We offer an experience of what it was like to be a child during the American Revolutionary War.

At the Granger Homestead and Carriage Museum we offer a plethora of educational enrichment programs. Our most popular programs are: Homestead Days: A two hour program where students spend time at 6-8 stations outside learning old-fashioned homestead skills such as candlemaking, butterchurning, and how to put out a fire via bucket brigade. Geared toward 2nd & 3rd Graders and offered in June each year. Summer Fun Days: A week of fun at the Homestead for children aged 7-12. For 3 hours each day, students will join in the historical summer camp fun. Each year rotating the activities to include: soapmaking, old fashioned game day, seed starting, and more. Open to the public, spots limited to 15 children per day. Twas the Night Before Christmas: A 45 minute program for nursery children through 1st grade that includes a reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas accompanied by a puppet show and followed by a scavenger hunt through the museum and a sampling of sugar plums. Generally the last week of school before Winter Break. We also offer private programs geared toward special interest groups. For example we have done a homestead skill day combined with museum tour for teens in the Children of the American Revolution group. We also offer multiple Girl Scout and Boy Scout Badge Programs.

Theatre for Young Audiences at the Historic Cohoes Music Hall Celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Cohoes Music Hall, the 4th oldest operating music hall in the U.S., with our annual Theatre for Young Audiences productions! Hosted at this iconic venue, these lively, educational musicals bring beloved characters to life, blending classroom lessons, catchy tunes, and plenty of laughs for audiences of all ages. Introducing students to theatre arts fosters creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving while connecting classroom learning to the stage. Our shows offer students the opportunity to experience the thrill of live theatre, learn proper theatre etiquette, and engage in post-show discussions that enhance camaraderie and conversation in the classroom. Educators will also receive a curriculum-based activity packet before the performance, designed to explore the creative process and core themes of the production.

Lime Hollow’s field trips offer standards-aligned, hands-on opportunities for students throughout Central NY to connect with the nature world and the concept they are learning in school. Field trips are inter-disciplinary and align with standards across curriculum including science, math, language arts, social studies, and social emotional learning. Each field trip is led by trained environmental educators with the support of the participating school’s teachers and volunteers.

We provide an exciting, motivating assembly that includes a group jump rope showcase, gymnastics and dancing with a jump rope, audience participation, and discussion on healthy lifestyle choices. Students and staff alike will leave with the desire to pick up a jump rope.

The Physics Bus rolls up to schools, parks, fairs, and community centers to invite hands-on science for the senses. Most of our exhibits and demonstrations are made from repurposed materials, offering direct experience with unusual phenomena in an unintimidating "you can do it" way. Themed physics presentations available by special request. Free Science Inc. also offers hands-on tinkering experiences for kids (at your school or a field trip to our site in Ithaca), and teacher workshops on how to make science & engineering fun, accessible, and personally meaningful.

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.

We offer several performers from our roster for BOCES Programs.

Join my nature adventures from childhood family trips to hiking with my own children, exploring Israel. We'll read the story A FEATHER, A PEBBLE, A SHELL (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2024) and discover some behind-the-scenes secrets from the work process on the story and illustrations. We'll find out what makes the tiny country of Israel one of the most diverse places in the world with mountains, rivers, forests, beaches, dry deserts, tropical reefs and more! I'm traveling to the USA for a book tour during the month of November and would love to visit your school in person. I live in Israel, so on any other month, I would be happy to visit your school virtually. During my visit in November, I also offer art workshop, in which we will create Israel's national bird, the hoopoe, using cut colored papers and oil pastels, demonstrating how this beautiful bird can open and close its feathered crown! I can be reached by email: miri@mirileshem.com or phone: +972-152-871-5525

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!

1. "Disability is O.K.!" (Openness and Kindness) is a disability awareness presentation with interactive theatre that can be modified for different age groups. Using books and resources as a launching point, sharing our story, showing our mobility devices and real life examples, we will create a safe space to ask questions, be curious and learn about difference. Students and facilitators will create good/bad scenarios about life where we learn what really matters... being OPEN and KIND. Both Sofiya Cheyenne and her friends have dwarfism and they have been sharing their story to teach youth all over New York! We bring an incredible amount of knowledge since both of our experiences are so unique. Assembly style: can do the whole student body but must be separated based on age. Must be within a 3hr window of time. (Example- 9am-9:45 prek-1st grade / 10am-10:45am 2nd and 3rd grade / 11am-11:45am 4th and 5th grade) Classroom style: smaller and more intimate conversations and play! Can do up to two to four 45 min sessions in a 4hr hour window. Must be within a 4hr window. (Example- 9am-9:45 Kindergarten / 10am-10:45am 3rd grade / 11am-11:45am 4th grade / 12-12:45pm 5th grade) Workshops are contingent on size of class / age and AV equipment materials available. 2. "And SEEN" is a student centered theatre class that will teach disability culture and access, empathy, leadership and other important life skills.. Through improvisation, I AM Poems and theatrical expression we have created a hands-on approach to learning about the self and our impact in the world. Using exercises such improv, meaningful play, creative writing, and storytelling, we build self-esteem and confidence in our students so they can tackle the world like the incredible leaders they are! With empathy and empowerment at the center of this workshop the students will be SEEN in their craft, in their peers, and in themselves. Workshops are subject to change based on age and size of group. I can even adjust my lesson to the specific needs of students ( i.e. bullying, self awareness, social awareness, social/emotional skills, confidence, leadership, team building ) Weekly rate - $2,500 for four to five 1 hr sessions with the same classroom Sofiya is a New York based multi-disciplinary performance artist, teaching artist, and disability advocate/consultant. She has appeared on television shows such as “At Home With Amy Sedaris” on TrueTV, “StartUP” on Netflix, and “Loudermilk” on AmazonPrime. She is passionate in her advocacy as her advisor roles in ADAptNYC 2030 Steering Committee, Access Council for ART NY and the Co-Chair of The Dwarf Artist Coalition of Little People of America. She has educated all school age youth about theater, disability culture and accessibility with her work at New Victory Theater, GirlBeHeard, EPIC Players and Queens Theater. Sofiya encourages the power of community, self-expression and storytelling. Her lessons are centered on themes of identity, and inclusive language and as a result, students build empathy for their friends and thinking through an anti-bullying lens. Sofiya believes engaging students about her disability and the use of “meaningful play” is the best way to bring up our future leaders of the world!! www.sofiyacheyenne.com

Playful Engineers Traveling Maker Space STEAM-Powered assemblies, hands-on workshops, whole-school events, and family nights featuring Rube Goldberg Machines, and other chain reactions, plus Artful Mechanisms - student-built toys made using principals of mechanical linkages and crankshafts. Kids learn real-world maker skills with our latchkey programs. We bring our traveling Maker Space including all materials, and we love working with all ages. Our play-based programs help kids learn while having loads of fun! In-person, and virtual programs are available from single programs to 2 week residencies!