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.

A Soldier’s Life uses an interdisciplinary approach to teach students about the daily lives of American soldiers on America’s northern frontier in the early years of the Revolutionary War. This engaging one-hour program incorporates history, geography, and math to provide context to the personal experience of American soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Students will explore the equipment and food of soldiers and discuss the challenges of transporting and supplying the Continental Army, understanding Fort Ticonderoga’s strategic location. We offer this program both in person and online. Please look at our website for more information!

Through the Caffe Lena "On The Road" program, we coordinate 2-3 day residencies with professional touring bands and musicians, sending them around the Saratoga Springs community and wider Capital Region for private, unadvertised, 30-60 minutes performances and/or interactive workshops. The program is supported by grant funding and donations to our non-profit venue, and each community visit is FREE for the host organization. The locations range from school visits (music classes, assemblies, after-school programs) to elderly care centers, shelters, soup kitchens, recovery programs, and other spaces which serve people who may not be able to seek out this professional music in a standard venue for a variety of reasons. *IMPORTANT* These residencies do not occur on a regular basis. Please reach out if you would like to be added to the list of host organizations, and we will contact you when there is an opportunity to coordinate a visit from a band or artist.

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.

Actor, singer and storyteller Lou Del Bianco has been performing for audiences of all ages since 1982. According to the New York Times, Lou’s dramatic approach to storytelling “puts pow into passivity!” The Parents Choice foundation states that “few performers excel as both storyteller and musician, but Lou Del Bianco is one who does.” Lou’s PARENTS CHOICE award winning recordings have garnered high praise from Billboard Magazine, NAPPA, T.V. GUIDE, BOOKLIST, CHILD Magazine, Family Fun and others! Lou has performed all over the country, from the Tastes of Chicago to the Kravis Center to Carnegie Hall. His music video, “A Little Bit Clumsy”, was featured on the Learning Channel. He has traveled the Northeast for 30 years, performed in San Diego at the International Reading Association’s annual convention and served as keynote speaker on arts / character education from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Lou has been an artist-in-residence since 1987 and has worked in many schools alongside teachers to help improve literacy in the classroom. His Around the World and Make a Good Choice! one man shows have reached thousands of elementary school children all over the tri-state area. At 6’4”, Lou’s portrayal of Abraham Lincoln has been endorsed by the Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. He has also been the go to “Lincoln” for THE TONIGHT SHOW with Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy loves Abe Lou’s grandfather, Luigi, was the chief carver on Mount Rushmore and was honored by TLC’s CAKE BOSS. His one man show about his grandfather was performed to rave reviews at Mount Rushmore. On September 16, 2017, a plaque was unveiled at Rushmore honoring Luigi’s unique contribution. Lou’s 25 year journey to get Luigi recognized culminated with a CBS SUNDAY MORNING story as well as the publication of Lou’s award winning book, “Out of Rushmore’s Shadow”. CNN historian Douglas Brinkley says this groundbreaking book “…turns orthodox history on its head.” Since then, Luigi’s unique role has been featured on several prime time TV shows like “The UnXplained” with William Shatner and “Ancient Aliens”. From History to Diversity to Social Emotional Learning, Lou offer a wide range of programs for elementary and middle schools.

Ithaca Children’s Garden (ICG) offers hands-on, play- and nature-based learning opportunities that support curiosity, creativity, and environmental understanding. Programs include Pop-Up Play Days — playworker-led experiences using open-ended “loose parts” that spark imagination and child-directed exploration — hosted at schools or at ICG, as well as educator-guided field trips to our 3-acre Garden where students explore plants, habitats, and the rhythms of the seasons. ICG also brings learning directly into classrooms through interactive lessons on insects, gardening, food systems, and more that complement classroom curriculum through personalized, sensory-rich experiences.

After retiring from teaching at the elementary level for 25 years, I decided I still wanted to teach. So, my love for nature and children led me in the direction of writing fictional animal based stories based on facts. I offer school wide readings, as well as class presentations. Depending on the program requested, I also offer activities (crafts and games) as well as some science based videos to aid in the presentation. Book signings are always provided for books purchased before or during the special book talk day. Books are: The Flamingo With Two Left Feet Amari’s BIG Surprise…It’s NOT Monkey Bread! We Can...and We Do!

On Monday they’re cast as characters. By Saturday, they’ve GAINED CHARACTER. The kind that really counts! A week-long residency STARRING 50-60 of your local school age children in a full-scale musical. A tour team arrives in your town in their Red Truck loaded with a set, lights, costumes, and props, everything it takes to put on a play…except the cast. The team holds an open audition and casts 50-60 local students to perform in the production. The show is rehearsed throughout the week and two public performances are presented at the end of the week! Our Mission: Empowering children and adults through theatre education and performance to develop lifelong skills while enriching communities worldwide through live productions.

I teach fun, hands-on painting workshops with a specialty in watercolor, gouache, and murals!

Kevin Szawala, also known as Mr. Peace, is a nationally recognized youth motivational speaker from Metro Detroit with a focus on diversity and inclusion, student mental health, bullying prevention, character education and staff enrichment. Additionally, all of his presentations are interactive, high-energy, and adaptable, and they all feature age-appropriate information, interesting multimedia, and inspirational hip-hop musical performances. Heart-focused programs like those Mr. Peace offers are more important than ever to support our children’s entire well-being in light of the consequences of the epidemic and remote learning. Consider booking an in-person or online visit for your upcoming assembly, conference, keynote, retreat, workshop, or other event to bring one of his motivational lectures to your school or organization (list of topics folow). Anti-Bullying Program | Diversity Program | Positivity Program | Leadership Program | Respect Program | Cyberbullying and Social Awareness Parent Program | College/Career Prep | Substance Abuse Prevention | Suicide Prevention | Staff Enrichment

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.

This Visiting Author Presentation focuses on disability acceptance & inclusion while connecting to the presenter's various children's books. By attending this program, students learn about different disabilities and the process of writing realistic fiction while becoming inspired to make a positive difference in their schools and communities. Great presentation for Autism Awareness Month (April) and Disability Awareness Month (October). Contact Author directly through her website for free Reading Guide. Amy also offers parent workshops related to raising a child with disabilities and understanding the unique needs of siblings.