The Kalona Public Library is looking to use grant money to improve its early literacy program. Youth services librarian Erin Silva says early literacy doesn’t mean they’re teaching infants, toddlers and preschoolers to read, but instead they’re preparing them for school by teaching them skills that will help when they start learning to read and write.

She says a $2,000 mini grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation will be used to purchase an updated television so they can project images and lyrics, enhancing their story time and toddler time. The money will also be used to purchase educational apps and wooden building blocks.

Silva shares they plan to hold an “open house block party” in late August or early September to showcase the library’s new additions.