1000 Books Before PREP

Last week, at our school staff meeting, I launched our reading initiative called 1000 Books before Prep.  This idea is not new; I read about it from the Licking County Library, Ohio who said it originally came from an idea by the Australian author, Mem Fox. I am keen to see the influence of our school library in our community. I also believe in the power of reading in developing students who are ready for school; children who will arrive at school confident and with a wide vocabulary. I enlisted my daughters to develop the paper work - Kate to produce the art work and Miriam to create the recording sheet.
The idea was to start small, so I have initially offered our little pack of 1000 Books before Prep to our staff. I thought the teachers with pre-schoolers would be the keen ones, but to my surprise not only the parents of young ones signed up for a pack, but also the teachers with nieces, nephews and grandchildren also took packs.
The rules are simple: 1. Read 1000 books before the child begins Prep (Kindergarten)
                                   2. Enter titles onto recording sheet
                                   3. You do NOT have to read 1000 different titles; books can be repeated
                                   4. When 100 books are completed, then bring the  booklet in to the library,                                                receive your certificate  and collect your next 1-100 booklet.
If you read 10 books a week, then it will take two years to complete the challenge.
Just today, only four days after the challenge was launched, I had one teacher text me to report that he  and his girls have already conquered twenty books. Yes, a challenge is useful.
I hope to officially  introduce 1000 Books before Prep  to our parents at the beginning of the  school year and continue advertising it and spreading the word in our school library.