October 2011 Newsletter

Greetings from Flow Circus
Flow Circus Teen Kits
New Opportunity for NC Libraries
New Resources on Teen Development
A+ Teaching Fellow
Upcoming Tours

Greetings from Flow Circus: Florida to Alaska, South Dakota to Pennsylvania......and that was just September! It's been a fun month of performing and presenting at professional conferences. We had great groups at our sessions for the ACA-Southeastern Conference in Tampa and we look forward to seeing some of you at the Pennsylvania Library Association Conference next week. If you want to keep up with where we are going next, become a fan of the Flow Circus Facebook page.

We also wanted to say thank you to all of you that took time to complete the SRP 2011 Survey last month. We had some wonderful suggestions and feedback from libraries. If you haven't had a chance to complete it, it's not too late. Go to FlowCircus.com/survey. Thanks!

Playfully yours,
Paul & Dawn



Flow Circus Teen Kits: We have been getting great feedback from libraries and summer camps using the Flow Circus Skill Toy and Juggling Kits this summer and fall. Easy to implement and great tool for recruitment are just some of the things we've heard. If you are looking for a novel and active program for your tweens and teens, check out FlowCircus.com/teenkits to learn more. We recently updated the site with excerpts from the program guide, a sample video, and a recent reference from a YMCA camp director about his experience with the program.



The kits contain 20 sets of high quality, durable props, Flow Circus instructional videos, and a program guide with resources to help you create and maintain a juggling or skill toy program at your library, camp, or afterschool program. The cost of the kit is $475 plus shipping.

Feel free to contact Paul@FlowCircus.com if you have any questions or would like more information about the kits.



New Opportunity for NC Libraries: You may remember that this past spring, we ran a Skill Toy Kit giveaway for school and public libraries across the U.S. We had over 300 entries in the contest and wished we had more kits to giveaway. Because we are based in North Carolina and we had close to 100 entries from our state alone, we have decided to pilot a new program in 2012. We will make one Skill Toy Kit available to NC libraries as a loaner kit. Twelve sites will be selected to have the kit at their library for one month. The only cost to the library will be to ship it to the next location on the last day of the month. We're hoping this pilot proves successful so we can extend it to other regions in the future.

If you are a tween/teen programmer at a library in North Carolina interested in participating in the loaner program, complete this Entry Form by October 31st. Only one entry per library please. We will announce the 2012 loaner kit schedule on December 1st. If you have any questions, contact Dawn@FlowCircus.com.



New Resources on Teen Development: Many of you face the struggle of creating programming that appeals to teens and brings them through your doors. On the other hand, many of you have teens coming, but then have colleagues complaining about "those troublemakers." Even though we all went through the phase in our own development, adolescence still proves to be a mystery to most adults.

We thought we would share two new resources presenting research on the teenage brain. The cover story for the October 2011 issue of National Geographic is titled Teenage Brain and provides information on how brain development affects decision making and behavior. NPR then did an interview with the author of the article and brain researchers titled Understanding the Mysterious Teenage Brain.

Hopefully, these are helpful to you as you program for and advocate on behalf of your teens.



A+ Teaching Fellow: Just wanted to share the exciting news that this year, Dawn was invited to become an A+ Teaching Fellow. The A+ Schools Program is whole school reform model based developed in North Carolina. "Grounded in the A+ Essentials, the central vision of A+ is to create enhanced learning opportunities for all students by using arts-integrated instruction which incorporates Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and other theories of brain research." Creating a school culture of collaboration, enriched assessment, experiential learning, and arts integration is key to an A+ School.

As an A+ teaching fellow, Dawn will be drawing on her experiences in teaching, psychology, museum education, and informal learning environments to conduct professional development sessions for schools throughout the state. To learn more about the A+ Program, visit their website.