Island Recreation sponsors the San Juan Island Children’s Festival each year.  I last performed for this event in 2004.  Sally, Recreation Director, has tried to have me back several times and the date didn’t work out until this year.

The theme is “Leap off the Page” and encourages kids to pick up a book and read.  So, it was a natural for me to perform my Reading Magic show that uses a lot of characters and situations for popular books.  And of course, I included plenty of just-for-fun magic, too.

The San Juan Island Library had a gigantic replica of “Where the Wild Things Are”.  Thanks to librarian Melina Lagios for taking the fun photo.

The weather was beautiful and taking the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor was very a pleasure.  I’ll do festival shows all day in weather like this!

Green Lake Elementary in Seattle was looking for a fun way to get kids excited for their Science Fair.  Theirs is a non-juried affair, and even parents are welcome to work on the projects with their kids.  They have used – and been very happy – with the Pacific Science Center and Mad Science in the past, but wanted something different that their students hadn’t seen.

Voila!  I brought my Science Magic assembly program to their school.  Thanks to PTA mom extraordinaire Molly who made the arrangements and was there from set-up to take-down.

And if you think the kids had fun, several teachers were falling over and laughing so hard they were crying during my assembly.  Green Lake is an example of my ideal audience:  students who are able to have a great time, but can immediately calm down and be attentive when it’s time to continue.

For more information about my science fair workshops and assembly programs visit www.sciencefairassembly.com or call me toll-free (877) 412-5064 or send e-mail to jeff@edumazement.com.  I’m based in western Washington and perform throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Finally, you need to promote it.  That’s what I’ll focus on here.  I visited Chimacum Primary and Elementary schools this week in Jefferson county.  Elma with the PTSA did a fantastic job of single-handedly coordinate the dates and times for the programs and spreading the word.

• Custom posters (provided free with all of my daytime and evening assembly programs) were posted on the front door and bulletin boards of both schools.
• Outdoor reader boards at both schools displayed the date and time of the FREE Family Night Magic Show.  (This way parents driving past are reminded of this daily.)
• The principal mentioned the evening show while addressing the entire school by intercom.
• A local construction company included information about the show visible from the main highway that runs through the city.  Wow!  How nice of them to do this for the school for free.
• I plug the evening show during my daytime assembly.  (I have a fun way of doing this that insures that kids will go home and try and convince their parents to let them return that evening!)
• Post information about the upcoming assembly on your school’s website, the PTA/booster club website, blog, twitter, and facebook.
• Send home a flier with students a week before the event so parents have advance notice about the special program.
• Include the information on the school calendar (print and online).
• Host one of my motivational-magic assembly programs that same afternoon.  This virtually guarantees high attendance for that evening, as kids go home talking excitedly about what they have just seen.

The result?  Kids and their parents began arriving at the school a full 45 minutes before the show began!  By the time the show began, the entire bleachers were full.  I was totally impressed, as was Elma and the PTA.

“We have never had so many people attend one of our Family Enrichment Nights!  I think doing the assembly during the day really boosted our attendance in the evening.  The kids obviously loved your performance!  It was great for all ages.  My four-year-old and my 10-year-old both loved it!  Jacob said when we got home, ‘Mom, that guy was magic!’  Gavin took his magic book to school so he could read it during the day.  He loved your performance too and said how much his friends loved it.  In fact, he said his friends think I am a cool Mom because I brought you to the school.  Thanks again.  I am so glad we had you come.”
-Shelly Smith, Cedar Valley P. T. A.

“Wow!  What an exciting and unbelievable show.  Our kids, and parents, had nothing but positive comments.  W e even had another school contact us about Jeff as they heard what a great family night event Jeff presented.”
-Tammy Strampe, Highland Hills elementary

“Thank you for a great program and assembly.  I have had very positive feedback from teachers and parents.  The attendance at the evening program was among our best ever and was definitely driven by the assembly.”
-Trish Cooper, PTA, East Ridge Elementary

Download my School Assembly Handbook for more tips and information on hosting successful school assemblies.  It’s free! 

Ready to learn more about bringing my show to your school in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho?  Click here for details on my reading, science, bully prevention, and Family Night school assembly programs.

Post your suggestions in the comment box below for ways you’ve made your Family Night programs a hit.

I presented my Magic Around the World show as part of their school geography night.  Read the full review here.  Learn more about my motivational-magic family night programs throughout Washington state at www.edumazement.com or call toll-free (877) 412-5064.

The last time I performed in Mossyrock was for their Blueberry Festival a couple of years ago.  It’s a beautiful location along rural Highway 12 in Lewis County.  On the way I passed the DeGoede Bulb Farm (not much happening this time of year) and Mayfield Lake.  An unusual light snow that morning gave everything a wintery look.

I arrived in town early and visited the Mossyrock Dam.  It’s very impressive, and the tallest dam in Washington.  It provides power for about 78,000 homes in western Washington.  Fun fact:  the concrete used to build the dam would fill 127,000 dump trucks.  (Don’t even ask how many bags of sackcrete that would be!)

On my way back along Highway 12 I checked out the Mayfield Dam.  Sometime I’d like to take a tour inside one of these power plants.

That evening I performed for the Winlock Lions Club as they celebrated their 65th anniversary.  It was a very fun show at the Hope Grange in Winlock that ended with a standing ovation.

