Stories from Southeast

What a day we had for our yearly Teddy Bear Picnic! Lots of children and their teddies and other stuffed toys turned out to hear stories, play games, and make crafts.

Everyone started by meeting on the Children’s Porch and creating name tags for themselves and their bears. Once everyone was properly named, we moved outside to the picnic blankets in the courtyard. We played some games (Hide the Honey and “Teddy, Teddy, BEAR - a bear-y fun version of “Duck, Duck, GOOSE”) and we read the story of “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic.

It was quite warm out Saturday afternoon, so we decided to parade down to the shady duck pond to visit our library ducks.

The children introduced their teddies to Peep and Squeak and fed the ducks a lunch of cracked corn.

Ready for their own lunch, the children and their teddies paraded back inside, through the library, to the craft table where Miss Pat and her crew of volunteers were ready to assist the children create custom bandanas and bags for their teddies.

While waiting for the bear accessories to dry, the children were invited out to the porch where a lovely picnic lunch had magically appeared! Because it was quite warm out, we set up the picnic blankets in the amphitheater where the children enjoyed their teddy-shapes sandwiches, Teddy Grahams, and juice boxes. We read some of my favorite stories, including “Owen” by Kevin Henkes and “Blankie” by Leslie Patricelli.

If you attended the teddy bear picnic, we hope you had a wonderful time. If you couldn’t make it this year, we hope to see you next year for this yearly spring event.

Come to the newly refurbished Galaxy Room on Saturday, June 29th to compete against our Game Master:

He’s traveled all over the world honing his skills in video games. Do you have what it takes to beat him?

Check out our schedule here for dates and times the room will be open for brushing up on your own skills. Our featured game this month is Mario Kart!

-Miss Alex

Southeast is incredibly lucky to have some talented teens volunteering at our library.  Check out Sarah’s article on the front page of the St. Augustine Record Sports section here.

Matthew is an amazing poet who regularly adds poems to our Southeast Teens Poetry book.  Here is one of his latest poems:

The sands of time

The sands of time are so thin that everything can change with the slightest of ease.  Like the wind that changes the dunes of the Sahara desert.  There so delicate that one move can change this world forever.  Not even fate can change of what’s destined to come.  People say you can change the future of your lives, but truth is you can’t.  No matter what you can’t change the events that are destined to come.  All your choices you make were already planned and you can do nothing to change fact that they were planned for you and you only.  No matter what you do you are bound to the duties that forever haunt your life.  Some things you wish you can chang eand some things you wish keep forever and ever but time goes on and you can’t have those things forever.  But the truth is you can’t change your future but you can change the path that may lead into a better one.  Only if you believe you can do something better for this world.  Or if you believe that no matter what people say you can change the world.

Check out our Southeast Teen Poetry binder in the Teen Lounge.  There are a lot more poems by Matthew in it, plus the entries from last year’s Dark Poetry Contest.  Are you an aspiring poet?  Would you like to have your poetry “published” in our poetry binder?  Come to our next Teen Coffeehouse on Saturday, June 8 @ 2pm.  Local poet Carolee Bertisch will be conducting a poetry workshop, so it’s the perfect time to share your poetry!

Miss Kristine

Our featured game this month is Mario Kart.  Spend some time in the Galaxy Room practicing your skills and then compete against the Game Master on Saturday, June 29 at our Gaming Tournament.

June Galaxy Room Schedule

Tuesday, June 4       4-6pm
Wednesday, June 5   1-6pm
Friday, June 7          4-6pm
Friday, June 14        4-6pm
Saturday, June 15    1-5pm
Tuesday, June 18     4-8pm
Friday, June 21        4-6pm
Tuesday, June 25     4-8pm
Friday, June 28        4-6pm
Saturday, June 29    Mario Kart Tournament @ 2pm.  Play against the Game Master!

Read to Rover has become a great Saturday morning activity for many Southeast families.

We also see lots of Ancient City Soccer kids at Read to Rover.  It’s a great way to kill time before games, between games, after games, and when the games get rained out.

Our last Read to Rover session of the spring will be on May 25 @ 11am.  Come read to Cookie one more time before our pups go on summer vacation with their owners. 

Miss Kristine

The Galaxy Game Room will be closed for refurbishment for the rest of May. What does this mean? We will be overhauling the game room to make it even more spectacular. We will be trading in for some new games, so if there are any Wii games you would like to see in the Galaxy Room, leave us a comment and we will do our best to get some cool, newly released games. The schedule for the Galaxy Room will now be made available for the whole month on this blog - check back soon for the June schedule. The Galaxy Room will be open for free play, as it was in the past, but you better spend that free play time wisely! Starting this summer, our Southeast Gaming Grand Master will be hosting a tournament at the end of each month. Do you have what it takes to beat him at the featured game? The featured game will change monthly and be announced on this blog. Our tournaments will include pizza and prizes, so get a group of friends together and head to the Southeast Library Galaxy Room.

