Administrative Offices: (620) 364-2010

By:  Kristi Graham, Waverly Branch Director

Early literacy refers to what young children know about reading and writing before they actually learn to read and write. Children begin developing the skills they will need to learn to read long before they go to school; in fact early literacy begins developing from birth. Reading to children is the single most important thing we can do to encourage future academic and lifetime success. The Coffey County Library provides many resources and services devoted to developing early literacy.

Come and visit to explore all of the options we have available including Storytimes on the following schedule:
Burlington Branch – Mondays at 11:15am
Gridley Branch – Wednesdays at 11:00am
Lebo Branch – Tuesdays at 10:30am
LeRoy Branch – Fridays at 10:30am
New Strawn Branch – Wednesdays at 9:30am
Waverly Branch – Thursdays at 10:00am

Summer reading programing, AWE early literacy stations with educational games and resources, as well as engaging collections of books for all age levels. Parents and caregivers can sign children up for our 1,000 Books before Kindergarten Program, which is a countywide initiative to encourage children to read or listen to 1,000 books before they enter Kindergarten. Research has shown that children who are read to regularly are exposed to approximately 1 million more words by age five than children who are never read to. In the 1,000 Books before Kindergarten program participants earn prizes as they progress on the way to 1,000 books. The Dolly Parton Imagination Library is another resource available at each branch of the Coffey County Library.

Participants will be mailed a new book every month from birth until age five as long as they remain a resident of Coffey, Lyon, Morris or Osage Counties. If you are unable to come in to one of the branches we also provide a wealth of early literacy resources on our website www.cclibraryks.org including Bookflix which provides access to animated storybooks, Tumblebooks which has animated talking picture books, kids fiction and nonfiction eBooks, videos, puzzles and games, and Unite for Literacy, which provides children’s picture books. The best gift that we can give to children is a lifetime love of reading, come to the library and check out all of the ways that we can help to develop the strong early literacy skills that are so important in building a successful reader.