Normally I write about school assemblies and school shows, as school assembly programs make up the lion’s share of our business. Mobile Ed Productions was, after all, founded to help educate children through entertaining and educational school assemblies.

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.

My son is in college now, but a great part of his time and energy while in elementary, middle and high school was taken up with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. The scouting program is a great leadership training program and my son followed it all the way through the rank of Eagle. Dad was also drafted as Cub Master and Scout Master at various times, I am sure to everyone’s distress.

Based in Michigan, as we are, many of our school assembly performers are Michigan artists and teachers. It also happens frequently that performing school assemblies will get into your blood. A great school show performer, having worked for us for awhile, will retire to some other profession only to find they miss our odd little world.

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!

I had to share this. As January kicks off and Schools begin to enjoy our Martin Luther King school assembly program, reports begin to come back. I spoke to representatives of two schools this morning and thought I would share their responses.

Recently it was brought to light that several species of Australian birds now driven into extinction might have been saved with today’s knowledge and a little human effort (http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=six-australian-birds-declared-extin-2011-01-06) In fact, it is estimated that a quarter of the species on Earth may disappear forever within the next quarter century. These include many lesser known creatures, but also some very well known animals, such as black rhinoceros and the Siberian Tiger. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2000325.stm).

"What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet..." Yes, Shakespeare said it best, as always. But in the world of school assemblies, names can be quite confusing.

In an earlier entry (Science Assemblies - It's Been a Long Road) we discussed the rise of science school assemblies in Michigan and the Midwest through the actions and creativity of two competing companies, Mr. Wizard and Mobile Ed Productions. We also discussed how many employees have filtered through both companies over the years, and set out to start solo careers following a stint with one or the other of these two founding companies.