Many states focus their 4th Grade curriculum on elements of their own state history. This gives the savvy coordinator of school assembly programs some great options! For example, in Illinois, Indiana or Kentucky a perfect subject for an assembly program is, of course, Abraham Lincoln. But with a little scholarship and a little digging, you can get some great ideas for school assembly programs at your school by perusing the content standards for your state. They are usually found quite easily these days on the web site for your state’s Board of Education.

Here is something to remember! Next Sunday we leave Daylight Savings Time, at 2 AM local time. So don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour at that time or you will be really early to Church that morning! 

Schools searching online for elementary school assembly ideas will no doubt be struck eventually by the fact that of the many companies and performers offering science assemblies and other types of educational school assembly programs, a very large number are based in Michigan and other parts of the Midwest.

How do you know which programs and how many presentations to do for your school? This is a question which comes up with any Elementary school or Middle School looking for ideas for school assemblies. Well, as famous detective Sherlock Holmes used to say: “Elementary, my dear Watson!, Elementary!”

There is a bit of a debate going on here in Michigan. A few years back, as Michigan watched countless manufacturing jobs disappearing, the state government decided to try and entice new, growth industries into Michigan with generous tax credits. One of the industries they tapped was Film.

Michigan joined forty some other states in competing for film work by offering the most generous film tax credit incentives in the country. The idea was that film is still a thriving US industry which exports product all over the world, and that it employs many people in jobs that are ideal for retrained auto workers. But in addition, it is a very attractive industry for young, creative people, and Michigan has been watching a steady exodus of young people for years, all heading to more creative environments elsewhere.

I sit tonight watching the beginning of Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. The New York Yankees are tied one game apiece with the Texas Rangers, and tonight’s game is in Yankee Stadium.
The place is packed and the excitement is so thick you can cut it with a knife (well, almost!). It is so easy for all of us to be excited and motivated by the competition of sports.

I just caught an article in the LA Times, mentioning that President Obama will be making a guest appearance on the Television program Mythbusters this coming December. (http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/sns-news-obama-mythbusters,0,5120428.story)

It is Fall and a lot of schools are looking for things to do with the kids to break up the daily grind of classroom work and augment the educational process through a field trip. And there is nothing wrong with field trips! We all love taking trips to cool destinations. Trips to a Planetarium or the Zoo or a historical site all contribute mightily to a students education and can spark the imagination in countless ways.

A new book caught my eye this week, or rather my ears, as I first heard about this new tome while listening to a radio interview with the author, Eric Foner. You would think that with the vast plethora of books available about Lincoln that we would scarcely need another ( there are more books about Lincoln than almost any other person who ever lived!). But in this case, the author has provided something very useful by examining the course of Lincoln’s thinking about slavery and about African Americans in general, and how that thinking changed over time. I highly recommend “Our Lincoln: New Perspectives on Lincoln and His World” by Eric Foner. Here is a great review - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/books/review/Reynolds-t.html

Just a quick reminder for those who missed last weeks announcements...