If you have read my articles much over the last year or so you will know I really like our Young Authors Day school assembly program and in particular the gentleman who created and still performs that show. His name is Toma the Mime. I just received another glowing, over the top review of his show and I wanted to share it with you.

One of our new programs this year is a real stunner! Piankeshaw Trails, performed magnificently by Sheryl Hartman, is an awesome school assembly program that introduces kids to the culture and history of the Woodland Tribes of the Ohio Valley. It is a great show in it’s own right. But it is also perfect for schools in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky who are looking for ideas and means to increase kids interest in this field which is so heavily featured in state standards all across the Midwest.

I have been reading a fascinating book lately, made even more pertinent by the passing this week of Columbus Day (did you notice? It was last Monday). 1492 - The Year The World Began -  by Felipe Fernandez Armesto details the myriad ways in which the world was changed by the voyage of Columbus and the European discovery of “the New World” It is a great book and one I highly recommend. Great stuff about all the changes the world experienced because of that voyage, many of which you might never have imagined. However, there is one area of change we all know a little about and that is the change wrought on the native population of North America by the arrival of Europeans.

For most kids history is an ugly thought. Learning about history has about as much appeal as eating broccoli. Mention history to a lot of kids and their eyes glaze over with a look that says:

Sky Dome Planetarium is one of the most popular school assemblies in the country. And why wouldn’t it be? For kids there is hardly a more awesome experience than to enter their gym and discover a huge silver dome occupying half the room and standing some sixteen feet high. And then to enter the dome itself through a mysterious tunnel, sit in the dark inside and then to be treated to a wondrous journey into outer space and beyond! We have never met a child (or adult!) that did not think this a totally awesome experience.
With curriculum based instruction embedded thoroughly throughout the program this great school assembly is also a huge hit with teachers, as it reinforces educational benchmarks in several areas.
And so we are happy to alert you that we have made more than one tour available this year in the midwest. Michigan and Ohio schools, being right in our backyard so to speak, ave always had great opportunities for scheduling this show, but with extra performers now available, Skydome will be able to visit several states that have not had great access to this portable planetarium school assembly before.
Sky Dome (sometimes confused with the older Star Lab program) is available this school year to midwestern schools in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minneapolis and even Texas, Utah, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota!
For those in other parts of the country, do not despair, as we have additional performers resident on the East and West coasts and available to service schools both in California and the eastern states of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and all of New England.
So let the stars shine over your school!

Kids love animals! No escaping that one. A visit to the zoo is a beloved experience for all kids. And it's a great part of their education, too.

All over the midwest, in states such as Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois, part of the curriculum for intermediate grades involves teaching 3rd, 4th and 5th graders about the Native American tribes that lived in this part of the country before the Europeans arrived. There is nothing strange about this. All over the country it is standard for states to require children in this age range to learn the history of their own state. In the midwest states that is all wrapped up in the history and culture of the tribes that inhabited this area in the centuries before settlers began arriving from the eastern colonies of the early United States.

Ohio is just across the line from our home state of Michigan so, of course, a lot of our school assemblies appear at Ohio schools throughout the year. Every so often we will encounter a reporter at a school, either from a newspaper or a television station, and we are always happy to see them. Sadly, by the time the article appears in print we are usually gone from the area and so we seldom see our own publicity.
Recently, however, one of our school assembly presenters was in a southern Ohio school to present our television production school assembly program - “Lights Camera Action”. Derek McDonald, one of the gentlemen who presents that show was visiting at the Bishop Flaget school in Chillicothe, Ohio. He found himself speaking with David Berman, a reporter from the Chillicothe Gazette. Well David wrote a nice little piece about the program which you can read here:
http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20110303/NEWS01/103030301/-1/7daysarchives/Bishop-Flaget-students-get-hands-chance-video-production
We are very proud of Derek. Derek hails from the great state of Tennessee and has been performing school assemblies in schools throughout the midwest for us for many years. He has many fans in schools in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Derek also presents our Character Counts school assembly “Inspector Iwannano”, and does a really great job. The great news is that next year Derek will also take on two of our other programs (two of our absolute best!), “Sky Dome Planetarium” and “The Earth Dome” (AKA Earth Balloon). We are certain he will bring great professionalism and flair to these fine school assemblies. The bad news is that next year Derek will spend very little time in the midwest schools where he has performed for so many years. Schools in Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky will have to fight over a small number of dates in September and January, as Derek will spend much of the 2011-2012 school year on the East coast visiting our client schools in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, New England and throughout the area around DC, Maryland and Virginia. So bad news for midwest schools but great news for schools on the East coast.
Regardless of where you are, whether your school is in Ohio or New York, Michigan or Virginia, the great school assemblies presented by Derek will provide an awesome experience for your school. He is a champion school assembly performer and we hope you will bring him to your school next year!