Every day of the school year, from early September through late June, our wonderful school assembly presenters are working in schools and bringing knowledge and fun to kids all over the country. Performing school assemblies in Ohio one week and in Kentucky the next, or doing school shows in New Jersey today and Pennsylvania the next, and then on to Texas or California, our guys (and girls!) travel the country like educational troubadours. It is a grinding way of life, and not for the weak or fragile.

I have written several times in the past about one of our great school assembly performers Dave Mitchell. He presents our wonderful Ben Franklin school assembly as well as school assemblies on Math and Reading. Well, Dave is hard at work on a brand new program for next year, and yet found himself growing pensive about how and why we do the school assemblies that we do. He jotted down a few thoughts recently, and I thought I would share them with you.

As the largest company in the country producing educational school assemblies and school shows, Mobile Ed Productions sends school assembly performers to a lot of places all over the country. Our stalwart school show performers log a huge number of miles every year, and like the Post Office, they travel through every kind of weather and road condition you can imagine. Well, almost...

Ohio schools love to save money on school assemblies! I say that because some of them are very good at negotiating every possible angle to cut their costs on school assemblies. Here are some of their tactics, and they will probably work in your state, too.

So what do Green Bay, Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Dallas, Texas all have in common? The 2011 Superbowl, right? Well, yes, of course! But something else, too. Mobile Ed visits schools in all three places to perform school assemblies.! There, now you knew that, right? :-)

In 1957 the world was shaken up especially here in the United States when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. Americans panicked because the Soviets were beating us into space. President Kennedy called for a new national effort to propel us to the moon. Recently President Obama made reference to this moment in his State of the Union address, calling for a new “sputnik moment” in this country aimed at propelling us back to the top in terms of our economy and in particular in education. He referenced specifically the fields of science and math. Obviously, there is merit in his proposal. Other countries are quickly sliding by us through massive investments in education and a strong emphasis on the fields of math and science, areas destined to prove especially important in the high tech world we have entered. Science assemblies and science assembly programs are a perfect way to augment and enhance the teaching of science in our schools. Kids respond to demonstrations of science and better absorb and remember teachings imparted by way of exciting props and activities. All professionally performed educational science assemblies are beneficial in this regard. However, when seeking to enhance this “sputnik moment”, schools could hardly do better than a visit from a portable planetarium such as the Skydome Planetarium. Utilizing a huge silver dome capable of accommodating up to 100 students at a time, and featuring a state of the art Digitalis star projector, Skydome is as close an experience to visiting a traditional “brick and mortar” planetarium as it is possible to have. Students learn about the constellations, Greek Mythology, black holes, the phases of the Moon and all manner of other astronomical phenomena in a fast paced, exciting 50 minute science assembly inside the giant silver dome theatre. This great science assembly is very popular and we offer several tours. If you are in Michigan science assemblies such as this are available of course, as Michigan is Mobile Ed’s home. However, tours of our mobile planetarium travel across Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode island, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia and all of the states Mobile Ed visits. Some of our very best science assembly presenters are engaged in these portable planetarium tours to insure the very best science assemblies are delivered to your school. If you are seeking a “sputnik moment” at your school, a science assembly is guaranteed to help and Skydome Planetarium is a sure fire way to go. To infinity and beyond!

I have spoken before about Rojo, one of our great school assembly performers, but this came across my desk today and I had to share it with you.

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.

"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.

All over the midwest school assemblies were canceled today as heavy snow and ice forced schools to close for the day. And that’s a shame! Just ask any kid. The worst time for a snow day (not that most kids will ever admit that there is a bad time!) is when you are supposed to have a cool school assembly program that day instead of class.