Food Science! Tea!

Last night we got to explore the science of tea, which was pretty interesting. The teens divided into groups and then tested oolong (which means bird dragon), green tea, and Earl Grey. To find out what the teens discovered and what experiments they did with  tea, read on!

Teen Art Take Over

The teens I work with are super creative, to the point where they put me and my cats (who actually do paint with their paws using watercolors) in absolute awe of their creative efforts. The most recent Art Club idea that one of the teens had was to make sculptures using cardboard. I thought this sounded cool and I wanted to see more. If you want to see more too, read on!

Article on Teen Services

At our most recent Youth Services meeting I got to review some awesome points about working with Teens. My talk was based on this amazing article: http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/2015/07/30/10-questions-to-ask-about-your-teen-services/. I highly recommend this article to not only Teen Services librarians, but to other librarians who come into contact with teen library users. It has a ton of great information, and really addresses the main concerns and things teens are looking for within a library.

Here are the things I covered at the meeting:

Teen Space (even just being welcoming if you do not have a designated teen space/quiet spaces, some libraries do not because of size constraints.)

Fine leniency (This is case by case and may need to be discussed with a director. Try to keep fines as least detrimental to the teens as possible, teens generally do not have money! This is also a great conversation starter with teens, because you can really find out ways that the teens can pay things off, for example, maybe giving a list of a great manga series the library needs in lieu of money or shelving books. It also encourages the teens to be responsible and start working with money in a less high-pressure environment.)

Get teen input on activities, materials, magazines, books

Outreach Find out where the teens want to go, what areas of the community they want to reach out too, and how to make that happen. Schools are an obvious and good place to start outreach with the teens, but when possible find out where it is they go or want to go.

Positive attitude/Positive language

Cater to teens interests An example of this is polling them for different activities. I do this with our Art Club by giving the teens a picture list of different art activities to choose from. It gets them interested, invested, and makes it more likely they will show up to be part of Art Club! This can apply to lots of other interests and activities, it is so important to just get teens involved in the conversation and provide ways to cater to their interests. 

Talk to them like people ( You do not have to be cool or anything just be you!) If you do not know what lingo a teen is using, do not try to use it too! Instead, use this as a conversation starter by asking them what the word/thing/phrase is that they are talking about. I have done this with the teens, and trust me, it is infinitely better than trying to be cool and talk like they are without really knowing what it means. 

BE GENUINE!!

That is all I really have, I do not think I can put it better than this article, so please read and leave your thoughts in the comments!

Email me to talk more Teen Services: dstates@yorklibraries.org 

Dawn states: What is your best teen tip? 

Equality Fest

The beginning of this month the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) group got to do something really unique and cool. They were able to attend the local Equality Fest that promoted equality of all kinds. I was so proud that the teens from GSA wanted to take part in this and that they showed up to help out and make a stand for equality! Read on for more information and pictures!

Food Science: Smoothies

Think that smoothies are just a yummy, fruity treat? Think again! Smoothies can actually be really scientific! We studied this in the most recent Food Science program and find out about some of the ingredients in smoothies and how these ingredients have scientific properties that impact our bodies.
The first thing that the teens did was create a control sample that they would use for later comparison and analysis on the ingredients of the smoothies. They took a small cup of water and a glucose test strip and tested the water for any trace of sugars. (Thankfully and of course, there were none) They then used a glucose strip and tested the sugars of a glucose tab that was dissolved in a cup of water. These brought back results of high sugars! These strips were saved for later looking at with the results from the smoothies.

Control Strips 

Next, the teens divided in two groups and each made a different smoothie recipe. The one group made a sugar packed smoothie and the other group made a not so sugary smoothie. They took glucose strips and tested the contents of their smoothies and found out how high or low each was in glucose and then compared this to their control samples earlier. The results surprised them! We were then able to talk about what glucose is and how it interacts in the body. We were also able to discuss what lactose was because the one smoothie recipe called for milk. There was a great deal of science involved, and at the end the teens created their own smoothie recipe. It was pretty cool!
Dawn states: I love smoothies!
Email me for information, the handout used, or any other smoothie information! dstates@yorklibraries.org

smoothie making and science! 

Swinter!

A party that the teens have a lot of fun with is the Swinter party. It is a summer/winter mashup party and takes place in the summer. Many of the activities featured are typical winter activities, such as make your own hot cocoa, paper snowflakes, snow globes, and finger knitting. This party is a lot of fun to plan, and could be implemented in your own library very easily! Paper snowflakes can be made with little effort, hot cocoa mixes help with the make your own cocoa, and finger knitting is not nearly as hard as it looks!
Check out the photos from the event, the teens had such a good time with winter in summer...or swinter!
Email me for more ideas or a party outline from out Swinter Party! dstates@yorklibraries.org
Dawn states: I like summer better than winter!

Swinter Crew

Laundry basket Relay

Snow Globes

Snow Globes

Ice Melt Challenge

Prizes from Ice Melt Challenge 

Paper Snowflake Making 

Laundry Basket Relay