“Blah! Science is boring!”

April Showers Bring May School Assemblies, or something like that... more like January snow brings a longer school year. This winter has been tough and a lot of school districts are facing the prospect of a longer school year in order to make up the lost time. Sadly, in many cases, with the extra days thrown in at the end of the year it does not help schools prepare for testing which occurs in most states in the Spring. By May and June testing is usually done. School are looking for things to do. And with a longer school year, in some areas stretching into nearly the end of June, there is a lot of time to fill. 

Sitting here in the depths of our Michigan winter, we thought to turn our gaze westward toward warmer places for a change. Midwest school assemblies or school shows on the East Coast are usually the topic of this blog, but we have been looking at Michigan school assembly performers and Ohio school assembly performers so much lately I thought we might look westward instead, and follow that California Dream a little. 

With all the bad weather plaguing schools in the Midwest and on the East Coast, and the havoc that has played with school assemblies in schools in Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and all up and down the coast, I thought I might share some photos to make everyone feel a little better.

Well, here in Michigan we are digging out from the latest blizzard. Michigan schools woke up to between 6 and 15 inches of snow following this mammoth storm. But that was minor in comparison.  We understand that other parts of the midwest were hit harder than us with areas in Illinois receiving as much as 25 inches of snow! Meantime parts of Indiana and Kentucky were only dusted with snow and had more trouble from ice and freezing rain. Now the East Coast is getting pounded again! Well, it is winter and what do we expect?

I have often commented on the affect of winter weather on school assemblies. Well this week has been a brute! Throughout large parts of the midwest school assemblies have been shut down due to schools closing. Northwestern Ohio and Northern Indiana were hit earlier this week with bad morning ice, causing countless schools to close and countless school assemblies to be rescheduled.

With March coming up you should know about a great midwest school show, perfect for celebrating Women’s History Month. As you are aware, we often write about Abraham Lincoln school assemblies, and Martin Luther King school shows, or about Frederick Douglas assembly programs or school shows about Ben Franklin. It seems like it is always the famous men who get all the attention. Several years ago we decided this just wasn’t fair! So we created a great school assembly about a bunch of famous women from history. I guess you might call this one “Herstory” !

Boy this recession has been a killer! All over the country and especially here in the Midwest, state governments facing red ink have been slashing school budgets. Funding is down. Teachers are laid off. It is a mess! And it is the kids who suffer.

Mobile Ed Productions is based in the Midwest, sending school assemblies all over Michigan and out into other states all over the country. All year, every year, year after year. Including all through the winter. We have seen our share of snow days over our thirty-one years of existence!

We have looked at State Educational Standards a few times now, examining how school assemblies can so strongly support what children are supposed to be learning. The last few times I used Kentucky as an example, but the results can be similar in any state. This time let’s look at Indiana instead, and instead of science let’s take a look at Social Studies, and, in particular, history!