New Blog Feature: Wowza!

We're always on the lookout for the latest-and-greatest creative websites, widgets and games on the web, and we REALLY like the ones that make us say, "WOWZA! That's super-cool!" So with that, here is post number one of our newest weekly blog feature: the Wowza!

This week's Wowza came a-knockin' at our door recently through a friend of a friend (everybody's got 'em): JamStudio.com! Join for free to create and listen to your own music. How cool is that? We even went and found a useful video to help us make the most of this neat little web tool. Mix and match instruments, chords and sounds to build your own personal theme song - enjoy!

Rumor on the Street is...

...that TEDxSMU and TEDxKids are back - October 15 & 16. And they’re looking for creative types--artists, architects and designers--to submit ideas for a performance, installation or interactive-based project. The winning project will receive a $1,500 honorarium plus up to $7,500 for project fees, materials and resources. But time's running out…deadline is July 8. Check out the details at www.TEDxSMU.org/art-commission.

Our Daily Reading List

At Big Thought, we believe it's important to stay informed about everything that's going on in the arts, education, public policy and the news in general. Our work demands that we be familiar with the trends in our industry and the latest research; to keep our knowledge current, we read several blogs every day.

Our Internal Communications Manager scours the web daily to send the staff and board of Big Thought the "Daily News" - a compendium of education, policy and arts-related articles and blog posts from the likes of Eduwonk, the Dallas Morning News' Dallas ISD Blog and Americans for the Arts' Artsblog, among others. These articles help us stay abreast of everything from TAKS score reports for the Dallas ISD to opportunities for advocacy on the state and national levels to studies on the benefits of charter and early-college schools.

Since our work is so deeply entrenched in the North Texas community, we also find time to read local news blogs like D Magazine's FrontBurner and SweetCharity, KERA's Art & Seek and the Dallas Observer's Unfair Park. In addition, since our work is centered on increasing the number and quality of creative learning experiences for children of all ages, we frequent local "Mommyblogs" like the Fort Worth Star Telegram's Mom2MomDFW and BurbMom to read about what local parents do with their children and what additional educational opportunities they're seeking. These resources keep us in tune with the sentiment of our local community, which is very important for our work.

Finally, we like to indulge our inner nerd every once in awhile with blogs like Imagine That! from Psychology Today and the TED blog. Imagine That! always features great new statistics and scientific evidence for the importance of imagination and creative learning on brain development - topics dear to our hearts, minds and mission. The TED blog brings us inspiration through their coverage of wide-ranging topics from education policy to healthcare to climate change.

If you are a parent, educator or donor interested in staying current like us, check out our brand-spankin'-new Daily Reading List on the right-hand side of the blog. It's still a work in progress, but it features many of the blogs and websites we visit daily to keep ourselves in-the-know. Have ideas/suggestions about other useful blogs? We love to discover new things! Leave us a comment to tell us what you read!

Get to Know: Library Live!

Library Live! has been a part of our program lineup for 16 years. This free monthly pre-literacy program takes place in every Dallas Public Library branch, where Big Thought artists present interactive, educational and culture-based literacy activities for children and their families through music, dance, storytelling and visual art.

This year, Library Live! is sponsored by Target, a corporation known for its generosity and dedication to community giving. The program is overseen by Ann Symns, Big Thought's Program Operations Manager. Each month, Ann books different artists for each of the 26 branches of the Dallas Public Library. Just in the past month, preschoolers in Dallas have had the chance to make a song with musician Doc Gibbs, practice yoga with Lynn Moon, learn about nursery rhymes with Dorayne Breedlove and much more.

Library Live! is one of our most important programs because it is meant for children at a critical developmental age - and their parents and caregivers. The techniques taught in each program are replicable by parents, so the learning continues long after the families have left the library. Thanks to the generosity of Target and the hard work of our Big Thought artists and staff like Ann, we are able to offer a pre-literacy program to the children of Dallas that will help them develop the critical skills they need to succeed in life.

Guest Blog - Judy Danielson, Community Site Manager for Mills Elementary

Please welcome Judy Danielson, our Thriving Minds After-School guest blogger! Judy is in her second year as the Community Site Manager for the after-school program at Mills Elementary School in Dallas ISD. We will feature her posts every week or so to keep you apprised of what's going on!

We had another fun week in the Thriving Minds Afterschool program at Mills Elementary. Fourth and Fifth graders talked and wrote about why they love themselves. For some, this task was difficult. We did lots of coaching about positivity and the great assets we all have.

Last week my students finished painting portraits of the person in their lives who makes them laugh. They did some outstanding work. You will be able to see their work displayed in the windows of Barney’s department store at Northpark Mall. The paintings will be on display after Nov. 9. They all worked very hard and I am so proud of them! I got lots of hugs and high fives this week. Also, several new pieces of artwork for my office, magic marker stains on my pants, a shirt damp with tears and runny noses, and one apple. The perks that come with this job are outstanding! And yes, we do use tons of hand sanitizer.

We finally had one sunny afternoon for some of the kids to play outside. Fresh air and outdoor play make all of us – kids and staff – feel so much better. Second and third graders planted some flowers for their room and they will record their growth. They also talked and journaled about ecosystems. Kindergarten and first grade played Alphabet Bingo. It’s a fun sort-of-back-door-way to work on letter recognition and letter sounds. They are happily learning and don’t realize it.

