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!
Showing posts with label Tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tea. Show all posts
Friday, September 18, 2015
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Food Science: Honey, a sweet success
I talked about how we were doing honey science here at the library, but I did not mention how it went because we had not done the program yet. It went really well! We had a smaller group of teens, but most of them were really invested in learning about honey and what makes it so special. I got to share with the teens why honey never goes bad, different tasting honey, what density and viscosity is, and of course honey cookies.
These things were all exciting for the teens, as some of them knew that honey never went bad but did not know why that was and some of them had honey before but never different flavors. It was great to expose them to these aspects of honey and I think the information will "stick" with them. (Especially the flavors of honey, wildflower was unanimously voted as a bad flavor. Who would have guessed!)
Honey cookies was a great way to end this science, and they noted some differences in flavor and wanted the recipe to take home and continue making these cookies! If anyone wants this recipe, the links, or the handouts I used, please feel free to email me at dstates@yorklibraries.org
Also, check out these great photos from the science provided by one of our teens!
Dawn states: I am stuck on putting honey in my tea!
One of my teens took some awesome photos, but there is one in there of me checking my notes and some other silly madness! Cracked me up!
These things were all exciting for the teens, as some of them knew that honey never went bad but did not know why that was and some of them had honey before but never different flavors. It was great to expose them to these aspects of honey and I think the information will "stick" with them. (Especially the flavors of honey, wildflower was unanimously voted as a bad flavor. Who would have guessed!)
Honey cookies was a great way to end this science, and they noted some differences in flavor and wanted the recipe to take home and continue making these cookies! If anyone wants this recipe, the links, or the handouts I used, please feel free to email me at dstates@yorklibraries.org
Also, check out these great photos from the science provided by one of our teens!
Dawn states: I am stuck on putting honey in my tea!
One of my teens took some awesome photos, but there is one in there of me checking my notes and some other silly madness! Cracked me up!
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Poet Tea Tuesday: Part Three Black out Poetry!
Black out poetry is a fun way to get the teens to look at what is important to leave in, as well as what is important to leave out. After all, choosing the right word is sometimes the hardest part of writing! Black out poetry looks at this concept in a interesting and creative way.
All that is needed is some discarded book or newspaper pages, some sharpies, and some creativity. Have the teens select a page, and then black out words to create a poem with the words left. Black out poetry is cool on some other levels too, since it combines reusing and art into the piece.
The teens who participated in this made some really amazing creations, and later when we had some more poets visit, they were super excited to try this out! It is engaging for all levels to participate in and it helps teens who do not consider themselves poets realize that they too can create poetry. They just need to find the right words to put together! (Or leave out!)
For an example of black out poetry, more information, or general questions, email me at dstates@yorklibraries.org
What is one of your favorite types of poetry? Leave a comment!
Dawn states: Black out poetry is my favorite!
All that is needed is some discarded book or newspaper pages, some sharpies, and some creativity. Have the teens select a page, and then black out words to create a poem with the words left. Black out poetry is cool on some other levels too, since it combines reusing and art into the piece.
The teens who participated in this made some really amazing creations, and later when we had some more poets visit, they were super excited to try this out! It is engaging for all levels to participate in and it helps teens who do not consider themselves poets realize that they too can create poetry. They just need to find the right words to put together! (Or leave out!)
For an example of black out poetry, more information, or general questions, email me at dstates@yorklibraries.org
What is one of your favorite types of poetry? Leave a comment!
Dawn states: Black out poetry is my favorite!
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Poet Tea Tuesday
I am very passionate about poetry and its ability to move and connect people. Every year at the library where I work, there is a poetry contest. Children and teens are able to enter their poetry and then they are able to come read their poetry at the event. It is a really amazing event that I got to witness this year. In preparation and leading up to the event, it seemed like a good idea to have some poetry nights with the teens until the poetry contest. This would help them realize that they too can write poetry and have a piece to enter into the contest, and it would make poetry fun and accessible to them. Because of this, Poet Tea Tuesdays came about!
The idea for Poet Tea Tuesday is simple: have hot water, tea, and hot cocoa and then provide an active or passive type of poetry for the teens to do. This is a great program for colder months, because the teens can show up, write a poem, get something warm to drink and hang out and discuss their poems.
Since I think poetry is awesome at any time, here are some ideas to get a similar program started!
Poetry Cubes: Find a simple paper box template, add images and words, and then have the teens cut them out and assemble the boxes. Roll the box, and whatever image or word appears they have to include it in a poem or write a poem about it.
Post-it note Poetry: I really like this one! Have the teens all write a poem on a post-it note. To keep it interesting, provide different sizes and colors of post-it notes. They can then post the poem on a wall of the library. (Encourage library appropriate language, most teens do this anyway if the idea is already in place. Also, if they are comfortable with you, they will share their poetry work and you can double check that it is appropriate. I did not really worry about this too much, I appreciate expression, and my advice is to put up the library appropriate ones, but if a teen writes something that isn't have them take that one home and write another one for the library. Look at that you just got a teen to write two poems instead of one! Hurrah!)
Last idea, and stay tuned for more: Magnetic poetry! Provide a kit and several metal objects and let the teens create! Think of the largest metal thing that is in the library that you can provide for the teens (book cart, chair, bookshelf, refrigerator maybe not so much) and let them make a poem on that. I had some really amazing poems from this session, from cat poems (yay!) to really deep poetry all from those magnetic word kits. They are more than just magnets!
What is your favorite poem or poet? Leave a comment!
Dawn states: poetry is awesome! dstates@yorklibraries.org
The idea for Poet Tea Tuesday is simple: have hot water, tea, and hot cocoa and then provide an active or passive type of poetry for the teens to do. This is a great program for colder months, because the teens can show up, write a poem, get something warm to drink and hang out and discuss their poems.
Since I think poetry is awesome at any time, here are some ideas to get a similar program started!
Poetry Cubes: Find a simple paper box template, add images and words, and then have the teens cut them out and assemble the boxes. Roll the box, and whatever image or word appears they have to include it in a poem or write a poem about it.
Post-it note Poetry: I really like this one! Have the teens all write a poem on a post-it note. To keep it interesting, provide different sizes and colors of post-it notes. They can then post the poem on a wall of the library. (Encourage library appropriate language, most teens do this anyway if the idea is already in place. Also, if they are comfortable with you, they will share their poetry work and you can double check that it is appropriate. I did not really worry about this too much, I appreciate expression, and my advice is to put up the library appropriate ones, but if a teen writes something that isn't have them take that one home and write another one for the library. Look at that you just got a teen to write two poems instead of one! Hurrah!)
Last idea, and stay tuned for more: Magnetic poetry! Provide a kit and several metal objects and let the teens create! Think of the largest metal thing that is in the library that you can provide for the teens (book cart, chair, bookshelf, refrigerator maybe not so much) and let them make a poem on that. I had some really amazing poems from this session, from cat poems (yay!) to really deep poetry all from those magnetic word kits. They are more than just magnets!
What is your favorite poem or poet? Leave a comment!
Dawn states: poetry is awesome! dstates@yorklibraries.org
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