1000 Books Before Kindergarten 

1000 Books Before Kindergarten is a reading program with incentives that helps start your child on the path to reading success and enhances literacy skills before heading off to kindergarten. It's for children ages birth to 5 years. Reading together is one of the five best practices of early literacy (see below for more on that).

Once you set up your account and register for the program in the Beanstack Tracker app (check your app store) or using our 1000 Books Before Kindergarten website you can start to log the books for your child.

As of January 2024 the program has new milestone incentives. If your child is already enrolled, they'll continue to progress at their current level of achievement while earning the new rewards at the new milestones. 

Use our contact us form or ask your library if you have any questions regarding this.

Summer Reading

Summer Reading for kids and teens will be back next year.  The program is designed to keep up reading skills through the use of incentives.

Teen Programs

We have programs for teens throughout the year, but especially in October (a.k.a. TEENtober). Check our calendar to see what programs we have for that age group. 

Other Programs for Kids and Families

We have everything from storywalks to STEM programs to art to music shows that we plan. Check our calendar for what we have coming up. 

We also offer STEM kits for kids to explore science, technology, engineering, and math concepts. Place holds on those kits here. 

Five Best Practices of Early Literacy

Carver County Library storytimes are based on the Five Best Practices of Early Literacy that parents and caregivers can do together with their children.

Reading together remains the single most effective way to help children become proficient readers.  When you read together, point to some of the words as you say them, especially words that are repeated or text that is printed in unusual font, like “whooo whooo”  in the book Whoo! Whoo! Goes the Train.

Writing and reading go together! Both are ways to represent spoken words and to communicate information.  Scribbling and drawing are forms of writing — they may not be words, but the lines and pictures your child  draws mean something to them.  Read the book Puddle and try drawing a rainstorm together!

Play is one of the primary ways young children learn about how the world works and learn language.  Try some pretend play and act out This is Not a Cat or any favorite book you like to read together.

Talk with your child and ask questions. Children learn about language by listening to parents and caregivers talk and by joining in conversation.  The most interesting questions are the ones whose answers the questioner doesn’t know in advance.  What would you like to play today?  What do we need for our tea party? Where do you think that plane is going? How do you think that boy/girl is feeling?

Singing slows down language so children can hear the different sounds in words and learn about syllables.  Singing songs like “Ten in the Bed” is a good way to help your child hear syllables in words.  In most songs, each syllable in a word gets a different note.