Show Descriptions: Keep Scrolling Down, There's More!
Reading Rocks: Dr. Seuss Tribute Show
Reading Rocks: Dr. Seuss Tribute Show
Reading Rocks: Dr. Seuss Tribute Show
Reading Rocks (with Socks and Fox) Dr. Seuss Tribute Educational Magic Show. The overwhelming popularity of the tribute show I created to celebrate American author Chris Van Allsburg inspired me to write “Reading Rocks!,” a tribute to American author and illustrator, Theodore Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. This show has more magic tricks than any other show I do which is why a lot of schools choose it as a reward program. And yet, it is so informative that kids from PK through 6th grade love the show. Naturally it is very popular in March (aka “Read Across America Month”) and any dates for that month will probably need to be reserved as soon as possible (usually a year in advance).
Maker Space Assembly Show
Reading Rocks: Dr. Seuss Tribute Show
Reading Rocks: Dr. Seuss Tribute Show
As the maker space movement gains momentum there's still a lot of confusion about the idea. This fun-filled assembly program helps educate students as well as faculty and staff to the benefits of tactile, maker-based instruction.
Topics include physical construction, problem solving, re-purposing materials, re-using/recycling materials, artistic expression, electronic circuits, and computer programming. Best of all, it's presented in the format of an interactive story with puppets and magic tricks which means everyone learns while laughing.
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Go Wild About Science & Reading
Go Wild About Science & Reading
Go Wild About Science & Reading
I include a LOT of my puppet friends in this show and we'll be taking your kids on a wild (and imaginary) tour of their backyards, neighborhoods, and community parks. Through magic, puppetry and storytelling, I teach your young readers about how to use the Scientific Process, coupled with the resources in the Library Media Center to answer questions about their own environment.
Along the way everyone will learn interesting facts about the plants and animals that live among us: from North America’s only marsupial, the opossum, to color changing lizards, inventive birds, and animals and rocks that change forms.
Top Secret: Geography & Reading
Go Wild About Science & Reading
Go Wild About Science & Reading
The Top Secret Show takes the irresistable themes of secret agents, spy gadgets, invisble ink, and secret codes and wraps them all up in a fun, educational, motivational reading program while talking about the academic subject of World Geography.
The story starts with a missing bunny rabbit (a puppet) and a few clues we've discovered in the library media center. Each clue leads to the next with everyone learning a little something at each spot in the journey.
By the time it all ends, your students have found the missing rabbit, saved the day, laughed a LOT, and learned even more.
Winter Festivals of the World
Go Wild About Science & Reading
Winter Festivals of the World
This holiday season treat your students to a program that’s trainloads of fun, and filled with puppets, magic, storytelling, music, and audience participation. This imaginary train ride magically takes kids around the world to learn about these winter holidays: Diwali, Kwanzaa, Solstice, New Year, Ramadan, Hanukkah and of course, Christmas.
Yes, the program strongly encourages children to read. But don’t think for a minute that the show is anything less than sheer delight for everyone, including teachers and staff. When you hear the sleigh bell ring at the end of the show, you won’t be the only one to wipe a tear from your eye.
Set Sail into Writing
Work Smarter: Simple Machines
Winter Festivals of the World
If you want to learn how to write well, you have to go to the experts, and you don't have to go far. Just start with the many authors located in your school's Library Media Center. Using puppets, magic tricks, storytelling, and audience participation, I help PK to 8th grade students get started on creating their own writing style. Students leave this program eager to find a good book that will provide them with a favorite technique to apply to their own writing. Tools and techniques discussed include interesting story beginnings, elaboration through the use of adjectives, sensory images of setting and character, and the use of similes and metaphors. I also explore plot and the variety of endings available for students to apply in their personal writing. Watch students “roll on the floor” with laughter while they unknowingly learn the skills of elaboration in their personal and classroom writing.
Sport of Champions
Work Smarter: Simple Machines
Work Smarter: Simple Machines
This show has more puppets than any other program I present so it's a shoe-in for younger audiences and a great reward program. And because we cover some math concepts as we explore ways to exercise our brain, as well as exercising our bodies, it's a program that ties directly into TEKS curriculum. This show is very popular in May as an end-of-the-year reward. In addition to just being lots of educational fun, it also encourages the students to continue reading on their own, particularly during the summer months, which is something that studies repeatedly show is vital to academic success.
The premise is based on the characters from Aesop's “The Tortoise and the Hare” as they prepare for a rematch. Puppet characters include: our team captain Petey the Possom, Chester (the tortoise from "The Tortoise and the Hare"), Jack Rabbit (the puppet version), and of course Roosevelt Rat who always steals the show.
Work Smarter: Simple Machines
Work Smarter: Simple Machines
Work Smarter: Simple Machines
This hands-on assembly program allows learners to handle the six simple machines: wheel & axle, pulley, lever, wedge, incline plane, and screw in a way that makes abstract concepts "concrete" (yes, the pun was intended!). I come in dressed as a construction worker, but the children from the audience are the ones who do the work. Your tactile learners will come to life as they help figure out how to lift a 50 pound bucket of rocks with a 5 pound weight, and why a wedge is such a handy tool. Using levers your youngest students will be able to easily accomplish feats that NO human being can accomplish bare handed. This is a presentation that will be remembered and talked about for a VERY long time.
Teachers will have no problem tying lessons into the subjects taught. And because the program also promotes reading and Library Media Center resources, it is a program that everyone appreciates!
Throughout the program, the kids learn how simple machines help us “Work Smarter, Not Harder.”
Even More Themed Educational Entertainment!
