Navin doesn’t start kindergarten until fall 2020, yet he’s already read more than 1,000 books!
Committed to the long-term goal of reading together well before kindergarten, Navin and his family participated in the library’s 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program. It’s designed to prepare babies, toddlers, and preschoolers to arrive ready to learn come kindergarten.
“We wanted to start reading with Navin as soon as possible and tried to start reading and encouraging his love for books from the first month of his life,” said his father, Jerome.
At age 3.5, Navin completed the program this winter. Here, Jerome shares some thoughts about how it went:
‘Stories about good friendships’
“We love reading all kinds of books together and especially enjoy books that are funny and make us laugh. We like books about books, books about food, and books about things that go. We really like stories and series about good friendships. We especially love practicing our Spanish with books written in Spanish and bilingual books.”
‘A fun and relaxed tradition’
“We make sure to fit reading in before bedtime every night, and we all enjoy this time as much as Navin does. Keeping reading in the evening as a fun and relaxed tradition helps us all look forward to it, and so it’s easy to make sure to fit some time into our daily routines each day.”
‘Watching him develop a love of books and reading’
“We love the chance to get to know new characters, new stories, and new worlds and also to enjoy all our old favorites. We have a lot of fun taking the opportunity to make connections between different stories and between the stories we read and real life experiences and events. From a parent perspective, we absolutely love seeing Navin’s anticipation and excitement about reading time, and watching him develop a love of books and reading.”
‘Understanding about different people, places, things’
“It has been truly special to read together over time with Navin and see firsthand how he has learned and developed. Working reading into our daily routines has allowed him to develop his natural curiosity and to build his understanding about different people, places, things, and the world around him. It’s helped him develop his ability to be observant, inquisitive, and patient.”
