As an author of over 100 comprehensible readers for students learning languages, I very much enjoy connecting with students of all levels about the stories that I write and hopefully, those that they are reading in their language classes. I have stories in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish and will be delighted to travel to your district to interact with students (even in the target language!) about what they are reading, either independently or as whole classes. My visits are lively, fun and interactive - a great way for students to showcase their language abilities while their teachers stand by and bask in their students' success!

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.

Annie & the Hedonists is a quartet, sometimes quintet with drums, from the NYS Capital District. The band performs vintage blues and jazz as well as a variety of acoustic Americana music. We feature multi-instrumentalists, stand up bass, piano, clarinet, banjo, and guitar and an amazing lead singer, and lots of harmony. Annie sings songs of the great female blues and jazz artists of the 1920s through 50s as well as contemporary folk, gospel, and rhythm and blues. The band offers workshops on the roots of blues and jazz, hootenanny sing-a-long, songs of Bob Dylan, and many others. Also available is a trio or Annie & Jonny duet. A residency could include interactive dialogue and hands on participation with students about the band members instrument, what it is like to be a professional musician, participatory singing and playing, with the goal of encouraging students to continue or initiate interest in music.

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

Diane Edgecomb brings top quality entertaining performances to your school that enhance elementary school curriculum. Folk & Fairy Tales! Myths! Environmental Literacy! Seasonal Nature Tales for young learners! Diane’s dynamic storytelling assemblies get every single student excited about core-curriculum topics, proving once again that story is the shortest route to imaginative learning. Choose from performances designed to enrich and engage: Folktale Superheroes around the World dovetails English core studies in folktales and myths. Students discover that folktales from China, Africa and South America all have their own versions of Superheroes! Tales for the Earth teaches important lessons about bio-diversity and water conservation through Diane’s engaging original tales. Environmental literacy can be not just meaningful but fun. Looking for something for K-2? Choose Diane's Seasonal Nature Tales for young learners: Fall Tales Celebrates how the leaves got their colors and the Star in the Apple, Spring is for Planting Seeds, Nesting Birds and Composting Adventures, Insect Comedy teaches about the value of our six-legged friends through entertaining and informative stories sure to get students excited about the unbelievable lives of insects. Diane galvanizes student’s learning with award-winning stories. Give your teachers a helping hand in meeting English Core Curriculum requirements with Diane’s follow-up master class in storytelling techniques. Students learn about the power of their own imaginations through hands-on exercises sure to have everyone participating. By the end of the workshop, each student is retelling a folktale to a partner an English core-curriculum requirement! “Your stories were wonderful. The teachers and the students agreed that your presentation is one of the best we’ve ever had. Thank you so much for bringing to life our study of myths and legends.” - Missy Thomson, teacher and school librarian, Woodville School, Wakefield, MA “Ms. Edgecomb had even the most restless audience members completely mesmerized. Her physicality, variety of voices/sounds, involvement of her young charges, and respect of nature ~ appealed to me as well as my students. Thank you! The program was first rate.” - B. O’Connell, teacher, Ralph Talbot School, Weymouth, MA Diane has received numerous awards for her work, including the ORACLE award for storytelling excellence in the Northeast, the national Circle of Excellence award and the Parent’s Choice Silver. Diane has been featured on NPR and is one of New England’s favorites storytellers as recommended by Elementary library school collection.

Collaborative Pianist/Accompanist

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.

