The program encourages you to read 1,000 books to your child before they enter school.
It is self-paced and lets you decide how often and how long you read to your child.

Downloadable Reading Logs

1000_books_kindergarten_star_sheet.pdf
File Size:	415 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---

Goals of the program:

• A fun way to encourage families to read aloud to their young children
• Introduce children to a variety of books and promote early literacy so children can enter school ready to learn
• Reinforce parents' role as their child's first teacher
• Encourage families to regularly use the library for lifelong learning

How it works:

• Read books to your child and color in a star for each book. Books may be read more than once and recorded. Books read at library story times, day care centers, preschools, or by others may be counted.
• Return completed reading sheet to receive your next reading sheet or print sheets below.
• Read 1,000 Books!  When you have finished 1,000 books, you will receive a certificate, a book, and will be featured on our library display. But, most important, your child will have a jump start on success in school.

---

Practice writing your letters and numbers

alphabetsheet-lowercase.pdf
File Size:	169 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---

alphabetsheet-uppercase.pdf
File Size:	173 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---

Why should we do 1,000 books before Kindergarten?

• YOU are your child’s first teacher. Children learn to read and write LONG before they start school. They actually begin this process during infancy.
  
• Research is continually showing that early learning experiences are linked with later school achievement, emotional and social well-being, fewer grade retentions, and reduced incidences of juvenile delinquency and that these outcomes are all factors associated with later adult productivity. 
  
• Children’s books contain three times more rare words than we use in normal conversation. Children have a difficult time reading and understanding words they have not been exposed to before. Being exposed to rare words is just as important as knowing the letters of the alphabet. Even when children have strong familiarity with the alphabet and the sounds letters make, they will come across words where the pronunciation is not easily predictable.
  
• The typical middle-class child enters first grade with 1,000 to 1,700 hours of one-on-one picture book reading, whereas a child from a low-income family averages 25 hours. 
  

Reading 1,000 books may sound impossible, BUT 

• If you read one book at bedtime every night for 3 years, you will have read 1,095 books.
• If you read 3 books a day, you’ll complete this program in less than a year!
• The average picture book only takes 5 minutes to read.

Need a book suggestion?
Check out the books on our Books Your Child Should Hear Before Kindergarten list!

books_before_kindergarten.pdf
File Size:	263 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

---

---

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten was started by the 1,000 Books Foundation whose objectives are:

• to promote reading to newborns, infants, and toddlers
• to encourage parent and child bonding through reading