The Pioneer Library System invites community members of all ages to have their best summer ever with Summer Learning Challenge 2024.
The Newcastle Public Library will host its Summer Learning Challenge Kickoff celebration from noon to 2 p.m. on May 31 at the Splash Pad at Veterans Park.
Seasoned participants will know the challenge as SLC, and that it’s a fantastic way to continue learning during the summer months.
Aiden Street, director of Community Engagement & Learning at PLS, said this is a crucial time of year for students. “Summer is such an important time! Our goal with SLC is to engage community members of all ages in connecting, reading, and learning,” Street said. “Families who keep reading over the summer can even prevent summer learning loss. Research shows that students who fall behind over the summer are less likely to graduate from high school or go on to college.”
SLC is not only for younger students, however. With categories for early childhood, children, teens, and adults, this is one summer activity the whole family can enjoy.
Beginning May 1 and running through August 15, SLC encourages participants to log their time spent reading and learning. Once logged, each minute of learning becomes one point, and that point goes toward a community goal of 15 million points. Conven ient l y, learning time also includes attendance at PLS summer programs like Yoga with Alpacas, Extreme Animals, Hula Hooping with Hooplahoma, Spaghetti Eddie concerts, Lyric Theatre Interactive!, Maker Days, Hip Hop and Breakdance classes, among other interactive summer programs offered across all PLS libraries.
Upon meeting the community learning goal, PLS will donate books provided by the Pioneer Library System Foundation to children enrolled in WIC programs throughout the PLS service area of Cleveland, McClain, and Pottawatomie counties.
If staying sharp, learning new things, and giving back to the community weren’t enough, participants can also continue logging points to earn prizes.
Participants complete the SLC upon reaching 1,000 points and can select items from their library’s treasure chest at every point badge earned.
Those signed up in the early childhood, child, and teen categories also get a free book at 500 and 1,000 points, thanks to a donation provided by the Pioneer Library System Foundation.
For each age category, every 1,000 points logged will earn an entry for the grand prize drawing. Grand prizes at each branch will include SmartMax STEM magnetic sets and Fisher-Price Learning Bots for early childhood, light-up terrarium kits or STEM aerospace rocket building kits for the child category, AirPods and chargers for teens, and Simple Modern cups and carriers for the adult category.
Summer Learning Challenge is about much more than prizes, librarian Kim Zahller said.
“The best thing about SLC is the fact that your brain is engaged in one of the healthiest activities one can imagine — an activity that is building sophisticated pathways in the brain, igniting imagination, expanding vocabulary, improving empathy, concentration, and social-emotional skills,” said Zahller, a 26-year SLC veteran at PLS.
“Not only that, when grown-ups read to children, play games with them, help them with experiments, take them to zoos and museums and parks, or learn a new skill with them, it also strengthens bonds and encourages play, which is children’s most underrated mode of learning,” Zahller said.
For more information about Pioneer Library System or the PLS Summer Learning Challenge and related events, visit pioneer.beanstack.org and pioneerlibrarysystem. org.
