TISDALE — The Tisdale Community Library is starting a new program to challenge families with a pre-kindergarten child to get 1,000 books read to the child before they begin school.
The 1,000 books before kindergarten program is designed to help parents prepare their children for kindergarten with an exposure to a variety of stories and an increased vocabulary.
“You read the books to the children,” said Isabel Hankins-Wilk, Tisdale’s branch librarian. “The more that you read to your child, it’s going to expand their vocabulary and they’re going to understand more.”
With each 100 books read, the child’s name will be placed on a bookshelf wall chart under their current stage, and they will get to pick a prize from the prize cart. The prize cart includes pencils, erasers, temporary tattoos, rattles and more.
After the child reaches 500 books, they can pick a finger puppet prize.
With 1,000 books read, the child successfully completes the program and will receive a completion certificate, a t-shirt, and their name will be added to the library’s new “Wall of Readers.”
The program has no end date planned.
“It feels really daunting to read 1,000 books before your child starts kindergarten, but it’s easy to do,” Hankins-Wilk said. “You just have to read one book a night and they will have completed the program in three years. If you read three books a night you can complete the program in one year.”
The program started on Nov. 2. As of Nov. 5 five families have signed up for the challenge.
To sign up for the program Hankins-Wilk said a parent or guardian just needs to come to the library, use an existing library card or make a free account, and they will be given a logbook and tote bag to use for any library books they wish to borrow.
