Fort Worth

Fort Worth Public Library's New Program Pushing Literacy Before Kindergarten

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Something good is happening at the Fort Worth Public Library in hopes of preparing young children to be lifelong readers.

It’s called the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program and it started on January 1. While it sounds like a big task for parents to read 1,000 books to their children before Kindergarten, Manya Shorr with the Fort Worth Public Library said it’s easier than you think.

“Parents should remember that they can read to their kids the minute they are born and even before when they are in the womb,” Shorr said. “If they read one book a day the first year, that’s already 365 books. By the third year, you have reached 1,000.”

Shorr said it's all to get kids' literacy ready early.

“There was a study back in 2019 that showed kids who are read to enter Kindergarten having heard one million more words than kids who are not read to. What we want to do is encourage parents to read to their kids and then have the kids read to them. It’s about words. That’s all it is,” Shorr said.                                     

Every time a child reads 100 books, or someone reads them 100 books, they are invited to visit any Fort Worth Public Library location to choose a prize. Participants in the program can even count attending library storytimes and other reading initiatives.

The Fort Worth Public Library also offers a variety of parent support programs in English and Spanish focused on early childhood literacy.

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