1000 Books Before K: Nat’l Program is a hit on Long Island

Public libraries are partners In early literacy efforts

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It’s a simple concept: the more young children are read to by parents and caregivers, the better their language development and literacy skills. This is the fundamental idea behind 1000 Books Before Kindergarten, a movement spearheaded by a national nonprofit (www.1000booksbeforekindergarten.org) and offered her on Long Island by dozens of Nassau and Suffolk libraries.

Typically, there are small rewards and/or recognition as children join and then reach milestones—e.g., 100 books, 500 books. Library social media and press release draw attention to dedicated young readers and their families. The Facebook page of one Nassau library, for example, recently featured a montage of photos documenting one youngsters progress from 100 books to 1,000. Even People magazine is on board, and recently reported on a four-year-old who was named “Librarian for a Day” at the Library of Congress after reaching her 1,000 books goal.

Right now there are 30 public libraries in Nassau County offering the program and two more starting this fall, along with numerous Suffolk County sites (see below). You can support your students’ literacy by making sure their parents know about the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program—and by teaming up with your local children’s librarians to promote it. In addition, “…it would be great if they shared with parents the titles they have read during the week to the children in their classes,” suggests Renee McGrath from the Nassau Library System. “Parents could then check these books out of their local libraries and include them in their 1,000 books tally.”

The list of participating libraries is given below. New libraries are joining every year, so please contact your local branch if you don’t see it listed.

Nassau County

Baldwin

Bayville

Bethpage

East Meadow

East Rockaway

Elmont

Farmingdale

Floral Park

Freeport

Glen Cove

Gold Coast (launching in Oct. 2017)

Island Park

Jericho

Levittown

Locust Valley (starting in Sept. 2017)

Malverne

Manhasset

Massapequa

Mineola

North Bellmore

North Merrick

Oceanside

Roosevelt

Rockville Centre

Sea Cliff

Seaford

Syosset

Valley Stream

Wantagh

West Hempstead

Westbury

Suffolk County

Amityville

Babylon

Bay Shore-Brightwaters

Brookhaven

Center Moriches

Comsewogue

Connetquot

East Islip

Half Hollow Hills

Hauppauge

Huntington

Islip

Lindenhurst

Patchogue-Medford

Riverhead

West Babylon

Westhampton

Wyandanch