Here’s a sneak peek of our summer reading programs and our summer storytime themes!!

FLYP Summer Reading Programs: Viva Florida 500
June 12     Wacky Wednesday/Summer Reading Kickoff
June 19     Undersea Journeys
June 26     It’s Alive! The Wild Side of Florida
July 10      Fabulous Florida Bats
July 17      PB&J Archaeology
July 24      Swamp Stories
July 31      Fractured Fairytales: A Pirate’s Life for Me

Just For Babies Storytime: Down on the Farm

June 5      Oink like a Pig
June 12     Quack like a Duck
June 19     Meow like a Cat
June 26     Cluck like a Chicken
July 3       Neigh like a Horse
July 10      Moo like a Cow
July 17      Baa like a Sheep
July 24      Woof like a Dog
July 31      Maa like a Goat

Family Storytime: Dig Into Reading
June 5      Dirt
June 12     Ducks
June 19     Undersea Journeys
June 26     It’s Alive: The Wild Side
July 3       Fun in the Sun
July 10      TBA
July 17      TBA
July 24      TBA
July 31      Pirates!

Teen Coffeehouse Poetry Workshop: Saturday, June 8th at 2:00 P.M.  Calling all teen artists, poets, and scholars!  Learn some tips and tricks about writing poetry from St. Augustine poet Carolee Bertisch.  Bring your artwork to share with her as well.  Don’t forget your own mug and we’ll fill it up with hot chocolate, tea, or decaf coffee.

Teen/Tween Survival Cooking: Tuesday, June 11th at 6:00 P.M. St. Augustine Food Faves.  Eat like the Spanish and the Minorcans in the days of old.  Learn to cook shrimp ‘n’ grits ‘n’ corn fritters and celebrate Viva Florida 500.  Please call 827-6900 to register for this free program.

Teen Financial Literacy:   Saturday, June 22nd from 10:00 A.M. to 3 P.M.This workshop is geared towards teens 15 through 19 to assist them in building the strongest financial future we can offer them.  Topics include credit, scholarships, and grants.  Lunch will be provided.  REGISTRATION IS MANDATORY – please call 827-6900 to register for this free program.

Teen Gaming Tournament:  Saturday, June 29th @ 2:00 P.M.  Do you have what it takes to win against our Grand Master?  Practice against your friends all month in our Galaxy Game Room to prepare for this ultimate showdown.  *Check back soon to find out what the featured game will be for June and for a calendar showing the dates and times the Galaxy Room will be open.

Just For Babies:  Every Wednesday at 10:30 A.M. beginning June 5th through July 31st.  Bring your baby or toddler to our fun, musical lapsit program with songs, stories, fingerplays, and parachute games.  We’ll be digging around on the farm this summer as we feature a different farm animal every week.

Family Storytimes:  Every Thursday at 11:00 A.M. beginning June 5th through July 31st.  “Dig Into Reading” with stories, songs, activities, and crafts.  This program is geared towards a wide range of ages including families with toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary-aged children.

Summer Family Film Fest:  Dig up the classics!  Read the book as a family, then watch the movie together at the library.

June 6th at 2:00 P.M. Disney 1964; Take a jolly holiday with a magical nanny in this musical.  Rated G.

June 13th at 2:00 P.M. Disney 1960; A little girl brings good will and happiness to all those she meets.  Rated G.

June 20th at 2:00 P.M. Disney 1954; Live action story of Captain Nemo.  Rated G.

June 27th at 2:00 P.M. 1946; The story of a friendship between a boy and a young deer.  Not rated.

Snack Attack Club:  Kids are invited to join the Southeast Snack Attack Club @ 2:00 P.M. every Friday starting June 7th - August 2nd.  Enjoy a light snack and listen to Miss Kristine read aloud one of the 2013-14 Sunshine State Books for grades 3-5.  *Check back for updates about which books we’ll be reading.

Wacky Wednesday FLYP Kickoff: Wednesday, June 12th at 2:00 P.M. Celebrate the beginning of summer reading with our wackiest Wednesday yet.  Build catapults from scratch and see how far you can launch water balloons at the opposing team.  Snowcones and sunny weather will be provided compliments of the Friends of the Southeast Branch Library.  This event will take place outside in the library courtyard.  YOU WILL GET WET!  Children may wish to wear bathing suits and coverups;  shoes are required.

Bedtime Storytime: Tuesday, June 18th at 6:30 P.M.  Wear your PJs to this special session of our regular Wednesday storytime where we do storytime backwards!  Arts and crafts come first and then we will wind down with some favorite stories.

FLYP Children’s Summer Reading Programs:  Every Wednesday at 2:00 P.M. beginning June 19th through July 31st.  These are hands-on, interactive learning experiences for school-aged children.

Undersea Journeys:   Wednesday, June 19th at 2:00 P.M. Explore the wonders of the ocean. 

It’s Alive! The Wild Side of Florida: Wednesday, June 26th at 2:00 P.M. Featuring the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.