Join the rhythm revolution with Downbeat Percussion, the official drumline of the Buffalo Bills! From thrilling stadium performances to engaging school shows, we bring high-energy entertainment and character education to audiences of all ages. Get ready to drum, dance, and be inspired!

Discover the natural beauty of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Up Yonda Farm offers 73 acres with a spectacular view overlooking Lake George. Natural history exhibits featuring a diorama with native wildlife are housed in the museum. Watch for wildlife outdoors as you hike along one of our woodland trails. There are perennial gardens, including a butterfly garden from June through August. Programs for schools and groups are available by reservation. Our science and nature programs can be a great supplement to the classroom education received by your students. The programs we offer compliment New York State core curricula, are NGSS aligned, and give the students an opportunity to learn in a very hands-on environment. Most of our programs are offered rain or shine and can be presented indoors and outdoors. Program topics include Adirondack Birds, Animal Adaptations, Changing Trees, Forest Food Webs, Maple Sugaring, Monarch Butterflies, Night Sky, Orienteering, Owl Pellet Dissection, Pollinators, Pond Life, Snowshoeing, Watersheds and Woodworking. Full program descriptions, pricing info, and program request forms are available on our website at https://upyondafarm.com/programs/

The Farmers' Museum and Historic Village has lots to offer for School groups. We have a variety of tours and workshops, most of which can be tailored to a specific age group. We offer guided and self-guided tour options, as well as workshops in the Fall and Early Spring. We are also the permanent home of the Empire State Carousel, a carousel all about New York State, one of the only museums you can ride! Please feel free to reach out via phone or email with any questions.

I am a children’s book author and illustrator who loves to visit and interact with my readers! I talk about the book making process with a slides presentation of the making of my latest picture book, and hold a story brainstorming session where the students are the authors and I am the illustrator and we create a story together. You can read more about my school/library visits on my website. There’s also testimonials from teachers I’ve worked with!

Founded by artist, speaker, and author Tom Varano, Emotion Into Art™ offers one of the most unique and positive programs for K-12 schools nationwide. Tom creates stunning portraits of famous faces on a 4-foot by 5-foot canvas, set to music or the voice of the person he is painting. These portraits are completed in mere minutes, often upside down for an exciting reveal. His extensive catalog includes icons like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Walt Disney, Nelson Mandela, Kobe Bryant, Taylor Swift, Robin Williams, Rosa Parks, and many more. This captivating process keeps students and adults guessing the identity of each painting. Once a piece is completed, Tom shares the inspiring stories of these individuals, highlighting how they overcame adversity and hardship in their respective fields. He also uses personal anecdotes to further engage students and drive home key messages. The show is tailored to the age group, with younger students enjoying paintings of Disney characters or relatable figures. Tom collaborates closely with school staff to address relevant topics during the presentation, such as Dreaming Big, Overcoming Bullying, Using Trauma as a Force Forward, and Living with Passion. In addition to student performances, Tom also offers programs for staff convocations. These sessions encourage school staff to be their best, stay aware of burnout, and find ways to overcome challenges within the teaching field. Emotion Into Art™ is more than just a performance—it's an inspiring and educational experience that motivates both students and staff to dream big and live with passion. Emotion Into Art™ is an extremely unique Speed Painting/Inspirational speaking performance. This is a nationally recognized show with the goal of inspiring students of all ages to not only follow their dreams, but to follow their dreams with PASSION! The performance entertains and captures the students’ attention while the microphone allows Tom to speak a message of hope and encouragement into their lives.

Author, Program Creator: Farm/Garden to Table Author Visits: 1. Fidget Grows a Pizza Garden - children learn about their food sources in a creative way through the art of storytelling while helping to encourage life skills and cooking activities at home. (activities depend on size of groups, but included planting, pizza making, storytelling workshops, how a plant grows, etc) 2. Fidget Screams for Ice Cream - children not only learn about their food sources through the art of storytelling, they also learn about using alternatives such as honey and fruit to sweeten their ice cream, while helping to encourage life skills and recipe making activities at home. (activities depending on size of groups, but included planting, ice cream making, story telling workshops, etc.) 3. Gal’s Apple-licious Eats - children have fun with recipe making workshops. 4.

