Welcome to the Beaver County Library System's "1,000 Books Before Kindergarten" program!

This program encourages you to read 1,000 books to your child before he or she enters school. The program is self-paced and lets you decide how often and how long you read to your child.

Access the online tracker here.

By reading to your child, you can help your child learn six early literacy skills:

•  Vocabulary - Knowing the name of things
•  Print Motivation - A child's interest in and enjoyment of books
•  Print Awareness - Noticing print everywhere; knowing how to handle a book and knowing how to follow the words on a page
•  Letter Knowledge - Knowing that letters have names and are different from each other, and that specific sounds go with specific letters
•  Phonological Awareness - Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words
•  Narrative Skills - Being able to describe things and events and tell stories

Goal of the program:

• Introduce 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 record each title on the online tracker or the reading sheets. 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 a sticker and your next reading sheet or print sheets from here.
• When you have finished 1,000 books, you will receive a certificate and a gift. But, most important, your child will have a jumpstart on success in school.

Reading 1,000 books may sound impossible; however, if you read only 3 books a day to your child, you will complete this program in less than a year. But, don't feel rushed!

START AT ANY AGE