[Michlib-l] Compiled list of 1000 Books before kindergarten responses

Fri Jun 29 09:50:01 EDT 2018

Hi all, 

I had a couple requests for this info, so here is what I've received
regarding running the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten program at public
libraries. Thank you to everyone who provided the information!

Here at the Bay County Library system, we have advertised the program in a
few different ways: 

1) Posters in the children's departments, in our newsletter, on our webpage
( <http://www.baycountylibrary.org/children/1000books/),>
http://www.baycountylibrary.org/children/1000books/), put an ad for it in
this year's summer reading program log, sent a flyer through the ISD's email
distribution list, mailed a paper flyer to all of the daycares and
preschools on our mailing list, made it our children's Facebook page's cover
photo for a few months, etc. We will be starting distributing baby bags to
newborns at the Bay City hospital in the fall and they will have the our
1000 Books logo on them. We also heavily promote the program at storytimes
and other early childhood programs. 

It's a program that gets a ton of word of mouth exposure as well. 

2) Our incentive structure: 

*	Sign Up Prize:  Bag We had these custom printed (about $1/bag). 
*	Every 100 books read: Sticker (these are from Demco's 1000 Books
line of materials) 
*	After 300 Books: Rubber duck
*	After 500 books completed: Bubbles 
*	After 800 Books: Crayons and small coloring book
*	Final Prize (1,000 books completed):  Board Book or Paperback and
Certificate 

3) The bags are about $1 each, the rest of the prizes are from Oriental
Trading. The books run $5-7 each. I'd guess about $10/child that finishes.
It would definitely be possible to do this more cheaply. Our program is
funded by the Friends of the Bay County Libraries. We let patrons pick up a
reading log in the library, print it off our website, or use the 1000 Books
free app. Picking up the logs in the library is the most popular option but
we like to give our users flexibility. 

4) We started 9/1/2017 and had 667 participants in the county as of the end
of March. We do these stats quarterly so we will be collecting them again
shortly. We have had a bunch of kids start recently after learning about the
program through our SRP logs. We set a goal of 500 kids by the end of 2017
and that was basically bang on. Our service area population is about 110,000
people. 

Cadillac Library:

We started the program in last September at the urging of a few determined
patrons and I'm glad we did! We have over 100 children signed up for the
program and the response has been terrific. 

We advertised the program through our usual channels: handouts, Facebook,
Website, Storytimes, etc. and I did a short news segment that has been
circulating for a couple of months on a local channel.

We structure the program so at each 100 book mark, the child receives a
small prize and they get to move their raccoon up the tree display we have
made. Prizes are small and affordable.

100: 3 stickers

200: 3 stickers 

300: 3 stickers and a squirt toy

400: 3 stickers

500: 3 stickers and a book

600: 3 stickers

700: 3 stickers 

800: 3 stickers and a container of bubbles 

900: 3 stickers

1,000: Free book bag, a book plate placed in your favorite library book that
reads, "'Child's Name' has read 1,000 books before kindergarten!", and your
raccoon becomes a star on the tree display

I estimate that prizes cost us around $8/participant, all together. 

We do not require caregivers to track titles. They just cross off animals on
a large sheet to indicate when they've read a book. We allow repeat books,
books read by family members, and books heard in storytime to be counted as
well.

I can send you a copy of one of our log sheets, if you like. 

We've had four kids complete the program, and we have around a dozen who are
within 200 books of completion. 

Families really enjoy having a program just for babies and I think it's
produced some really positive results. Over the next year, I would like to
look at ways to encourage lower income families to participate. 

-          How you advertise the program to your patrons : initially we did
heavy promotion with information in the local little paper, on Facebook,
handouts, etc. But now we have a small display at circulation (a stuffed
penguin wearing the t-shirt that with the 1000 books logo with @ the
Rauchholz Memorial Library" on it with a sign that says "ask us about".

