspectives out there.

So we found it interesting that the Putnam Museum and the Davenport Librar teamed up to create a new series of podcasts called Artifacts and Archives 250 Years of American History in the Quad Cities.

One of the co-hosts from the new podcast sat down with us.

Christina Kastell is the curator of history an anthropology at Putnam Museum.

So it's a joint, communication with both the Putnam and the Davenport Public Library, and I want to get it correct.

It's artifacts and archives, 250 years of American history in the Quad Cities.

That's a mouthful.

Yes.

But it really is about artifacts and archives, because it has to do with the library in the past.

I mean, you're digging up histor and letting people know about it here on the 250th birthday of the nation.

That's right.

So a really an exciting project.

A great collaboration with the library.

They're great partners and fun topics.

Well, you're kind of new to podcasts.

Yes.

I mean, you've got two under your belt so far, Tell me, has it been fun to do?

Yeah, it really has been fun because it it really is just like chatting with your friends.

And there' a lot of planning ahead of time.

I hadn't realized that we were going to have to do that much planning, but.

Well, because there's a lot of research and it's kind of neat because you guys are all talking about topics that have an impact on American history, but has real Quad City roots, or at least touches the Quad Cities in some way.

Yes.

And that's I think what really makes this, project relevant is that we are looking at, anniversary topics, you know 250 years of American history, but through the lens of the Quad Cities.

It was an idea that came fro both the Putnam and the museum.

How is it opening up the Putnam's archives?

Well, with our collections, we we also have an image and, document archive as well as our collections.

And so we've really had an opportunity to try and pull those connections together of this artifact can be connected to this, document.

And then the library comes on with, oh, your document can be connected to our document and their archives.

And then the librarians come on with books that people can check out and read.

So tell me about I mean, this this first episode of the podcast involves mastodons?

It does.

How do mastodons have anything to do with the Quad Cities?

Well, actually, the, mammoth and the Mastodon did range this area as well as the, paleo Indians who hunted them.

They were really the first Quad Citians dating back, 10,000 years.

And it goes all the way through to, Abraham Lincoln even.

You're talking about all different types of, people that had a connection to the Quad Cities.

Yes, we are.

We're talking about, Abraham Lincoln.

We will in later podcast be talking about musicians from the Quad Cities.

We'll be talking about, war, specifically the Civil War and its connection with the Quad Cities.

And of course, Black Hawk has to be mentioned.

You got to talk about that.

Thats right.

And the treaties, that that were created, basically here.

Tell me a little bit more about that, because a lot of people think of Black Hawk as either a bank or, or, statues so much, that used to be on 11th in, in Rock Island.

Uh huh.

But what an amazing warrior, chief he was.

He wasn't a chief, though.

Yeah you're right, he wasn't a chief.

We think of him as a chief because he really was a great war leader.

He was really able to inspire his people to join him, to fight, to get back their land.

In looking at the treaty process, there are, I think, 5 or treaties between the 1804 treaty and then the 1832 treaty that cedes the land that Davenport is on.

But, they're all contingent upon each other and the Black Hawk War, which is the result of these treaties that Black Hawk fel were very unfair to his people.

Absolutely.

And I think history has kind of proven him right on that.

So American history can be somewhat messy.

Yes.

So to speak.

And I think a lot of people now are looking at the best way of making America look good as we head into the 250th birthday.

You've not necessarily got those blinders on.

Well you're right.

History.

We feel we have to be honest about history and not be apologetic for it either, but just say, yeah, it happened.

It's, I guess apologetic to a certain, point, but not, to a point where we're not but not, to a point where we're... Disimissing?

...abasing ourselves.

Dismissing it.

Because we want to, be able to learn and grow.

And one of the area that I know that you want to do is tell us stories that we don't already know.

Yes.

I know Antoine, not personally, Ha, ha.

I know Antoine LeClaire.

I know of the story.

I, of course the reason why, LeClaire exists and how he actually helped create the Quad Cities, but I don't know about his wife?

