The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (SCGLR) has once again brought Remake Learning Days to Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties. This collaborative festival, which celebrates hands-on learning for youth, families, grandparents, caregivers and educators, first launched locally in 2022 with 150 free events spread across four counties. By 2024, the festival expanded to 15 days and featured a total of 304 events hosted by 277 local organizations. This year’s festival, running from April 19 to May 3, reached new heights with a record-setting 380+ events. Suncoast Remake Learning Days are organized around a variety of learning themes, including the arts, maker spaces, outdoor exploration, science, technology and youth voice. Designed for audiences ranging from young children to high school seniors, these dynamic, multi-generational experiences are free, accessible and open to the public—thanks to the generous support of The Patterson Foundation.
Beth Duda has served as the director of SCGLR, working with the Patterson Foundation for the past ten years. Prior to joining SCGLR, she spent many years as the education director at Florida Studio Theater. “At FST, I was involved in the Write-a-Play program, where we worked with hundreds of classrooms each year—many of which were asset-limited—helping children express their thoughts and emotions through writing,” she shares. “That experience deepened my dedication to supporting children and underserved families.” She notes that transitioning to The Patterson Foundation was a natural fit because they saw an opportunity to clarify and advance the national campaign for grade-level reading in the region–bringing community partners together to advance the goal of all children reading on grade level by the end of third grade.
In 2016, Remake Learning Days launched in southwestern Pennsylvania. Since then, it has taken root in communities across the United States, New Zealand, Uruguay and the United Kingdom. The national campaign focuses on five pillars: school readiness (0-5 years), summer learning, family engagement, developmental health and attendance. When Duda and The Foundation first became involved, Manatee County was concentrating on attendance, and Sarasota County on all five pillars in three Title I schools. The Patterson Foundation proposed acting as a regional accelerator, supporting all five pillars across both counties while letting local organizations maintain their specific initiatives. “This led to my role,” she says, “where we work to foster widespread participation and shared goals for children and families.” Over the years, the initiative has expanded to the four counties—Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota—while still maintaining each county’s specific efforts.
The festival provides a chance for children, parents and caregivers to learn together. Research from National Remake Learning Days shows that both children and adults enjoy learning more when it’s a shared experience with family and loved ones. Additionally, they remember the content better when they learn together. The festival also allows community partners to enhance their family engagement efforts and build connections with other organizations, including businesses, arts groups, museums, libraries, schools, colleges, universities, faith-based groups, out-of-school programs and child-care centers.
“With 150 events throughout our four counties and just over 10,000 people in attendance in our first year, it was certainly strong enough out of the gate for us to commit to doing it again,” says Duda. “By 2024 we had an attendance of 36,500 people which is amazing. This year, we have many agencies partnering together, some of them putting forth one event and several that put forth multiple events, so it’s great to be fostering that widespread community participation.”
Every event that is approved and accepted to the festival is free and open to the public. The Patterson Foundation supports events that are geared to at least 30 people with a cap on support at $2,000 per event for events that are geared toward 100 people or more. “We look at our funding as being catalytic funding for the event. It certainly in some cases covers all the expenses for the event, but some organizations do participate,” says Duda. “For example, the big truck event that is held in South County Sarasota considers themselves part of the remake learning day family and they attracted more than 5,000 people to their event last year.”
The whole focus of the festival is to share the joy of learning, explains Duda, stressing the importance of becoming lifelong learners. “In some of the events for older students, there is a focus on science or technology and those are skills that many parents have an interest in, too. “There’s an opportunity to both fly drones and have a race with the drones, learn how to make an electronic gift or greeting card with just simple electric circuits, but when you open the card, the light comes on–so, those kinds of very cool things attract the parent and the child.”
With hundreds of organizations involved, Duda is hesitant to single out just a few by name, but notes they are partnering with many schools and afterschool programs. All events must occur outside regular school hours. “This isn’t about field trips for students; it’s about family and parent engagement,” she emphasizes. Schools, afterschool programs, churches, synagogues and government agencies are all contributing. Some events are small, like the Gulf Gate Library’s acrylic pouring lesson, where children and families learn this art form in a safe, intimate setting. Other events target larger audiences. The festival strengthens the local learning ecosystem by fostering partnerships between organizations that didn’t know each other before. Some have cross-promoted their events in DeSoto County, even creating what’s called the “magic school bus.” The DeSoto County Historical Society uses the bus, which stops at various Remake Learning Days events, offering hands-on activities that teach local history. “So, not only are they having their own event on the bus, but they’re spreading joy through the community,” she adds. “We’ve had a similar thing happen between the Faulhaber Fab Lab and Wilkinson Elementary School and the Florida House. They combined and there was a school bus that took people between the three.”
One exhibitor from last year’s event said “To see the passion of the families who come to give their children an opportunity that otherwise would not exist is why I do this. I want everyone to feel part of the community.” The families, however, are not the only ones learning from the festival. Event hosts are invited to attend “labinars” hosted by SCGLR. There’s one on putting together effective program content for multi-generational learning, another on marketing to your intended audience and another on how to market outside of your existing circle. “We also do one on social media on how to effectively use that to tell your story so we are finding that work has a ripple effect–certainly it helps remake learning days be successful but it also helps these organizations to be successful for any parent and family engagement event that they put forth during the year,” says Duda. “We’ve seen organizations that have become familiar with each other through remake learning days who are now partnering on events that fall beyond our calendar window. That to me is one of the important things that this festival has brought to our region–an understanding that learning happens everywhere, not just in a school and that all of us as community members have a stake in the success of our children.
Themes of Suncoast Remake Learning Days
Arts features hands-on learning and expression through all kinds of art, including theater, dance, visual art, music, photography, and more.
Maker “Making” is about taking things apart and putting them back together.
Outdoor Learning is about experiencing and learning about the natural world. How can we consider the environment, sustainability, and more by exploring our backyards?
Science is all aboutexperimentation! Kids and adults can explore chemistry, biology, and geography. How does our world work? What can we test and study in the world around us?
Technology allows kids to investigate the digital world, like coding, building robots, and learning circuitry.
Youth Voice provides a platform for young individuals to express themselves through creative mediums, including audio, video, art, music, and more. These youth-centered events serve as a powerful showcase of how the younger generation articulates their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives in uniquely authentic ways.
Professional Development: For traditional and non-traditional educators, credited and non-credited professional development featuring STEAM-inspired learning (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) can be covered by various organizations, fostering continuous growth and innovation in the field of education.
