February Story Time schedule for the Northeast Branch

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Children’s Services Librarian Erica Delavan will be in schools (talking about the Global Reading Challenge) and on vacation for part of the month of February, so the Story Time dates are few:

Toddler Story Time (Geared for ages 1-3)
Thursdays, February 2, 9 at 10:15 & 11:15 a.m.

Preschool Story Time (Geared for ages 3-5)
Tuesdays, February 7, 28 at 10:30 a.m.

Pajamas & Puppets (All Ages)
Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 p.m.

The Northeast Branch of the Seattle Public Library is located at 6801 35th Avenue NE, the same block as Wedgwood Top Pot Doughnuts (apropos of nothing).

Filed Under: Events, Kids, Northeast Branch, Northeast Seattle, Public Schools

January Story Time schedule for the Northeast Branch

January 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Here are the Story Times for the month of January at the Northeast Branch (6801 35th Avenue NE), via an email from Erica, the Children’s Services Librarian:

Toddler Story Time

(Geared for ages 1-3)

Thursdays, January 5, 12, 19, 26 at 10:15 & 11:15 a.m.

 

Preschool Story Time

(Geared for ages 3-5)

Tuesdays, January 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 at 10:30 a.m.

 

Pajamas & Puppets

(All Ages)

Wednesday, January 18 at 7:00 p.m.

 

Ravenna Blog highly recommends the Pajamas and Puppets Story Time — especially if you can get Junior to go with your Significant Other and leave you at home (pro-tip).

Filed Under: Kids, Northeast Branch, Northeast Seattle Tagged With: , , ,

Close out the year with some Northeast Branch Story Time

December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment


A snowy Northeast Branch in November 2010

Here’s the schedule for the last Story Times of 2011 at the Northeast Branch of the Seattle Public Library (6801 35th Ave NE):

Pajamas & Puppets
(All Ages)
Wednesday, December 21 at 7:00 p.m.

Preschool Story Time
(Geared for ages 3-5)
Tuesday, December 27 at 10:30 a.m.

Toddler Story Time
(Geared for ages 1-3)
Thursday, December 29 at 10:15 & 11:15 a.m.

Filed Under: Kids, Northeast Branch, Northeast Seattle Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Libraries Reopen Tuesday, NE Branch Story Times Off Until October

September 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Northeast Library reopens on Tuesday!  Yay!

Strap the kids into the mini-van Volvo station wagon and head on down to 6801 35th Ave NE to return that overdue copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon, but if you’re expecting to go to Story Time…

Tall as a Tree!

…you’re out of luck.

Wide as a...wait a second...

Children’s Librarian Erica Delavan will be spending some of her time this month catching up from the closure and visiting local elementary schools.  Story Times will resume the first week of October.

Erica recommends, in the meantime:

Begin with Books kits: Check out thematic kits for toddlers and preschoolers. More information on how to reserve these kits is here. [http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=audience_children_parents_themekits]

That link will be open on Tuesday, too.

Filed Under: Seattle Public Library Tagged With: , , , ,

Your Busy Weekend for August 28-29

August 27, 2010 By 1 Comment

You could clean your garage this weekend, like you’ve been meaning to do for MONTHS. But here are some other options for your weekend that you might enjoy a little more than that:

SATURDAY

  • Make an oven powered by the sun.
    • Solar Cooker class, University Heights Center, 5031 University Way NE; 10am-2pm; $10, register by calling 527-4278
  • Go to a winery open house in Roosevelt.
    • Eight Bells Winery open house, 6213B Roosevelt Way NE; 11am-5pm; please RVSP to rsvp [at] 8bellswindery.com
  • And/Or stay in Ravenna and taste wine.
  • Go play, eat, run, dance, paddle, bounce and more, all at the same place.

SUNDAY

  • Go to story time, no matter how old you are.
    • Adult Storytime, Ravenna Third Place Books, 6504 20th Ave. NE; bring a short work from your favorite author or poet to read aloud

BOTH

Anything else to add? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll edit the post!

Filed Under: Events, Food, Kids, Maple Leaf, Ravenna, Roosevelt, Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Public Library Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

What You CAN Do During the Library Closure

August 27, 2010 By 1 Comment

In case you didn’t know, in case the Ravenna Blog is your ONLY source of news — we’re flattered, certainly, but we DON’T recommend it — ALL branches of the Seattle Public library are CLOSED next week.

There is a big ol’ list of SPL services that won’t work during the furlough (see above link for details), and many other news sources have listed them. The Ravenna Blog shall not.  We prefer to think positively about these things.

THUS, here are the Seattle Public Library services that WILL work during the closure:

  • The online catalog!  But you can’t place holds.
  • “My Account” information! See your fines, use the week off to find cash to pay them.
  • Calendar of Events!
  • SPL Mobile! The library system’s mobile phone app.
  • Databases! Who doesn’t enjoy a romp through Consumer Reports?!
  • Downloadable media! Got an e-reader of some sort? You may not even notice there’s a furlough happening.
  • Digital collections! Photos from AYP, historical Seattle, and the like.
  • Library BLOGS! Specifically “Push to Talk” for teens and “Shelf Talk” for adults.
  • Library podcasts!

