The Moose Jaw Public Library (MJPL) Summer Reading Club will have more stars, galaxies, astronomy, planets, and other out-of-this-world learning opportunities this year thanks to a grant from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The grant is intended to support and encourage education and awareness around Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.
“We’re launching our Summer Reading Club for all ages — youth, children, and adults — on June 17 from 2 to 4 p.m. That’s our ‘launch’ party,” said Shevaun Ruby at the MJPL. “We applied for a grant last year from the Canadian Space Agency to foster interest and excitement around space and STEM fields, and luckily we got that, so we’re really excited.
“So, our theme for our summer reading program is around space: Space for reading, space for learning, space for you at the library.”
The launch party on the 17th will be in Crescent Park in front of the MJPL. There will be space-themed crafts and treats at the party, face-painting, and bottle rockets, and the summer book selection will center on space knowledge and adventures.
Space, as Star Trek has taught us, is the ‘final frontier’ of human exploration, and the scientific fields involved have had long-reaching impacts on how human beings live. From Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) revolutionizing all forms of navigation, to weather forecasting and communication, from our understanding of time and distance to our knowledge of the origins of the universe, from the stunning achievement of traveling to the moon to possible futures on other planets or space stations, it is difficult not to find the topic interesting.
The MJPL is going to have space-themed book clubs, playground programs, take ‘n make kits, young astronaut activities, and more this summer. There is also grant money going to enhance their MakerSpace area with better 3D printing and more robotics projects.
There might even be loanable telescope kits at the library sometime soon, Ruby said.
“It’s all in the works,” she added. “The grant is quite long, it’s for a year, and we were only informed of it a couple of weeks ago, so we’re still early for lots of stuff. But the summer reading club party will be the launch of our public awareness around it.”
Can’t wait for June 17? Start exploring space now with some of the following online resources:
- Canadian Space Agency — www.asc-csa.gc.ca
- Learn about the CSA, the Northern Lights, the careers of Canadian astronauts, and the International Space Station
- ‘If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel’ — joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html
- This side-scrolling website helps viewers understand a little bit of how big and empty the universe really is by illustrating our solar system to an accurate scale
- Space.com — www.space.com
- A popular space and astronomy news site keeping readers up to date with everything going on with space exploration, cosmology, astrophysics, and more
- Sky & Telescope — skyandtelescope.org
- This website is a good place to find accurate, reliable information about the night sky, from informative articles and guides to sky charts, interactive tools, observation tips, and mind-boggling photographs
