I am the author of Charlie and Sophie's Great escape, a 32-page illustrated children's book. The story is about two curious puppies who run off by themselves, leaving their boy behind. Charlie and Sophie enjoy their freedom until they run into a scary situation. They manage to escape but realize they are lost. They work together, relying on their senses to find their way back home. The story's moral is that mistakes are part of life's journey, but when we learn from them, they become stepping stones to growth. I present an interactive storytelling session of my book, touching on themes of friendship and faith in our abilities, with time at the end for some Q&A. We also discuss how dogs use their senses to learn about their world and how our senses compare with those of dogs. I am open to doing a related activty as an add-on to the book reading.

Kit's Interactive Theatre has 16 different high-energy shows that combine history, dance, music, improvisation and a great deal of humor where students and teachers become all the characters in the show. Students learn how their modern lives differ from those of their forebears as they explore how and why these critical events took shape. Programs are imaginative, educational and fun! They range from Ancient Egypt and Women's Rights to Mother Nature and Cinderella's Fairy Godmother.

Perry Ground is a Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. Perry is a Master Storyteller and Cultural Educator who has shared his stories for over 25 years. He enjoys working with students of all ages to teach about the history & culture of Native Peoples. The Storyteller will bring the stories to life through vivid descriptions, his rhythmic voice, and a VERY active stage presence. These stories become ‘interactive’ as Perry is known to include audience members in the stories. His Storytelling and Cultural Enrichment programs include cultural and historical information that meets the expectations of the NYS ELA and Social Studies Curriculum. Talking Turtle Stories offers a wide range of programs for students of all ages. Three different Storytelling programs include stories from the Haudenosaunee (NY) or from across North America. The Cultural Encounter sessions are curriculum-based presentations and/or hands-on workshops that give deeper insight into the history and culture of the Haudenosaunee. Book individually or combine programs for a full day of learning!! These programs are available year-round and can be done in school or virtually. Contact Perry at TalkingTurtleStories@gmail.com for a full list of presentations and pricing information.

It’s not just a highly engaging circus-themed school show! And it’s not a normal character education school assembly. While most character ed assemblies focus only on defining character traits and explaining how to use those traits, Diversity Circus goes much deeper. This powerful and effective character assembly will teach your students that every person belongs. “Be Fair, Be Aware, include others, and use Respect” are the four lessons students will learn during the Diversity Circus character education school assembly. This effective elementary character education program also covers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s character message, Cultural Diversity, Diversity in the Classroom, Being Fair, and more. It’s a perfect program to honor the MLK Holiday, and Black History Month, and to support your school’s PBIS program and anti-bullying efforts. The Diversity Circus character school show uses TONS of audience participation, hilarious comedy, kooky characters, costumes, incredible one-of-a-kind magical illusions, and non-stop hysterical action to engage students and to keep kids talking long after the show is over.

We offer a one of a kind school mural program where the students are centered in the work and entire process from brainstorming to final painting. Our mural process involves a brainstorming session where we have the students drawing and coming up with ideas that touch on the theme that is chosen by their school. We then take those drawings and create a digital sketch using the actual drawings from the students. We involve every student from the school in the painting process so that they are able to have ownership and a hand in the creative process. Our unique approach creates a sense of joy and excitement for all participating students and staff as we are able to transform these hallways into large colorful pieces of public art that have an authentic student look and feel to them. We make sure that the final outcome looks professional and clean while still elevating student work from the paper to the wall. We have painted with over 7000 students in the past 2 years creating about 25 murals! We also offer a variety of arts based hands on workshops crafted for all age groups like mask making, printmaking, paper pulp sculptures, paper mache and much more!

Hello! I am a teaching artist with a BS in Environmental studies, a Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling, and a Certified Trauma Informed Yoga Instructor. After decades of working in government positions, I have focused my past several years on giving back to my community through volunteering with refugees, schools, libraries, and youth clubs. I have found a passion for sharing my broad knowledge and interests with youth and have built strong relationships with teachers in our community to help support the amazing work you all do every day. I would love to support your classroom too! I bring Hands on activities to your classroom that use a child lead approach and include art, nature, and mindfulness to build on classroom curriculum. While learning is happening we are also building team work, confidence, and a love of learning: Some activity options include -needle felting projects learning about fiber sources and how every day items are made, as well as the role the environment plays in fiber and fiber in the environment. (This can be done for students or for staff development). -live insects and animals in the classroom to learn about life cycles, ecosystems, animal care, farms, etc. Animals include button quail ( terrarium birds) , hatching chicken eggs, rabbits, stick insects. Students learn compassion while also receiving the therapeutic benefits animals provide. Animals can also provide students an opportunity to practice their reading skills by reading to them. Fossil digs in the classroom with sand, fossils, and fossil identification activities -art and craft projects with open ended access to supplies for students to complete projects that drive home classroom curriculum, such as building terrariums, making artwork that the represent ecosystems, life cycles, etc. All activities encourage students sharing their knowledge they have learned in class, working cooperatively, immersing their senses, and working at their own pace, skill level, and in their own style. I love to coordinate with teachers to reach their goals and plan activities around their classrooms unique style, needs, and interests with a goal of instilling a love of learning and building a foundation for emotional skills development .

