1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program

Raising Lifelong Readers: Decorah Public Library announces 1000 Books Before Kindergarten Program

Decorah Public Library has announced a 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program to support early literacy skills and school readiness in the community. The program encourages families to create reading habits in the home from birth until school begins, fostering parent-child bonds and positive reading associations that support a child’s ability to learn to read. This program will be ongoing, and any child may join at any time, so long as they have not yet started Kindergarten. “There are a lot of simple steps that families can take in the home to set their kids up for success in school,” said Children’s and Young Adult Librarian, Sophie Nall. “Our hope is that this program makes early literacy feel accessible to caregivers, and to give them the tools they need to help their children succeed in school and beyond.”  To participate in the program, families must simply track each book read to their child before they reach Kindergarten. Prizes and incentives will be awarded for achieving reading goals along the way, with the goal to make reading a fun and exciting part of a child’s daily routine.

1000 Books Before Kindergarten is a national reading program that aims to encourage early literacy skills and to equip families with skills to help their child be school-ready. Early childhood learning is supported by decades of scientific research and dictates that children’s brains are most equipped to learn language skills before the age of five. As many as 1 in 5 children struggle to learn to read, and the most important predictor of school success is being read to in the home in the first five years of life. To help children and families learn the important literary skills necessary to learn to read, 1000 Books Before Kindergarten encourages families to log 1000 books read out loud between birth and a child’s first day of Kindergarten.

Decorah Public Library’s 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program launches March 20th, at a “1000 Books Kickoff Party,” co-hosted by Helping Services, from 10:30am-11:30am in the Children’s area. To sign up for the program, families will use Beanstack, a digital book logging service, to track the number of books they have read and earn prizes at reading benchmarks. An information packet is available for pickup at the library, or downloadable online, with literacy and early education information, FAQs, and program instructions and incentives. For more information, drop by the library, visit http://decorahlibrary.org/1000books, or email snall@decorahlibrary.org.


Posted: March 13, 2025