Welcome to the YSG! Youth Service Group is a program that allows you to build skills, accumulate volunteer hours and help the library with programs, planning and more! You must be going into 7th grade to be elligible for this Group.
The application packet (PDF file) includes a letter explaining what YSG is, guidelines for YSG members, the application itself, and a task list for this summer, including dates and times for all programming, as well as other volunteer opportunities like the Summer Reading Registration Table.
If you have any questions, please talk to YSG Coordinator Edith Burney, or Head of Youth & Teen Services Karen Persello .
Our Summer Reading Program is just around the corner, June 7 to July 31. This year our theme is “Dig into Reading” for kids and “Beneath the Surface” for teens. We need your help with registering patrons, handing out prizes & helping with our special events. We can’t do it without you!
Come to the Volunteer Sign-Up & Orientation Session on Wednesday, June 4 or June 5, 3:30-4:15pm in the McKune Meeting Room. At this 45 minute meeting, you learn more about the Summer Reading Program. You will also get a sneak peek at all the great prizes to be given away all summer! Did I mention the YSG Volunteer Party on August 1st that only teen volunteers can attend? We will be having amazing giveaways and raffles just for YSG members!
New This Year: Become A YSG Reading Buddy!
Read to Your Library Buddy is a new program and the library needs your help to make it a success. Volunteer to listen to a child read to you every Thursday during Summer Reading, and help them gain confidence and strengthen their reading skills.
• Read to Your Library Buddy pairs teen and adult volunteers with a (4th grade and lower) child on Thursdays from June 13-July 25 (except July 4th), from 2-3:30 pm, to read anything they want together.
• The program aims to help boost young readers’ skills and get them excited about reading.
• There will be a mandatory training session at the library on June 6 at 3:30 pm led by Lisa Kaemming, Reading Specialist from North Creek Elementary School.
• Volunteers sign up for 90 minutes, but each child has a 15 minute session, so they may see up to 6 children each time.
• Volunteers are not tutors, nor are they teaching how to read, rather, they are listening and encouraging and reading.
• Both volunteers (big buddies) and children (little buddies) may read during a session.
Bring your planner or calendar so you can sign up to help at our special events and schedule your shifts to help with registration.
On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.
The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.
‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.
In Sierra Leone, West Africa, the lights may come on once in a week, with the rest of the month, dark. So, Kelvin Doe made his own battery to power lights in people’s houses from recycled parts he found in the trash. He also made his own FM radio transmitter and a generator to power it so that he can give voice to the youth in his country. David Sengeh discovered Kelvin at an innovation camp he runs in Sierra Leone and invited Kelvin to M.I.T., where David is a PhD student in the Media Lab. Just as Kelvin’s world is expanded by working in the Media Lab, the researchers there had their world expanded by interacting with Kelvin.
3rd Annual Children’s Christmas Bazaar
Saturday, Dec 1st from 10am-3pm
Chelsea First United Methodist Church
128 Park Street
The Children’s Christmas Bazaar is designed to provide a fun shopping experience for children, benefit local artisans, and help children understand that meaningful gifts don’t need to cost a lot of money. All items for sale are handmade or locally made, and each costs $5 or less. The Bazaar is not a fundraiser. Local artisans benefit from the sale of their goods and many people from our community donate their time and talents throughout the year to create items. Net proceeds provide scholarship shopping opportunities for children served by Faith In Action.
Youth Volunteer Positions:Shopping Buddies – 3 shifts available (18 youth/shift) to help children shop, wrap and pay for gifts Wrapping Helpers - Assist children and shopping buddies with wrapping all of the purchased gifts Craft Table Helpers – Assist children with crafts while they wait for their shopping time
Adult Volunteer Positions: Pre-setup – display gifts (Mon-Fri, time TBD) Final setup – Saturday morning Shopping Buddy Trainer – train youth and adult shopping buddies then assist in shopping area as needed Shopping Buddies - help children shop, wrap and pay for gifts Wrapping HelpersLobby GreetersCheck in/Envelopes – assist parents in completing shopping envelopes and pairing children with shopping buddies Hostess/Coffee – Maintain coffee/hot chocolate cart and assist with craft table and/or envelop check in
Craft Table Helpers
Cashiers
Clean up helpers
Please contact Allison Vanderspool at avanderspool@chelseaumc.org or 475-8119 if you have any questions, or if you need help signing up to volunteer at the Bazaar. Everyone who signs up will receive additional information and instructions about the event.
