I came across this picture today. It shows a very young astronaut named John Glenn standing next to one of the early space capsules that took our brave young pilots into space for the first time. He is in the company of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie Kennedy. For those too young to remember, those were heady days filled with excitement, energy, enthusiasm and pride.

Everyone connected with education knows that No Child left Behind has changed the world od education dramatically. Some say for better, others say for the worse. What we do know is that there is more strain on principals and teachers than ever before to meet the goals of this initiative. Even now, there is movement underway to try and modify this initiative to improve the ways in which it affects the education of our children.

Driving to work this morning at my usual time I happily noticed that the sky was much lighter than it had been a month ago, and I loved the thought that Spring is coming!

OK, time for a little blowing of our own horn. Year after year, all over the country schools offer up acclaim for our awesome portable planetarium, The Sky Dome. Four separate tours carrying this brilliant inflatable planetarium travel all over the country every year.

Well, Happy New Year! It is now officially 2012, and in many places schools are resuming today or tomorrow after the holidays. Our school assemblies are back on the road this morning with some schools enjoying programs already this chilly morning on January 2.

Yesterday we spoke a little about middle school assemblies and assembly ideas for school shows that play well at that age level. We just received a really nice e-mail following a performance of our Sky Dome Planetarium in California, and although this was an elementary school assembly, it reminded me how well this inflatable planetarium works for middle school aged kids as well.

Well Happy Cyber Monday to you all!

Mike Carrell has been performing school assemblies for Mobile ed for a long time. For many seasons he was resident on the East Coast, delivering wonderful presentations of our high-tech school show Lights Camera Action to grateful and happy schools in New York, New Jersey and other parts East.

I don’t know if you caught this but it took me by surprise. China recently launched a piece of a future space station into orbit. Coming as it does on the heals of the end of our Space Shuttle program it kind of rocked me back on my heels a little.

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!