We offer a variety of programs that blend expressive arts, mindfulness, and social emotional learning. Our goal is to engage youth of all ages in safe, interactive art activities focused on self-expression and empowerment while promoting mental well-being. All programs can be customized to better meet teacher and student needs, as well as curriculum goals. We incorporate a variety of art processes, techniques, and materials in our lessons. Those include drawing, painting, ceramics and pottery, sculpture, collage, printmaking, creative writing and journaling, STEAM projects, and more! Creative Mindfulness (grades K-5): We have developed a unique Creative Mindfulness curriculum for students in grades K-5. These 45-minute lessons can be taught in isolation or organized into a weekly program that is tailored to meet the needs of your students and strengthen your class community. Each hands-on lesson incorporates breathwork, mindfulness strategies, movement, and an expressive art activity. Many lessons also have a literacy component and are paired with high-quality children’s literature. Participation in our Creative Mindfulness program equips students with the tools to help them be more resilient, improve self-regulation and communication skills, build positive self-esteem and self-confidence, and increase overall happiness. Collaborative Art Projects (grades PK-12): Another program we offer is to come in and work on a collaborative project. This can be within a classroom, a grade level, a school, or a whole district. Collaborative projects help to build self-confidence, establish social cohesion, improve communication skills, and strengthen classroom/school communities. This is a great way to add meaningful art to your school hallways and turn plain walls into interesting, colorful, art-filled spaces that students are proud of. Collaborative art can be posted on walls, hung from ceilings, put in display cases, or painted right onto the walls (inside or outside). YES… we do murals, too! Professional Development (all grades): We also offer Professional Development for teachers and staff at all grade levels. Topics include Social Emotional Learning Through Art, Mindful Arts for the Trauma Informed Classroom, Art & Mindfulness for Teacher Self-Care, and Process Art Experiences for Team Building. In our workshops, we share the research that supports what we do and provide easy to implement practices that will enhance your school community, as well as teacher and student well-being. We teach practical ways to use art and mindfulness for coregulation, to increase feelings of safety and connection, reduce stress, and improve focus. All PD workshops can be customized to meet your school’s needs and available time.

We offer engaging author visits to schools and organizations, either virtually or in person with our author(s) and book character(s). Each 45-minute assembly is designed for students in Pre-K through 4th grade and includes a read-aloud from a book of your choice, interactive storytelling with music, games, and lively discussion. Students will also have access to discounted pricing on books. These read-aloud sessions aren’t just entertaining—they’re educational. They help motivate children to read, strengthen their comprehension, expand vocabulary, and introduce language patterns not typically heard in everyday conversation. Students are encouraged to make meaningful connections between the stories and their own lives, making reading both fun and relevant.

