Camden County Libraries join 1000 Books before Kindergarten
The Camden County Library System has announced it will offer parents and other caregivers the chance to participate in the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program that encourages parents to read with their children as a way to develop early literacy, a love of reading and to prepare for school.
Based on the finding that reading together on a regular basis is the single most important way to get children ready to read and to later succeed in school, the program is designed to give families incentives and support to accomplish the goal of each child reading 1,000 books before he or she starts kindergarten.
“1000 Books Before Kindergarten,” a national nonprofit based in Nevada, asserts the goal can be easily achieved by merely reading a book a night before bedtime. The library will provide parents with simple reading logs, reading goals and incentives to track the progress of their children as they read more and more books.
How 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten works
-Parents can register at any Camden County Library Branch and will receive a simple reading log.
-Parents should use the log to track each book the child reads by simply filling in a circle.
-After reading 25 books, bring the reading log into the library to collect the first prize!
-When the parent and child reach 100 books, they will receive another prize.
-Parents will be encouraged to check in at the library with their reading log to get other prizes as they complete each additional milestone of 100 books
-After the child reads 1000 books, he or she will receive a certificate and a free book and their name will be added to the library’s “Reading Hall of Fame”
The library recommends keeping track of titles in a notebook or using the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten free app available for IPhone and Android at the Apple and Google app stores.
Participants can read the same book with their child multiple times and each time counts on the reading log. The books can be from anywhere; they don’t have to be library books. The program is self-paced. The child and parents can read as many books as they want at any given time.
As Director of the Camden County Library System Linda Devlin comments, “We’re very happy to offer the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program through our library. It’s one of many programs we are planning to support early childhood literacy in Camden County.”
Parents and other caregivers can register any child from birth until they begin kindergarten. Registration for the free program starts Monday, Oct. 5 at any of the library system’s eight branch locations, including Voorhees.
Hours, directions and phone numbers for the different branches can be found on the library’s website at www.camdencountylibrary.org/locations-hours
