Help encourage your child’s love of reading by joining the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program! Reading and sharing a book with your child from the moment they are born helps them to develop pre-reader skills for kindergarten, such as understanding letter sounds and building a larger vocabulary. Any child from birth until they start kindergarten can participate for free!
How to Participate:
1. Tracking sheets can be picked up from your local branch or downloaded from our website.
2. Log each book that you read together by colouring in each book. 1 book coloured = 1 book read!
3. After each 100 books read, show your completed tracking sheet at your Library to get a milestone sticker.
4. When you have logged 1000 books, your child will earn a completion certificate and a free book!
Reading a thousand books can be daunting. If you read one book a night with your child, you can complete the challenge in less than three years. If you read three books a night, you can read 1000 books in one year! Any book read counts toward your reading goal, even those books your child enjoys over and over.
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Our librarians have created a book list in the Library’s catalogue for you to choose from. It includes a variety of picture books and board books. You can find the list here.
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No, you can read books from anywhere.
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From your local London Public Library branch.
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Your child’s brain develops more from birth to 6 years of age than any other time in their life. Studies have shown that children who are read to from a young age develop a larger vocabulary and stronger language skills. The goal of reading a thousand books before they enter kindergarten will help to strengthen those pre-reader skills.
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Yes, write down the title each time you have read that particular book.
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Yes, use separate tracking sheets for each child or combine tracking sheets to use together as a family. This is a flexible program that can be adapted to suit your family’s needs!
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Yes, if your child hears a book at preschool, the library, from a grandparent or babysitter, just ask for the titles and record them.