If you have a child who has not yet entered Kindergarten then we invite you to participate in our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten. This is an invaluable program that promotes literacy in the home and helps with school readiness.
How this program works:
1. Sign up by visiting the Children’s Department or online here. If you register online make sure you print off your first reading log (0-100) below. Paper too cumbersome? No problem- there's an app for that! We will also accept submissions from the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten app for iPhone or Android. You can manage multiple children on the same account through the app (note: the app is developed by the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Foundation and is not affiliated with the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library)
2. After each set of 100 books is read and checked, bring your journal to the Children’s Department to receive a sticker and the next set of pages for your reading record. A staff member will take a picture of your child (with your permission) to display on our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten wall of fame.
3. When you and your child have read and recorded your 1,000th book, bring your journal to the Children’s Department for your final prize. You will also receive an invitation to a very special, annual, graduation party.
You can do it!
· If you read one story at bedtime every night for three years you’ll have shared 1,095 books!
· If you read ten books a week for two years, you’ll have shared 1,040 books!
· This small time commitment is well worth the advantage you will be giving your child and the memories that you will form spending time with them.
How this program works:
1. Sign up by visiting the Children’s Department or online here. If you register online make sure you print off your first reading log (0-100) below. Paper too cumbersome? No problem- there's an app for that! We will also accept submissions from the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten app for iPhone or Android. You can manage multiple children on the same account through the app (note: the app is developed by the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Foundation and is not affiliated with the Booth & Dimock Memorial Library)
2. After each set of 100 books is read and checked, bring your journal to the Children’s Department to receive a sticker and the next set of pages for your reading record. A staff member will take a picture of your child (with your permission) to display on our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten wall of fame.
3. When you and your child have read and recorded your 1,000th book, bring your journal to the Children’s Department for your final prize. You will also receive an invitation to a very special, annual, graduation party.
You can do it!
· If you read one story at bedtime every night for three years you’ll have shared 1,095 books!
· If you read ten books a week for two years, you’ll have shared 1,040 books!
· This small time commitment is well worth the advantage you will be giving your child and the memories that you will form spending time with them.
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· Have fun! Reading together should never be a chore.
· Take every chance you have to read with your child, tell and talk about stories, say nursery rhymes, and sing songs (even make up silly songs about mundane activities!) · Expose your children to a variety of different types of stories and vocabulary, but repetition is also important for early literacy. · Children learn best when they are in a good mood, don’t make reading a punishment or mandatory— make sure they want to be there reading with you. |
Why is this important?
Learning to read begins before children start school. From the time they are infants, children learn language and other important skills that will help them learn to read. Developing early literacy skills makes it easier for children to read once they begin school. Parents of newborns, toddlers, and preschoolers are their children’s first teacher.
Children that enter kindergarten with strong pre-reading skills focus on learning how to read rather than first learning those essential pre-reading skills. Parents can help children get ready to read through five simple activities: Talking, Singing, Reading, Writing, and Playing. You and your child can enjoy these activities throughout the day– at home, in the car, or anywhere you and your child spend time together.
These five activities help support pre-reading skills through five early literacy components. The five early literacy skills are Phonological Awareness, the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words; Vocabulary, knowing the meanings of words: things, feelings, concepts, ideas; Print Convention, noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and knowing how to follow the words on a page; Background Knowledge, the prior knowledge the child has learned; and Letter Knowledge, knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds , and recognizing letters everywhere.
As you receive more pages for your 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten reading record, you’ll also receive more information about early literacy components and activities you and your child can do at home, in the car, and all around town.
Children that enter kindergarten with strong pre-reading skills focus on learning how to read rather than first learning those essential pre-reading skills. Parents can help children get ready to read through five simple activities: Talking, Singing, Reading, Writing, and Playing. You and your child can enjoy these activities throughout the day– at home, in the car, or anywhere you and your child spend time together.
These five activities help support pre-reading skills through five early literacy components. The five early literacy skills are Phonological Awareness, the ability to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words; Vocabulary, knowing the meanings of words: things, feelings, concepts, ideas; Print Convention, noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and knowing how to follow the words on a page; Background Knowledge, the prior knowledge the child has learned; and Letter Knowledge, knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds , and recognizing letters everywhere.
As you receive more pages for your 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten reading record, you’ll also receive more information about early literacy components and activities you and your child can do at home, in the car, and all around town.