Please take a moment to consider my StoryFaces and Talking Art assembly programs for schools, a unique presentation of storytelling and visual arts with a variety of content for grades K - 12, family audiences and events. Christopher Agostino’s StoryFaces is a fusion of language and visual arts, an exciting storytelling show in which volunteers are face painted to illustrate the stories as I tell them, captivating the audience with traditional folktales and my uniquely animated original stories like The Amazing Face Story and The Amazing Face Story Activity, a follow-up activity in which students create an original story starring themselves — including Talking Art programs focusing on art history for upper grades — and programs for adults and family audiences. Assembly Programs are available for grade levels K - 12, with variable content for different grade levels. For middle and upper grade levels the performances also include cultural information on the use and significance of masks and makeup. Performances run 45 - 60 minutes, and work best for an audience of 250 students or less. In most shows I paint 8 to 12 volunteers during the performance, while mesmerizing the entire audience with stories ranging from traditional tales like Aesop’s Fables to legendary adventures like Punia and the King of the Sharks, The Tail of the Dragon and the samurai hero tale Raiko vs. the Goblin Spider, plus my original stories such as The Tiger that Went to the House of the Sun, When A Man First Met a Crocodile and in my Talking Arts programs, stories about art -- origins, inspirations and appropriations -- such as my mask design demonstration: Two Lizards on Four Faces, and Picasso the Thief and the birth of Modern Art.

Our dynamic programming includes three unforgettable, interactive assemblies as well as a lifesaving skills workshop series M.A.C.H.O. Assembly – My Actions Can Help Others A high-energy kindness and empathy assembly that inspires students to be everyday superheroes by showing compassion and helping others. Strength of Body, Strength of Mind A motivational fitness and wellness assembly that promotes strength of body and mind through real-life story of former Mr. America, Dan Lurie told by his grandson. Water Safety Education Assembly An engaging and informative program that teaches kids how to stay safe in oceans, pools, and lakes, featuring the popular “Dress Like a Lifeguard” relay. Additionally, we offer our hands on Life-Saving Skills Workshop Series for grades 3 and up, where students learn: Hands-Only CPR (Adult, Child, and Infant) Heimlich Maneuver (Adult, Child, and Infant) Water Safety or Allergy Awareness

Situated along the Helderberg Escarpment, discover one of the richest fossil-bearing formations in the world. While protecting six miles of limestone cliff-face, rock-strewn slopes, woodland and open fields, the park provides a marvelous panorama of the Hudson-Mohawk Valleys and the Adirondack and Green Mountains. We offer a variety of field trip and outreach programs. Link to Field Trip Brochure: https://parks.ny.gov/documents/parks/ThacherFieldTripBrochure.pdf

Catapult is a Shadow Illusion performance company. They were propelled into the limelight and into the homes of millions of people around the world as finalists on America’s Got Talent. Heidi Klum and Howard Stern were two of their very first fans and now they’ve added many thousands of fans around the globe, touring the USA, Europe, and Asia with their hit show, Magic Shadows. Their shows are an amalgamation of dance, theater, illusion and storytelling. Their stunning visuals coupled with whimsy, heart and athleticism create a spellbinding show perfect for all ages. Catapult is easy to produce, delightful to work with, and they love to engage with communities and audiences. Catapult is available for corporate and private events to entertain, engage and educate. They've created custom work for a variety of organizations including Girl Scouts, United Way, YMCA, Association of Mental Health Workers and more. Catapult also offers incredible educational and community outreach for 3rd grade and up, including workshops, residencies, and school shows that can be tied in to school curriculums such as Language Arts, Math, Science, and SEL. School shows are 45-60 minutes and can be structured as a lecture/demonstration, full dance performance, or as a show + Q+A. They offer study guides for Elementary through High School age groups. There are no language barriers with the show, so ESL and hearing-impaired students will enjoy the show the same way other kids do! Their educational outreach also offers opportunities for students to become a part of the magic themselves and perform live with Catapult during their public performance, either by learning and performing Catapult’s very own “Angel Heart” piece, or by creating a piece of their own during Catapult’s brand new Fantastic Creatures and How to Make Them residency week.

Growing up a reluctant reader himself, it took Eric Luper a long time to learn to love reading and writing. Join Eric on a fun (and sometimes funny) journey through his past challenges as well as the current techniques he uses to write books for Scholastic, Cartoon Network, DC, Disney and others. Students will learn about first drafts, revision, brainstorming and other important techniques… and learn if they have what it takes to be a writer.