Thanks for participating in 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten! This program encourages caregivers and their children to read 1,000 books before the child enters kindergarten, giving the child a jumpstart in their educational journey. Each 100 books you read, you can visit any Library location to pick out a free book for your home library! When children reach 1,000 books, they get a free backpack and kindergarten supply kit! Even during our current curbside phase, you can sign up for and participate in 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten; Staff can register your child and caregivers can redeem prizes at any of our locations that offer curbside.
Remember, if you have not yet registered, there are two ways to participate in 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten:
- You can visit a Library location to receive a paper log. (Ask to sign up for 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten at curbside.) Staff will take your information and provide you with a booklet to keep track of all the books your child reads.
- Or if you prefer, you can sign up on Beanstack to track books online. Beanstack is the Library’s online reading platform. Just create an account and log books as your child completes them. You can even download the Beanstack app to log books by scanning their barcode with your phone!
Each quarter, we will be releasing a blog post to provide updates on the program, information on Library events, literacy tips, and book recommendations for both caregivers and children.
Literacy at Home
The Every Child Ready to Read program highlights five key practices to help your child grow as a reader: singing, reading, talking, writing, and playing. These five practices relate to five components of literacy: phonological awareness, vocabulary, print awareness/conventions, letter knowledge, and background knowledge.
For example, to increase print awareness (i.e., how books work), let your baby handle books, even if they like to chew on it! (Although our preference is that Library books are returned without teeth marks of any kind.) Exploring books physically is an early step on the journey to loving reading!
Book recommendations
Board books are perfect for babies and young children; the text is sparse, the pictures are many, and best yet, they’re extremely durable. Here are four of our favorite board book series.
Touch and Explore/Touch and Feel: Even more so than regular board books, both of these series are meant to encourage interaction between children and the book. The books provide different textures for the child to touch and explore. From scales to hair, children will love exploring various textures throughout the story.
Follow Me/Follow the Trail: Like the previous recommendation, these two series increase a child’s tactile interaction with the book (along with sharpening their motor skills) by having the children trace their fingers along grooved paths in the book.
BabyLit: If you want something you may enjoy as well, check out the BabyLit series! With titles like The Odyssey and Wuthering Heights, you can catch up on some reading with these gorgeously illustrated and concise board book versions.
Once Upon a World: It’s important as children grow up that they see those like them reflected in the books that they read. While many of the Once Upon a World titles are familiar stories (such as Cinderella and The Little Mermaid), the gorgeous illustrations of an Indian Rapunzel, a Chinese Snow White, and a Mexican Cinderella give a much-needed diverse dimension to old tales.
For caregivers: You may find that as you're teaching your child to read that you need some resources as well! Here is a great book that will help you raise a lifelong, confident reader.
Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age--from Picture Books to Ebooks and Everything in Between by Jason Boog: "A program for parents and professionals on how to raise kids who love to read, featuring interviews with childhood development experts, advice from librarians, tips from authors and children's book publishers, and reading recommendations for kids from birth up to age five. Born Reading provides step-by-step instructions on interactive reading and advice for developing your child's interest in books from the time they are born. But reading can take many forms--print books as well as ebooks and apps--and Born Reading also includes tips on how to use technology the right way to help (not hinder) your child's intellectual development. Parents will find advice on which educational apps best supplement their child's development, when to start introducing digital reading to their child, and how to use tech to help create the readers of tomorrow.”
Library updates
SLPL offers a wide variety of virtual programming! To check out what we’re offering next, this calendar provides all of the information needed to enjoy one of our virtual programs.
Live programs vary from month to month and can include crafts, trivia, music and more! Registration is required for these events, and once registration is complete, instructions will be sent via email about how to access the event on the day it airs. Most events take place on Zoom.Check out our Black History Month programs in February and Women’s History Month programs in March.
We also offer new recorded Storytimes every single week: Baby Bookworms with Sarah (Thursdays at 9 a.m.), Storytime with Julie (Tuesdays at 9 a.m.), and Storytime with Bradley or Ashley (a Spanish bilingual Storytime) (alternating Saturdays at 9 a.m.). These videos can be viewed on our website. Registration is not required for these events.
Don’t forget Take & Makes! All of our curbside branches offer free Take & Make kits through curbside; simply ask for one when you arrive! Each month, we have a different craft or activity for both school-age children and tweens/teens.
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