Jared Campbell is an award winning singer/songwriter from Upstate New York and has been traveling the country performing for thousands of people and hundreds of schools over the past 18 years. He’s shared the stage with national acts and had his music featured on TV shows. He’s also been acknowledged by Billboard Magazine as one of the top independent musicians in the northeast. His school presentation is unlike any other assembly you will bring in to your school. He reaches students through the power of music with songs he's written about some of the most crucial elements to living out your life with purpose. His message focuses on overcoming obstacles, bully prevention, respect, leadership and having an amazing outlook on life. His approach in relating to students is unlike any other presenter you will see. He mixes humor with deep emotion and literally takes the listener inside his songs through the use of powerful videos that are projected behind him during the show. Students continually walk into the show saying "I thought this was going to be just another dumb assembly" and have left the show routinely saying "In all four years of high school....this has been the best assembly ever!" - Maria 12th grade. There's plenty of humor as Jared constantly gets compared to the likes of Jack Black and you could say Jared's conducting a "School of Rock" but this school is meant to rock your life! Jared's heart is to reach the young people of today and encourage them to never stop dreaming and continue pushing forward to living out your purpose with passion!

We offer a wide variety of entertainment and educational programs ranging from assembly shows, interactive intensives, and full week residency.

Mylisa Larsen is the author of the novels Playing Through the Turnaround and Quagmire Tiarello Couldn’t Be Better and the picture books All of Those Babies, If I Were A Kangaroo, How To Put Your Parents To Bed and Ho Ho Homework. Her author visits are designed to look at some of the underlying assumptions that cause students to decide that they’re not writers and to give students practical and fun ways of building their skills as writers which they can use immediately. We explore techniques for finding stories and getting started, experiment with how different choices we make shape our work, and talk about techniques for revision and for when writing gets hard. We talk about what the job of an author looks like but also how the skills of creative problem-solving which make up the job of a writer apply to many other fields and endeavors. All programs are tailored to the age of the students. Several different programs available are listed at mylisalarsen.com/visits.

Goat on a Boat is a nonprofit puppet theater that has been building, performing and presenting a variety of puppet shows for young children and their grown-ups since 2001. Shows can fit into classrooms, auditoriums or can be performed outdoors from our Puppet Truck stage. Using a variety of puppetry styles, our shows are based on well-loved classics as well as original stories about friendship, the environment and more. Puppet making workshops provide the opportunity for young students to improvise their own stories, to work together to create characters, build sets, stages and puppets. At the end of each workshop, there is short performance where students can share what they've made. Our residencies provide the time and space to create longer, themed shows that can connect to STEM classroom learning objectives. Goat on a Boat also offers Professional Development workshops that teach educators how to make a variety of puppet projects to use in the classroom as well as how to manipulate and how to make their puppets come to life. We believe that Puppetry is the gateway to a life-long love of Theater and the Performing Arts. This unique art form brings Art to life and engages children's imaginations in so many valuable ways.

Margot and Murray -- her fluffy, loveable and kid-friendly Sheepadoodle, love to visit with children aged 3 – 7 years and talk about friendship, bravery, and perseverance. Margot’s energy is infectious and she easily bonds with children. And Murray is a hit with kids. In Margot’s debut children’s book, Murray Goes to the Playground, Murray learns an important lesson: while not everyone may want to be your friend, there’s always someone out there who will be your friend. Our 30- 45 minute school visits include an opportunity to meet and pet Murray, reading our book, Q & A, and a discussion about making friends, meeting dogs, or moving on from rejection. Murray has his Canine Good Citizen accreditation.

High Rollers Roller Skating in Amsterdam, NY offers S.T.E.M. Educational Field Trips and Incentive Skating Trips for schools. Our program features seven hands-on, interactive lessons that align with New York State learning standards, covering science, technology, engineering, and math through the science of roller skating. Each trip includes one hour of guided S.T.E.M. instruction followed by two hours of skating and fitness fun. Schools can also book 2½-hour recreational field trips for attendance, behavior incentives or just for FUN! These Sessions feature games, music, an arcade, and snack bar access in a safe, supervised environment.