Marguerite LeClaire.

Marguerite?

Yes, Marguerite... Shame on me.

Oh, Oh!

[laughter] Well, you know what?

It's, she's kind of a little hidden secret here in the Quad Cities, which is kind of strange.

Because, she, like, her husband was half Native American, half French, but she was Sauk and Fox, so she was of the people of Black Hawk.

She's actually the granddaughter of a chief of the tribe.

And, so with the signing of the Black Hawk Treaty, there were two parcels of land that Keokuk had said that he wanted to be a part of this.

The part that, the parcel that became LeClaire, Iowa, and the parcel that became Davenport.

And he wanted to give both of them to the LeClaires.

But we believe, and there's evidence to suggest that the city of Davenport, that land was the land that was given to Marguerite and in fact, Keokuk insisted that they build a house at the treaty site.

So he was thinking that they build a house, they establish a home here for the Sauk and Fo who might be coming and going.

Because he knew that Marguerite was going to take care of her people.

But, because at that time we were a territory, and it was illegal for women to own property.

So the treaty itself had to give the land to her husband, Antoine.

So that's why she' a little bit of a secret for us.

Is it fun to talk about these secrets, these these these hidden treasures about Quad City history that people may not know?

Yeah, it really is fun.

It's so much fun to be a history detective.

Ha, ha, ha.

And to dig into documents and history and and find out what really happened.

This series of podcasts will be continuing, through July, of course.

July.

You hope to have a special.

And it's focusing more on music.

And if you think about it, Quad Cities is really kind of a Mecca for a specific type of music.

It is, we have, the Bix Beiderbecke jazz, which has become synonymous with our city.

But there's all kinds o other music here as well, too.

There's some really great bands here, and it seems like this community is very musically talented.

So we want to focus on that and talk a little bit about some of the greatness that's come out of the Quad Cities.

And there's a lot to talk about.

So do you think right now it' about 6 or 7 different podcasts?

Do you think it's something that, you would like to see continue?

Yeah, I think so.

Our last podcast for this year will be airing in November, and we'll be talking about, voting machine that was used to help educate the Mexican American citizens who had come into this country and, you know, very appropriate for November.

Right?

Right.

But after that, wouldn't it be fun to continue this on?

Yeah.

I want to know more about sliced bread.

[laughter] Oh, am I not right?

Yeah, yeah.

So so there's the history of sliced bread, which has a Quad City... It does.

I know stuff, I know some stuff.

[laughter] Thank you so much for joining us and enjoy your podcast because I've listened to it.

You guys are having fun.

You're making history sound fun and you're educating us, and that's great.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Our thanks to Christin Kastell, the curator of history and anthropology at the Putnam Museum.

Now, once again, check out Artifacts and Archives 250 Years of American History in the Quad Cities at the museum's website.

That's Putnam.org.

Wqpt also ha a special initiative marking the 250th birthday of our nation.

It's called America 250.

And for more than a year that we've heard from people who are in the cities and making a difference in the community.

But why do they do it in the first place?

What is their Civic Spark?

That's the question we've asked people like Kassie Daley, the associate director for admissions at Western Illinois University.

[soft music] I feel like the, you know, when I started in college admissions, I really found my home.

And I've been doing it for 20 years, so.

And I think it's important because it's, I ca I believe in what I'm selling.

And I hate to use the word selling, but, you know, at the end of the day, that's that's a little bit what you're doing.

And I can do that because I so much believe in not only the institution that I'm working for, but in higher education that it can definitely lea to bigger and better things for for students for individuals down the road, because of going through college and knowing how to work with a, you know, a diverse set of people, you know, making connection with, you know, faculty members or people that work at the university that can get you to somewhere else in life and all those connections and that networking, I think.

So just believe in what it ca do for people in the long run.

[music ends] Our thank to Kassie Daley, the associate director for admission at Western Illinois University.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile devic and streaming on your computer, thanks for taking the time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

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