Book Bash: Celebrate Reading
Chris Van Allsburg Tribute Show
Chris Van Allsburg Tribute Show
Book Bash is another interactive educational reading assembly program that is part story time, part puppet show, part magic show and 100% fun! There is no better way to CELEBRATE READING than with this engaging presentation.
Can 5th graders get just as involved in the program as PK? They can and they do when the program is Book Bash! The children re-discover that they can learn anything from reading books. They learn how to do a magic trick, how to put on a puppet show, how to tell a joke, and in the process they also learn very specific reading strategies (comparing, contrasting, predicting probable outcomes, inferring meanings, and text-to-text / text-to-self / text-to-world comparisons).
Kick off your school reading program with something that is as fun as it is meaningful. You don't have to choose one or the other. Get the best of BOTH worlds with Book Bash!
Chris Van Allsburg Tribute Show
Chris Van Allsburg Tribute Show
Chris Van Allsburg Tribute Show
This is another program I've been planning for years and am proud to finally release. This show salutes one of today's greatest children's writers and illustrators. Chris Van Allsburg wrote Caldecott winners Jumanji and The Polar Express (both of which were also made into movies along with Zathura). But Van Allsburg has provided much more than just a few great books that have been made into enchanting movies. He is also an accomplished sculptor, and has created a number of mysterious children's books that are fun for both children and adults.
In this exciting tribute to a great American author and illustrator, we learn more about the man behind the books, the movies, and the mysteries. Discover hidden puzzles that he has included in each of his almost 20 books that will have your young readers eager to check them out.
Your students will learn about elaboration, how to write a vivid and compelling sentence, and all about author style and craft using some of the best examples in the library.
Wild West Reading Show
Chris Van Allsburg Tribute Show
Color Your World: Diversity
The Wild West Reading Show is guaranteed to have your kids roaring with laughter at the antics of puppets, Roosevelt Rat and David Hopperfield. The adventure begins when David Hopperfield, (a rabbit puppet) is accidentally transported back in time to 1845 (the year Texas became a state). Only by unlocking the secrets of the library will the audience be able to save the bunny.
The children will laugh at the antics of Roosevelt Rat (a puppet), and will be amazed as David Hopperfield the Magic Bunny “disappears” from the “time machine” and suddenly reappears in an old photograph. They will learn how to “talk” to people from the past through biographies, how to learn about places all over the world through geography books, and how to travel through time using historical novels and science fiction. And because they are INVOLVED in the magic and stories, the lessons will be retained.
Color Your World: Diversity
Color Your World: Diversity
Color Your World: Diversity
Color Your World takes the serious topic of diversity and presents it in a fun and magical way. Your students will learn methods of conflict resolution, dealing with bullying, and accepting differences. They'll learn about sign language, Braille, and what it might be like to have different abilities and disabilities.
The color of our skin, eyes and hair, and the clothes we wear make each of us unique. Our religions, beliefs, customs, and diets may be different. We may celebrate different holidays and even speak different languages. But, through understanding and tolerance, we can all live together even if we don't always agree.
This touching and heart-felt program is a GREAT way to kick off the school year by reminding students how to treat each other with respect. For this reason it is very popular in August and September (but great anytime your kids need to be reminded about these critical issues). If you are interested in beginning the year with a program that helps establish campus-wide behavior expectations, you may want to reserve your risk-free, no-obligation, cancel-anytime reservation at least 6 months in advance.
Color Your World has a heavy emphasis on reading, (as do all of my shows) and encourages children to further explore their diverse interests in the Library Media Center.
Heroes Without Capes
Color Your World: Diversity
Heroes Without Capes
Who hasn't dreamed about having the ability to fly? Or wished they could become invisible? Or wondered about having the strength to effortlessly lift a car? In this show we not only explore the myriad superpowers possessed by heroes and heroines in literature, but we also explore the realm of everyday heroes. It's not just the soldiers, agents of law enforcement, and educators who work tirelessly to protect us and lift us up. There's also the possibility that each and every one of us has the potential to be a hero every single day.
Drawing from examples found in literature ranging from non-fiction biographies to Newbery winning fantasies we begin to realize that often times being a hero means just doing the right thing.
Oh, and did I mention that there are hilarious puppets, mind-blowing magic tricks, audience participation, and non-stop laughter? I guess that sort of goes without saying. Be sure to let your school counselor and your PTA/PTO programs coordinator know about this exciting show that makes character education and civic virtues fun and exciting.
The Game Show
Color Your World: Diversity
Heroes Without Capes
(NOTE: This show has a different pricing structure than the other assemblies)
In “The Game Show” I literally turn your stage or Library Media Center into a game show set; complete with four, full-sized player positions (just like the ones on TV) with buzzers and microphones, and a host position with a state of the art computer system with remote control. A dynamic screen and projector system that allows everyone to see the action as it happens and to participate in the game show process. But what you really get is an incredibly fun way to learn, practice test taking skills, review material, and prepare for the challenges of the academic year.
The question banks, interactive portions, physical challenges, video and audio segments, and team working activities are all compartmentalized so that we can easily create the game show your students need the most. Science? No problem. Just Math? Sure. Overall academic review? Done. Maybe you just want to remind the students that test taking doesn't HAVE to be intimidating or boring. Whatever your goals, whatever grade levels you work with (from 3rd - 12th), this show can be structured to deliver. (FYI: If you have younger students (PK-2) I can include a different program for them at no additional charge. Just be sure to ask about this when you call).
Three years in the making and it is finally ready. Don't worry, it was worth the wait.