The Dexter and Chelsea libraries provide books about SAT and ACT prep. Chelsea’s books can be found in the Adult Collection on the 2nd Floor under the call number: 378.116
LearningExpress Library – Recommended for: General user. Interactive online learning platform of academic and licensing/certification practice tests, elementary level testing for math and reading. Includes a section that takes users from job assessment to success on the job. A tutorial course series designed to help all learners succeed on the tests they must pass includes immediate scoring, complete answer explanations, and an individualized analysis of practice test results. See these guides for job-specific resources in LearningExpress: Job Search Help Center and Career Road Map. Michigan residents or Michigan library access only.
Sal works through every problem in the first edition of the College Board “Official SAT Study Guide” (ISBN Number: 0-87447-718-2 published in 2004). You should take the practice tests on your own, grade them and then use these videos to understand the problems you didn’t get or to review. Have fun! If you’re using the second edition of the study guide with 10 practice tests, you can still use some of these videos. Practice tests 4-10 in the newer book correspond to tests 2-8 below. http://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat-math
March 2 Success provides FREE educational materials to help students prepare for the SAT and ACT with practice tests and a series of videos. They provide customized lesson plans designed to help students focus on areas of need, allowing them to skip through what they already kow. Link to the March 2 Success website here.
College Board is the official SAT site. Students can take a free practice test or practice with free sample questions. Students will register to take the SAT and can receive their scores at this site. Link to the official CollegeBoard site here.
ACTstudent is the official ACT site. Students can complete free questions of the day, practice test questions, and download free test tips. Students will register to take the ACT and can receive their scores at this site. Link to the official ACT site here.
College Foundation (CFNC) of NC has a free test prep site with resources for SAT, ACT, GRE, and a Vocabulary Builder. In addition, CFNC has a wealth of resources to help you plan, apply, and save for college. Visit the CFNC site here.
I Need A Pencil is a free SAT prep website that offers engaging lessons in reading, math and writing, 800+ practice exam questions, and a score projector to show you how you are predicted to score on the SAT. Visit I Need A Pencil site here.
Last Thursday the library held it’s first Bento Box lunch making event with Beach Middle School’s own Kristi Henry, who runs a Japanese Culture Club after school. Here are some photos from the event!
Kristi began the program with a slide show of the history of Bento. She showed off some of the items she collected from her trip to Japan including a furoshiki cloth, used to carry a bento box.
After the presentation Kristi helped kids prepare their own bento boxes!
At this point in my life being alive is almost synonymous with being a dancer. Was I born to dance? The answer is “yes”. While it is true that most dancers begin at a very young age—I was 3 ½ years old—few dancers continue past middle school. For the serious dancer, training after around age 13 requires hours of studio training each week all year long. Each week, I spend anywhere from 12 to 22 hours training, demonstrating or performing.
Time away from the studio for more than one week can be detrimental to the dedicated dancer. To be a dancer in high school and beyond requires a personal and family commitment that few are willing or able to meet. I am extremely fortunate that I have my family’s complete support and understanding in all that I do because of and for dance.
I am enthused, excited, and engaged in the continual process of discovery in dance. And so, despite the long hours, weeks, months, and years of continuous and arduous training I press on to the next goal, performance, or event.
The events I dance in may take place in different venues but the purpose is the same: to educate and entertain the audience. My dance company’s (Youth Dance Theatre of Michigan) annual benefit performances take place on the large stage in the theatre in front of hundreds of people. But on “Fairy Day” story time (at my local library in Chelsea) my fellow dancers and I perform small pieces of choreography in front of two dozen children too young to read in an intimate room setting. But regardless of the location or size of the stage, I view each performance just as significant as any other. I give my all both in dance and attitude because that is what dancers do.
At some point in my dance training my identity as a dancer became so intertwined with my “self” that the two became inseparable. And so at age 15, it is impossible for me to know any other way to live. It is my time to live and dance. I geek dance because I am a dancer.