-          What incentives you use to encourage participation/completion of
the program: just the prizes and fun of reading. For each 100 books the kids
choose a small toy/trinket out of the treasure book box, for 500 they choose
a beanie baby (a patron donated her whole collection of over 100 of them to
us) and for the 1000 they get the t-shirt. They also get a sticker too that
says I read 100, 200, etc.

-          An estimated cost to the library to participate in the program
(incentive purchases, printing, etc.) Biggest expense for us was the
t-shirts but our Friends group paid for those (it was $250 for 100 shirts
from a local  custom print/embroidery shop, this was about 3 years ago). It
cost us $50 to have our "fill in booklets" printed at the local print shop.
As for incentives, we used items we have left over from summer reading
programs and also purchased stickers/tattoos/small carnival style toys on
Amazon or through Oriental Trading.

-          Participation numbers and trends as the program continued: we
have  almost 50 kids currently signed up and have had 8 finishers so far.
The hardest part is to keep the parents active in doing the program.

-          Any other info I might have missed that would be relevant! if you
plan on using "1000 books before kindergarten" you do need to get permission
to do so. The theme/slogan is copyrighted and patented. All you need to do
is email them about wanting to do the program and they respond which is
their permission and they also will send you 2 of their books on the program
(at least they sent us books). https://1000booksbeforekindergarten.org/
They will also had you to their list so anyone in your area searching for
this type of program can find your library.

The Ionia Community Library has been running the program in collaboration
with the Ionia County Library Association. There are seven total libraries
in our county including Lyons, Portland, Belding, Lake Odessa, Saranac, and
Clarksville.

1.) I initially got the word out via word of mouth and traditional paper
flyers in the library. We also advertised on our Facebook page, website, and
our email blast. Eventually I was able to reach out to the pediatrician's
offices in town and the Ionia County Great Start Collaborative. One of our
brochures is included in every single newborn packet given in Ionia County.

2.) We offer a very small prize for every 100 books the child completes. We
hold them in a treasure chest behind the circ desk. When they pass 500
books, they receive a green tote bag with the 1,000 books logo printed on
it. At 1,000 books the child receives a certificate, a free book, and I get
a write-up in the local newspaper.

3.) I'm not entirely sure as to the exact costs of everything involved, but
I will tell you that we went and got multiple grants that totaled around
$5,000 to be spent between the seven libraries over 5 years.

4.) Enrollment and participation come in bursts. For instance, I stopped
offering the summer reading program for children under the age of 3.
Instead, I have them enroll in the 1,000 books program instead. At three
years old, the child can do both SRP and 1KB4K. In order to encourage
participation, I display all of the kids' names on poster board in our
picture book room. I keep an excel spreadsheet with all of their names and I
update progress as they go. When kids turn in their sheets, I mark it and
move their names up the list. I'll attach a picture. I don't use last names,
so I won't have to blur anything out. All in all, in 2.5 years, I have 201
children enrolled, and 16 who have finished. That might seem like a stark
disparity, but speaking from experience, it's really easy to forget about
the program if you're a busy family. I have the highest numbers in Ionia
County. My "pie in the sky" goal was to have 100 new enrollments per year. I
haven't quite gotten there, but now I don't believe that that number was
realistic for Ionia county.
 I don't require children to finish before they hit kindergarten, only
enroll before they do. I don't think it's fair to stop encouraging them to
read just because they entered school.

5.) I'll also attach a copy of our tracking sheets that we give the children
so you can see what we do.

Have fun! It's a great program that just about runs itself!!!

T.A. Cutler Memorial Library

I have some information for you on what we have done so far. We started the
program in September 2016 and had 7 kids sign up. Last year we had 9 sign
up. So far only 1 child has finished. I'm sure a couple others did as well,
but neglected to come in and officially finish. I will be promoting it again
in September. (And reminding those who have signed up to keep on reading!)