These two videos are from my visit at the end of December to the Renton Highlands Library.  Thanks to librarian Drew and the Friends of the Renton Libraries for making it possible!  It was part of a busy triple-header as I also visited the Kenmore Library and Kingsgate Library (Kirkland) that day.

Did you know…

• The Pacific Coast Association of Magicians named me Best Children’s Magician at their annual convention… three consecutive years.
• The Olympian newspaper selected me as their Best Family Entertainer in their Best of South Sound Awards, the only time a magician has received this distinction.
• 2012 marks my twentieth year performing for libraries.  It’s true; my first library shows were for the Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater Timberland Libraries in the summer of 1992.

These programs aren’t just for the kiddos, either.  My show has been called “sophisticated enough for adults, yet clean enough for kids.” Even teens who are normally “too cool” for magic will be fully engaged, guaranteed.  Click a link to learn more about my magic shows for libraries, motivational  school assembly programs, and birthday party magic shows.  For adults, I offer magic shows for private parties and business events.  Call me in Olympia at (360) 412-5064 or send e-mail to jeff@edumazement.com.

Schools typically celebrate Catholic Schools Week with Masses, open houses and activities for students, families, parishioners and the community at large.

The theme is faith, academics, and service; three priorities that Catholic schools establish that make them stand out from other educational institutions.  Children are taught faith – not just the basics of Christianity, but how to have a relationship with God.  Academics, which in Catholic schools are held to very high standards, help each child reach his or her potential.  Service, the giving of one’s time and effort to help others, is taught both as an expression of faith and good citizenship.

Thanks to Lori with the Immaculate Conception School PTO for the wonderful audio review.  Listen to it at http://tvider.com/view/76361.  Her school hosted me for their “Student Appreciation Day” and the PTO provided popcorn for the kids after the Science Magic show.

If you’re looking for a fun and educational way to celebrate Catholic Schools Week, please check out my motivational assembly programs and Family Night magic shows.

Newcastle Elementary in Bellevue invited me to perform for their “Where in the World?” geography night.  PTSA leader Stina and her husband saw me perform my Magic Around the World show over the summer for one of the King County Libraries and knew it would be the perfect addition.

The Newcastle PTSA is wonderful example of a parent organization that really does it right.  Last year I performed my Reading Magic show as part of their evening Literacy Night.  This time the theme was geography.   The evening opened with a pizza available for a very reasonable fee.  Next, I performed my Magic Around the World show.  Then, it was off to the “Geography Scavenger Hunt.”

Maps, puzzles, quiz stations, and hands-on activity stations were set up around the gym.  Kids were very interested.  What caught my eye most was the “Down-Under Map of the World.”  In it, south is up and north is down.  And why not?  there is no “up and down” in real life; the world is a sphere.  It was fascinating looking at the map with this perspective.

Stina, the PTSA coordinator for the evening, asked for my input on interesting facts that could be combined into their geography quiz.  Fun facts from my show were answers to some of the quiz questions that were part of the scavenger hunt.  Several times during my show kids would snatch up their pen or pencil and furiously write an answer down

Although my Magic Around the World program isn’t one of the three main educational/motivational shows I offer for schools, I can bring it out of “retirement” for special events like this.  Details about the show are online at www.edumazement.com/world.html.

A big factor in the success of a school Science Fair depends on how the Fair is introduced and presented to students.  Sending home a sheet of instructions titled “Ten Ways to Help Your Child with a Science Project” doesn’t cut it!

South Bay Elementary in Lacey had me perform my Science Magic assembly program to help kick off their Science Expo.   Fifth grade teacher Christine Rayburn runs the Expo.  Last year the 3 – 6th grades gathered in the gymnasium to watch a video.  Unfortunately, the video was old, the sound quality was poor, and it didn’t exactly get students fired up to explore science on their own.

This year Christine wanted to make a change.  She had me present my Science Magic assembly program and tie it in to their upcoming Science Expo.  As part of my assembly teachers all receive Science Magic Class Activity Sheets, a cut-out Levitating Magician (based on the principle of center of mass), and one Science Magic DVD for the school library.  These free resources make it super-easy for teachers to transfer the fun and excitement from the assembly back to the classroom.  And, the fun experiements in the Activity Sheets and DVD can be duplicated at home or in the classroom.  Listen to Christine’s comments at http://bit.ly/w27ywJ.

The results of my visit won’t be known for a couple more months, but I’m hoping that many of the South Bay students are more excited to ask scientific questions, make hypotheses, conduct research, and come to conclusions as they participate in the Science Expo.

I just put together several mock-ups for my poster/artwork for my library programs.  I’m curious to know what YOU think.  All photos are thanks to my friend and Tacoma photographer Rick Anderson with Bruno Photography.

Dream On!

A book on magic inspired him to learn the art of magic a quarter of a century ago.  Today, Jeff Evans’ dream is a reality, and he brings an outrageously fun, new magic show to the library celebrating the magic of reading.  Woven throughout the mysterious tricks is the message that anything you want to learn can be found in books.  Jeff attempts to recreate one of his childhood dreams; being suspended in mid-air.  So amazing, you’ll have to pinch yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming!

I’m also still deciding on what to call my program: “Dream On!” or “Dream It, Read It, Do It”. What do you think? Please post comments below. Feel free to leave feedback on anything; the show description, title, graphics, photos, etc.  Thank you!