On Thursday night we had a Family Fun Night celebration in recognition of national “Lights On Afterschool” night. Our families had fun eating dinner together and doing some fun art projects. I love the support my parents show me and the thanks I get from them. Many parents know that their children need a safe and nurturing place to go after school. One of my students, Necovia, cried the other day because her mom came to pick her up too early. She wasn’t finished with her painting, was having fun and wasn’t ready to go home yet. Little things like that let me know I’m in the right place.

-Judy Danielson

 Community Site Manager, Mills Elementary

 Thriving Minds After-School Program

Our Theme Song

If you've been to our new website with your speakers turned on, you've probably heard a delightful little ditty that accompanies the flash banner at the top of the page. That music was written for us by one of our AWESOME new Board members, Ross Vick. Ross is a singer/songwriter - here's his MySpace Music page and his website. He tours a lot - catch him at White Rock Coffee on October 28th - but despite that, he found time to write us this special tune!

We've got lots of plans for our new signature music, so make sure you stay tuned to our PSAs, YouTube videos and other media to hear more - and BIG thank you to Ross for creating such an awesome piece of music just for US! Haven't heard it yet? Head over to the Big Thought website to take a listen and learn a bit about what we do!

New Website Feature: "5 Things"

If you've been to our new website recently, you may have noticed a fun new gadget at the bottom of our homepage. Our staff, board, artists and providers are all residents, parents and students just like you, so we thought we'd get our heads together and try to help you find fun, creative ways to spend your days. Rather than throw ALL that information into one big list, we decided to break it up into smaller lists of "5 Things" - 5 Things to DO, 5 Things to TRY...you get the picture.

Then we decided to take it one step further and add some unique content. To that end, we've had our staff collaborate on a how-to guide for museum visiting; had several Board members help us make a list of ways to advocate for the arts; and created a primer for the new SLANT 45 program. You can check all of those lists out in our Archive.

This week's topic is 5 Things To Do This Weekend in Dallas - including visiting the State Fair (we even found deals to make it cheaper!), riding on the McKinney Streetcars through uptown and checking out programs and classes as well as books at the Dallas Public Library. We're sure you've found plenty of fun (& free!) things to do in Dallas, so we want to open this one up to collaboration from YOU: what are YOUR weekend family plans? Got anything free or low-cost that you're attending? Let us know - and stay tuned for next week's topic: 5 Things To Write, featuring writing activities and exercises used by Big Thought artist Will Richey!

Slant 45 kicks off with a BANG!

There's a new DFW service-learning partnership under way - with Big Thought at the helm!
We were chosen by the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee to form an unprecedented yearlong education partnership. Named Slant 45, this project promises to be one of the largest community-wide service-learning programs for children in U.S. history.

We kicked off Slant 45 on September 21st with a press conference at Cowboys Stadium. In attendance were Super Bowl MVPs and famous Cowboys football players like Roger Staubach, Daryl Johnston, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Cliff Harris. The football greats were joined by Former President George Bush and his wife, Laura, NFL Senior Director of Events Frank Supovitz, Richard Holt, President of Bank of America Dallas, North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee CEO Bill Lively and our very own Gigi Antoni, President/CEO of Big Thought - as well as several hundred DFW Metroplex students anxious to learn what this new project is all about (and get some free lunch from Chick-fil-a!). There was even a special guest - American Idol 2007 winner Jordin Sparks sang a few songs and energized the crowd!

More about the project:

• Slant 45 stands for "Service-Learning Adventures in North Texas," in cooperation with Super Bowl 45 - and it's also the term for a popular play used by the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s!
• The purpose of Slant 45 is to inspire local kids to research community service opportunities in their neighborhoods and submit a project. What makes it a service-learning project is the opportunity that those students will have to reflect on what they've accomplished and the impact it's had not only on the community, but also on themselves.
• Big Thought is developing a curriculum and method for researching, choosing and reflecting on projects. It will be available for students and group leaders when the project actually begins in early January 2010.
• Slant 45 is mainly for student groups and classes around grades 3-5, though other age groups are certainly welcome. We hope to affect 20,000+ students all across the DFW Metroplex, inspiring them to commit to upwards of 45,000 hours of community service.

Want to know even MORE? We've collected articles and blog posts about the announcement on our News & Media page, and the Slant 45 website is also available with more information on how to get involved.

Help us help kids to make a BIG difference in their community!

Going GREEN!

Big Thought is going GREEN! In an effort to save the environment, we have cut down on our printing budget by making more of our interactions available online. Join our mailing list to receive e-newsletters and special email event invitations; order programs through our online catalog; and visit us elsewhere on the web - like twitter, facebook, MySpace, YouTube and flickr - to hear the latest news, see photos and video and give us feedback!

Big Thought's Website: Brand Spankin' New!

We've been working 'round the clock for the last several months, redesigning our website to make it more user-friendly - and it's finally DONE!

Here are some things you may want to check out:
* The Banner contains sections for families, teens & students, educators and partners - those link to pages crafted just for those audiences - you can also get to them by going to www.bigthought.org/athome, www.bigthought.org/school or www.bigthought.org/community.

* Among the many cool additions, the new site features a “5 Things” section which outlines fun and creative activities for children and families.

* If you have a pair of headphones, take a listen to the groovy intro music that Big Thought board member Ross Vick scored just for us.

* We've got special pages for our events (www.bigthought.org/events), jobs (www.bigthought.org/jobs), and Thriving Minds (www.bigthought.org/thrivingminds).

The new site is bright, clean and fun and will make navigation easier for anyone who visits! Take a look: www.bigthought.org.