Doug Berky has been creating and evolving his own brand of physical theater for over thirty years. His performances weave together classic theatre forms of mime, mask theatre, circus arts, physical comedy and storytelling.  Doug is also known internationally for his mask construction. He designs and constructs the masks for his own performances as well as creates all of the sets, choreography, scripts and many of the costumes. Doug tours two family and school shows.  "No Show” and "Gems: The World's Wisdom Stories”.  - Curriculum Areas:  world cultures and traditions; folklore, literature, visual arts, physical fitness, communication - Weblink:  http://loydartists.com/roster/f/c/47 AND https://www.dougberkytheatre.com TEACHING PERFORMANCES "Gems: The World's Wisdom Stories" -  Pre K - 6th & Family - Video Link: https://youtu.be/iuvgqz6m72M - Study Guide - in addition to the study guide for "No Show" : http://loydartists.com/images/resources/DougBerkysGemsSG.pdf Doug Berky uses classic styles of storytelling from many cultures including masks, mime, puppetry and the power of a good story to introduce this collection of wisdom stories from around the world. All people seek to understand the world, to live in peace, to deal justly with one another.  These stories of hope, peace, freedom and justice will inspire while introducing students to literature from other cultures including Greece, India, Native America, and tales from Europe and South America. Doug has three versions of this production for the different age groups including a preschool version to help introduce young students to masks and stories. "No Show" -  K-College and Family - Video Link:  https://youtu.be/qOtjtqvLUAA - Study Guide:  http://loydartists.com/images/resources/MainStudyGuide.pdf A performance has been scheduled, but the actor fails to show. Or does he?  What will happen when a lone spectator finds himself unwittingly on stage?  Doug is transformed into several characters ranging from a gorilla to a ballerina as he explores the props and masks on stage. Students experience a variety of theatre forms: mime, mask theater, circus arts, and storytelling. The performance pieces vary in length, characters, and subject depending on the age of the audience. RESIDENCIES AND WORKSHOPS - Doug has specifically designed residencies of one day to three weeks for elementary to college students and for theater students and professionals including: Mask Making • Mask Theater Technique • Mime • Physical Theater and Comedy • Commedia Del Arte Workshops in communications, movement, cooperation, healing & humor are available for elementary students to adults. Community workshops are also available. ? STUDENT WORKSHOP: "Exploring Communication and Cooperation with Mask and Physical Theatre" - Doug conducts versions of this 45-60 minute interactive workshop for elementary to high school students. Students learn and practice skills in better cooperation and communication by exploring how we "talk to each other through body language." Students engage in movement and character development and experience mask theater and mime. Younger elementary students will participate in physical theater games that encourage cooperation, following directions, communication, and movement. Older elementary, middle and high school school students explore more subtle movements and communication through techniques from mask theater and mime.? STUDENT RESIDENCY: "Give It A Facelift: Unmasking Literature With Mask Theatre" - Five-day residency for elementary and middle school students. Imaginative literature (stories, folktales, myths), its context and content, can be creatively opened to students using the theatre disciplines of mask, mime, and storytelling. Each class will select an international folktale, myth, or story. After learning about the culture, context, story, and characters, the students will create their own presentation of their selection using these theatre arts. Theatre and mask artist Doug Berky will guide students in this creative process. TEACHER WORKSHOP: "Building Concentration and Creativity Through Mask Theater" - This movement workshop uses Creative Dramatics to teach skills in observation, creativity, improvisation, cooperation, and concentration. Doug uses mask theater techniques and a collection of masks within this workshop to teach both the art form and demonstrate how masks can be used to teach these skills. Teachers will receive instruction and simple templates they can use to make masks with students.

We provide high-quality, interactive live music concerts/performances for children 5-12 years old. FIESTA WITH FLOR is a multicultural musical celebration! Kids and families will join in the fun as they learn about different musical genres through dance, storytelling and songs, traveling with Latin GRAMMY® nominee Flor Bromley to the countries where the rhythms were born. This is not your typical children’s concert, it’s a whole family fiesta!

Educational Market Best-Selling Author and TEDx speaker Jermiko Thomas delivers engaging literacy and social-emotional learning programs through the Adventures of Walter series. Programs support literacy development, STEM curiosity, SEL skills, bullying prevention, autism inclusion, and positive character development through interactive storytelling and classroom engagement. The Adventures of Walter collection also includes student learning resources such as activity workbooks, coloring books, and an American Sign Language (ASL) Alphabet & Numbers workbook, helping reinforce literacy, creativity, and inclusive learning. Jermiko’s programs are inspired by his personal journey — he did not speak until age six and first communicated through sign language, making his work especially meaningful for students with diverse learning and communication needs. Programs are designed for elementary schools (Pre-K–5) and can be delivered as assemblies, classroom workshops, literacy events, STEM enrichment sessions, and special education programming.

The Arch Stanton Quartet offers two presentations that bring together music and literature. Both are inspired by classic American novels. “Shadow & Act: Music Inspired by Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man” presents a program of original jazz compositions and readings based on Ralph Ellison's “Invisible Man,” a classic American novel published in 1952, offering a first-person fictional account of an unnamed narrator’s attempts to navigate complex racial and social relations in the first quarter of the twentieth century. ASQ’s program includes three original jazz compositions inspired by scenes or motifs from “Invisible Man,” along with a rendition of Fats Waller's “Black and Blue” – a tune which figures prominently as a literary device in the novel. The performance also includes readings from Ellison’s book. "Exploring the Sheltering Sky: The Music and Words of Paul Bowles" is a presentation of music, readings, and reflections inspired by Paul Bowles’ celebrated 1949 novel “The Sheltering Sky.” Through original compositions of their own – as well as readings from the novel and adaptations of Bowles’ own musical compositions – the Arch Stanton Quartet weaves together a performance experience as mysterious and captivating as the novel itself. The programs are suitable for school assemblies or more intimate classroom presentations, and the band can also work with students and ensembles in a tailored workshop setting, if desired, exploring topics such as composition, improvisation, ensemble playing, and how music intersects with other art forms. Longtime fixtures of the Capital Region jazz scene, ASQ performs original jazz that is experimental, yet rooted in bop and post-bop traditions. The band’s debut album, Along For The Ride, was released in November 2012 on WEPA Records. In March 2013, ASQ embarked on an exploration of its own in North Africa. The band’s jazz-diplomacy tour of Egypt included performances and workshops sponsored by the educational organization AMIDEAST, the U.S. Embassy Cairo, and the Center for American Studies at the American University in Cairo. That experience inspired a second album of original compositions, Blues For Soli, and its “Lady Egypt” suite, also released on WEPA Records.