1,000 Books Before Kindergarten
1,000 Books Before Kindergarten starts January 2, 2024 and is ongoing
The 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program encourages families and caregivers to read 1,000 books with their young children before they enter kindergarten.
Reading 1,000 books before kindergarten will stimulate your child’s imagination, improve listening and communication skills, foster a love of reading, and has indicated academic success in the future. Completing the 1,000 Book program will help prepare children for kindergarten and for beginning to read on their own!
Did you know that the average picture book takes only five minutes to read? You might think that 1,000 books sounds like a lot, but by reading just a couple of books a day with your child, you’ll be finished in no time! You can even count books more than once, for those favorites your child wants to hear over and over.
Why read 1,000 books before Kindergarten?
Reading builds vocabulary.
Reading exposes children to new situations and experiences.
Reading aloud provides children with a reading role model.
Every book read to or by your child counts!
How it works:
Keep track of how many books you are reading. You can either use Beanstack online (the same program we use for Summer Reading) or a paper log. Paper logs can be picked up in the Library or downloaded by clicking here. Visit us every time you’ve read 100 books for a small prize and to have a milestone picture taken!
Click here to register or log your books online with Beanstack
Click here to download a paper log to color in to track your books
FAQs
Can we really read that many books before kindergarten? Yes! If you read one book a day you can complete the program within three years.
Can other people read to my child besides me? Stories read by parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. all count. You can also count books read at story times.
But my child wants to read the same book over and over, does that count? The good news is that repetition is important to learning and you can count that book multiple times.
Why are there two different ways to log the books we've read? We wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to keep track. Some people prefer doing it online and some people prefer paper. If you want to keep a notebook that lists all the books you're reading that's fine too!