Greetings Elementary School Assemblies Coordinator,

First of all . . . THANKS!

Thank you for taking the time to investigate our highly interactive programs.

My name is Mike Vondruska and I am the director of the ILLINOIS JUGGLING INSTITUTE, INC. I am sure you will agree, experience counts. Since 1978, I have had the privilege to personally teach juggling skills to over 1 million students in more than 1800 schools in 14 states and 3 provinces of Canada. My educational and entertaining programs are called, KEEP LOOKING UP . . . A Juggling Experience.

These programs are quite different from most other school programs. Why? Because I work with groups of up to 100 students at a time throughout the school day teaching all of them juggling skills. That's right. Every elementary school student in my 1 day program can learn juggling skills.

THEY ALL PARTICIPATE! Students learn best by doing, not by just watching. The kids use colorful nylon juggling scarves. I call them "training wheels" for juggling because they fall slowly. In this way, your young students can see the pattern clearly and have plenty of time to react to the next step. As you can probably imagine, it is a great eye-hand coordination activity.

I also have programs where the younger students see a 45 minute juggling and unicycle show which teaches them that the way to learn new things is by trying over and over again. In the process, many mistakes will be made. The lesson is - "mistakes are totally OK as long as you keep trying." The older students will actually come to the gym or multi-purpose room by grade levels to learn juggling skills, firsthand. I can teach up to 100 students per 45 to 60 minute session. Don't worry, the upper-grade level students will also get to see a short entertaining juggling demonstration specifically tailored to their age level prior to their "hands-on" experience.

I realize in your quest to find assembly programs, you may just be interested in an entertaining performance. That can be arranged. I can perform my 45 minute comedy, juggling, and unicycle show for those special school occasions when you just want the kids to "have a good time!" Since 1978, I have performed in over 5,000 shows ranging from schools, to town festivals, to circuses, to cruise ships (NCL, Princess Cruise Lines).

Please note:

My "hands-on" juggling programs are even more effective if the PE teachers at your school already teach some juggling. Over the years, countless PE teachers have watched the teaching techniques I use for the different grade levels at their school. Many have told me afterwards that my program has given them new ideas for their own teaching of this worthwhile eye-hand coordination activity. I also give them a free copy of my 42 page, Teaching Juggling Skills manual specifically written for PE teachers. So think of it this way, not only am I teaching the students at your school, I am also conducting an in-service "how to teach juggling skills" workshop for the PE teachers. Now juggling skills can be taught more effectively at your school for years to come.

Lastly, you may want to incorporate my Family Juggling Night Program with the daytime program where all the parents will learn juggling skills too. That evening, I come back for one more hour of family fun. The students will get to perform their new-found juggling talents for their parents, the parents will all learn to juggle with our "slow-motion" nylon juggling scarves, and I will also entertain everyone with some more juggling. As they say, "the family the juggles together, snuggles together." It's a fun evening with everyone playing together.

If you have questions and/or are ready to schedule a program, just give me a holler. Call me at 815/725-9670 or email me at iji@learntojuggle.net.

Enthusiastically,

Mike Vondruska

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