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!

Depending upon what part of the country you live in, school may be already out, about to finish this week, or reaching it's end soon. Kids will be underfoot for awhile and most parents will soon be looking for ways to keep them occupied.

Mike Carrell is a veteran school show presenter for Mobile Ed Productions. Originally from Oklahoma, Mike is a very friendly, funny and gregarious fellow with a wonderful happy outlook on life. He has worked in the field of school assemblies for many years and has worked all over the country. He is one of our presenters for our Earth Balloon assembly “The Earth Dome” and also  brings our television production assembly “Lights Camera Action” into schools.

Every year I say goodbye to friends. Friends I have worked with for years. That’s because every year principals with whom I have become good friends pack it in after many years of shepherding children through their formative growth. While I am always happy for them personally, I am also always so sorry to see them go. Not because I won’t be doing business with them anymore, but because I have honestly grown to value them as friends. I know their kids. I have never met their kids, of course, but I remember when they were sick in elementary school or when they left for college, when they got married, had children and so on. I remember because my friend and I talked about it at the time. I know where they went on vacation, and I know about the time a tornado knocked down their house, or their wife won the lottery or their town flooded. I know them because we are friends. This year alone, I will be losing touch with several good friends in Ohio. In Bryan, Ohio alone I am losing two good friends. Over near Canton, Ohio there is a gentleman I consider a very good friend who is retiring after more than forty years. I have been to his school myself several times, and we have worked together, picking his programs since 1992. I have listened as his son, whom I am sure is a great guy, left high school and applied at colleges, settling on a prestigious military academy. I listened as his son went off to war in the Middle east, and I listened to the relief in his fathers voice when he returned home safely, then married and began to raise a family of his own. These people are my friends and I will miss them!

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.

Although our company office is located in Michigan, our school assembly performers spend the year traveling throughout not just Michigan but Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, across the middle of the country, into Texas and California or on the East Coast. So when they are performing their school shows in Michigan close by they usually drop into the office so we can all catch up. Yesterday we were treated to a visit from Dave Mitchell, our world class Ben Franklin presenter, who also carries our math and reading school assembly programs. But yesterday we were all excited to hear the updates on the new anti- bullying show - Stronger Than a Bully - that Dave is busy developing for next year. Boy, it is really exciting! Seeing some of the ingredients of the new program was a real treat and it looks as though Dave has really hit one out of the park this time. Schools seem to agree as Stronger Than a Bully is already experiencing stronger than normal sales for next year. We expect this program to sell out quickly! It was great to see Dave! Today he is back in the saddle performing his reading program - Reading: More Than Words! - at a school in Dearborn, Michigan. I am certain they are having a great time!

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!

Get the news out! As of this week, Mobile Ed is now accepting orders for school assemblies for Ohio schools for the 2011-2012 school year.