SPL to kick off 2017 “Summer of Learning” next month

The Seattle Public Library’s 2017 Summer of Learning for youth and families kicks off on Thursday, June 15. The 98th annual program, which continues through Tuesday, September 5, is designed to keep students reading and learning while school is out.

This year’s program features the theme “Blast Off to Space!” and encourages reading and activities around science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

The Library is offering hundreds of free programs all summer long for families, children and teens. All programs are free and open to the public. Visit www.spl.org/summeroflearning for more information.

Children and teens can learn to program robots, play a ukulele, create videos, write songs, take digital photos, practice calligraphy, design sound effects and more. Some classes require registration, which will open up online two weeks before the first class begins at each Library location. The Library will also celebrate the upcoming solar eclipse on Monday, August 21, with programs, events and displays and by distributing free eclipse glasses in late August.

Children who take part in Summer of Learning will receive a free Mission Log packed with fun space-related learning activities. There will be three levels for participants to complete of daily reading and activity missions. Level 1 finishers will be entered into the grand prize drawing and will get one prize from the prize box, and will also have their names placed on the Wall of Space Voyagers at their home library. Level 2 and 3 finishers will win additional prizes from the prize box and entries into the grand prize drawing.

Teens who take part in Summer of Learning will receive a free Teen Book Bingo card. Participants who complete a Book Bingo card can bring it into the Library, or post it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #SPLteenbookbingo2017 for a chance to win an iPad Mini or free movie theater passes! Examples of Book Bingo squares include: book you judged by its cover, turned into a movie, banned, #WeNeedDiverseBooks, a book you finish reading in a day or read outdoors, and a comic or graphic novel.

Families with young children ages birth to 5 years old can pick up a fun bingo card filled with reading and learning activities to do together with babies, toddlers and preschoolers. For every five completed squares in a row (up, down, across, or diagonal), children can get their name on the Wall of Space Voyagers at their home library. The Early Learner bingo card will be printed in English, and printable versions will be available online in Amharic, Chinese, English, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tigrinya and Vietnamese.

The Library offers summer programming because research shows that during the summer young people can forget a certain amount of what they learned during the school year. Educators call that the “summer slide.” The Summer of Learning program mitigates the summer slide and teaches children and teens 21st century learning skills, such as teamwork, critical thinking and digital skills.

The Library has partnered with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture to offer free family admission, for up to two adults and four children, when families present a completed Mission Log or an Early Learner flyer from July 1 to Oct. 31, 2017.

For more information about Summer of Learning, visit www.spl.org/summeroflearning, call The Seattle Public Library at 206-386-4636 or Ask a Librarian.