There you are! Your list of CAN DO for the furlough week. If you need anything else, you’ve got through Sunday, August 29.

GO GO GO!

I'd wager the parking here still works, too.

Filed Under: Ravenna, Seattle Public Library, Wedgwood Tagged With: , , , ,

How to Stay Home This Weekend AND Have Fun

June 25, 2010 By 1 Comment

Another (hopefully) regular weekly post for you: Things to do in Ravenna (or close to) on the weekends.  And we’ll throw in a forecast, too.

Saturday options (AM clouds, PM sun; high of 72!):

Sunday options (partly cloudy; high of 73!):

Saturday AND Sunday:

  • Ravenna Third Place Books is having one of their big ol’ 40% Off All Used Books Sales this weekend. B.Y.O.Wheelbarrow, note the flyers.

The forecasts are via weather.com, for the 98115.

Filed Under: Events, Fundraiser, Kids, Seattle Public Library

Mid-Year City Budget Reduction Results

June 14, 2010 By 2 Comments

With a projected $11.7 million mid-year general fund shortfall forecast back in April, the City of Seattle decided to do a little budget trimming. The results were released today.  You can check out the presentation to the Seattle City Council Budget Committee here (PDF).

Here’s a bit of a summary, with a little emphasis on NE Seattle:

  • No reductions in Fire (“In light of tragic events over the weekend,” full review of safety implications due to cuts is requested)
  • Parks: No pools or community centers closed; wading pools partially closed
    • Ravenna Wading Pool closed for the year due to cuts
    • Dahl Wading Pool to open only three days a week, due to cuts
  • Library funding reduced by 2.4%, but current hours kept for all branches
  • Layoffs of 53.2 FTEs (full-time equivalents) included only 13 filled positions (remaining 43.9 FTEs are vacant).
  • SDOT has its own internal 2010 shortfall of $6.6 million; total SDOT shortfall (adding its share of the general fund shortfall) is $7.8 million.
  • ‘Rainy Day’ fund is down to $10 million (from $30 million at the beginning of 2009)
  • Mid-year changes should capture $12.4 million; the extra $700,000 will go toward filling the gaping maw that is the 2011 shortfall.

There is still a $50 million general fund shortfall forecast for 2011. Projected reductions proposed for general fund departments look like this:

  • Police and Fire – 1-5%
  • Human Services – 5-10%
  • Other agencies – 9.5-14.5%

And we were crying over wading pools?

Filed Under: Seattle Public Library

Story Time Love Post

May 18, 2010 By 2 Comments

This week marks the end of story time at the Northeast Branch until mid-June. A month doesn’t seem like that long of a break, but it IS for two reasons:

1.  My toddler has no sense of time (a day and a half is, like, FOREVER).

2. Erica Delavan, the Children’s Services Librarian, is GREAT.

My tot and I regularly frequent the 11:15 a.m. Toddler Story Time on Thursdays. And we end up regularly sharing the meeting room with upwards of 70 other people (mix of adults and other tots).

That’s 70+ kids and adults (140+ total, if you include the 10:15 a.m. shift) all moving and talking and crying and cooing, while Erica guides us all through a familiar itinerary (including two stories and a new song with a shared theme, the early literacy skill and letter of the day, a story on the felt board, old and familiar songs to open and close the story time, and a stamp on the hand at the end), and does it WELL.

So it was a special treat to attend last month’s very first Pajama Story Time (start time of 7 p.m.) with only 35 other people.

Only 35 of us! We could hear the stories! Clearly! There was room to sprawl and dance! And, it turns out, Erica can really sing!

We sang the Bears in the Bed song (…so they all rolled over and one fell out…there were four in the bed and the little one said, “I’m crowded…roll over…”) and that’s when I realized, this woman can sing!  I’d never really heard her voice before, over all the moving and talking and crying and cooing. She even had this bluesy take on the song that really added something.

And, lucky for you, dear reader, there’s one of these PJ story times left: This Wednesday, May 19, at 7 p.m. The dress code? Comfy PJs. Feet optional.

Just don’t bring too many of your friends, okay?

Northeast Branch – Seattle Public Library, 6801 35th Ave. N.E.

Filed Under: Events, Kids, Seattle Public Library

Storytime is back!

March 4, 2010 By 1 Comment

Now that the February is over, Storytime is finally back at the Northeast Branch of the library.  Huzzah!

The master list is here, largely the same as it’s been in the past. But there are a few new dates I want to highlight (descriptions from the website):

  • Family Story Time – Early learning activities with books, music and movement for parents, care givers and a wider age-range of children.  Wednesdays, March 10,  April 7 and May 5 from 4-4:30pm. And Saturdays, March 20 and May 15, 10:30-11am.
  • Pajama Story Time - All ages are welcome for stories, songs, dances and more. The children’s librarian will be wearing her pajamas. You can wear yours, too! Wednesdays, April 21 and May 19, 7-7:30pm.

I can’t thank the library gods enough for ADDING hours to our branch of the library, versus taking them away.

UPDATE: Talked to the Northeast Branch’s children’s librarian today. Time on the library website was incorrect for Pajama Story Time. 7pm is correct.

Filed Under: Kids, Seattle Public Library