I advertise the program with posters & signs in the library from Aug.- May.
I take them down during summer reading program. I also have flyers ready to
pass out to any parents or grandparents that bring children to Story Hour. I
always mention it at the first Story Hour in September and then whenever new
families come. And, there are flyers on our circulation counter, in case
someone asks and I am not here.

I haven't done any incentives, I have noticed that some of the
families/parents are super motivated and others not so much. I had thought
of making a display for the kids room this fall and maybe give out little
items for each 100 goal achieved. For example: stickers, pencils, temp.
tattoos, door hangers etc. (This is all stuff I have on hand from previous
summer reading programs.)

I give a certificate of completion when the child reaches 1,000 and I am
thinking of adding their picture to my display wall. Maybe this will
encourage participation.  I have also considered giving them a book when
they complete the program, but have not done this so far.

I don't know how much we spent on our initial purchase of supplies, but I do
have someone who is interested in sponsoring if I decide to get incentives
and if I need more supplies.

Homer Public Library

Here in Homer we advertise our program to all our new patrons, to our
preschool parents (with flyers) and our Facebook and Web page.

We offer the kids a reusable book bag with a board book, a sheet to keep
track of 100 books (available on the 1000 books website), stickers and a
bookmark with ideas for reading with their child.  We ask one of our local
McDonald's to donate Happy Meal certificates, we obtained a grant for books
to give away and have small puzzles or other small incentives for each 100
books that they read.  Each time they reach 100 books they have their name
placed on a die cut train car that we hang on our wall.  When they reach a
1000 books we give them a special easy first reader book with their name in
it, and a gift card to Barnes and Noble.

The program took a few years to take off.  Parents needed to see train cars
going up on the wall before a lot of them bought into the program.  Now we
have about 80 kids signed up with about half coming in on a semi regular
basis to turn in 100 book sheets.  We have had 5 children reach their 1000
books and they haven't reached Kindergarten yet!  They asked to start again
and we strongly encouraged them to do just that.

Costs have been some of the small prizes, reprinting the 100 book sheets,
stickers and the Barnes and Noble cards.  I think we have spent about $500
or less.  I am able to get donations and grants for different things, so
that has helped a great deal.

Novi Public Library

I'm from the Novi Public Library and I wanted to share some information
about our 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program which we call Raising a
Reader in Novi. 

We have designed glossy logs for families to write the titles of the books
they read and I've attached a PDF version to this email for you to see. We
also have an online option using the Beanstack software. 

For each 100 books read, the child earns a small prize. The 1st prize is a
book. We ordered books through Third Week Books which contain early literacy
information for parents. 2nd-9th prizes are items like stickers, bubbles,
small box of crayons, lacing cards, etc (from Oriental Trading). The final
prize is a rubber "medal" that says "You're a Star," an invitation to a
special party held each September, and their choice of book to be added to
our collection with a special name plate inside.  Our overarching theme for
this program is Eric Carle so all of the prizes, photo booth, and party are
coordinated in this way.

After each log is turned in, we have a special photo booth for children to
take a picture at with a sign marking each 100 books. This photo booth is
changed out seasonally. We have pictures on the Raising a Reader page on our
website <http://novilibrary.org/Youth/Raising-a-Reader-in-Novi.aspx> .

Our logs cost $845 for 5,000 logs and are ordered from Accuform. Our annual
budget line for Raising a Reader is $3,000. This amount covers prizes,
reordering logs, and the annual party.

We advertise our program every chance we get! We advertise on social media
and post children's photos from our special photo booth. I send logs home
with children on my outreach story time visits to local preschools and day
cares. I sometimes visit special events at schools such as open houses. We
have posters in our library. Story time librarians talk about the program at
story times. 

As far as participation, we have just over 200 children participating. 29
children have finished (17 of which finished in our first year. We are
coming up on 2 years now.) We keep track of each child's progress in a
Google Drive Excel file.

Signature

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