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Erie Canal Museum
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The Erie Canal Museum offers Field Trips Experiences Tailored for the 2nd, 4th, 7th, and High School curriculum, however we welcome students of any age and classrooms of any size. A field Trip experience includes an hour-long docent-led indoor tour, with the option of an additional hour-long outdoor walking tour. Lesson plans are available for pre-visit and post-visit enrichment. Lunch space is available upon request. Financial Assistance is available. If you would like to bring your students to the Erie Canal Museum, reach out today.
Free Science
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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.
miSci Museum of Innovation & Science
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The Museum of Innovation and Science (miSci) offers a variety of engaging STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) programs as field trip experiences, virtually, or in-person (off-site) at your location. Each program features a miSci science communicator performing demonstrations and guiding hands-on experiments designed to excite and inform learners. We offer classes in Earth Science, Chemistry, Physical Science, Space, Engineering, Life Science. Our in person outreach classes are 45 minutes long, for up to 25 students in one session. We also have the capability to do the outreach classes as virtual classes in all these subjects. miSci has a Starlab (portable planetarium) that we can bring to a school, or area building to do up to 5 - thirty minute shows in one day. We also have star parties for naked eye viewing, weather permitting. We offer field trips which include a class, a planetarium show and time in the museum to explore. With suggestions from teachers we can adjust the topics in a planetarium show or for a different class topic if we are given a 3 week notice to make the adjustments.
Capoeira Center of New York
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We offer classes, demonstrations, workshops, and artist residencies for all schools and learning environments for all ages in the art of Capoeira, an African-Brazilian martial art and dance, and related Brazilian dances. We also can work with other teaching artists of other disciplines on an as-needed basis.
Nutty Scientists Hudson Valley
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Unleash your inner scientist in these large, interactive science shows! Nutty Scientists Hudson Valley brings affordable and fun science shows to your school – designed to ignite children’s curiosity and foster an environment where the entire audience feels encouraged to participate. Each show has an imaginative storyline coupled with 6-8 hands-on exciting experiments. With Nutty Scientists, kids get to touch, jump, yell, vibrate, form and test hypotheses. We aim to boost children’s curiosity about science and confidence in themselves! Age: 4-12 Length: 45 minutes Size: Suitable for up to 200 kids, but we do back-to-back performances for more. Prices: $375 for one show or $300/show for 2 or more shows + travel fee (call for info). Funding can be used from BOCES Arts and Education category OR the Exploratory Enrichment category. Shows: Ice Age Show: The kids will help our scientist overcome incredible challenges within the secret forest of Merlin the Wizard by performing exciting experiments. Students will be immersed in a sensory experience surrounding the amazing properties of CO2 and dry ice while exploring states of matter, sublimation, chemical reactions, pressure, forces, and more. Cast Away Show: Help our Nutty Scientist who is lost on a desert island! Kids will help the lost scientist get food, water and signal for rescue. Along the way they'll fire rockets, make slime, shoot smoke rings, and see amazing electrical demonstrations with a Van De Graaff generator! Fun Mission to Space Show: The Nutty Scientists has been entrusted with a maximum-security space mission. What will it take to survive in space? Where in the solar system should we land? To answer these questions students will assist with crazy experiments. They will learn about the planets, gravity, orbits, properties of sound, near-vacuum conditions, atmospheric pressure, and volcanic reactions! Kids will also help make a comet using the same elements that are found in real comets. Ignite Curiosity! Think Nutty!
Paul Wichansky
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A leading motivational speaker with 45 years of experience, since age 10, I host programs to help transform fear and ignorance into kindness and respect for those who strive to rise above adversity. Combining the topics of disability awareness, anti-bullying, leadership, and resilience, I share captivating anecdotes that have enabled me to triumph over cerebral palsy and hearing loss. These programs empower students while instilling in them the confidence they need to excel in class, treat peers and teammates with kindness and respect, understand the consequences of bullying, and be motivated to realize their dreams and goals. For example, though I encountered physical bullying in school, I chose not to respond in anger, but to forgive and help the bullies! Many students are stunned to learn why I responded this way. Love is the greatest gift we can give and receive in our lives. Using humor to engage audiences, these stories and insights elicit a cascade of emotions that help children and teens find the courage to accept and navigate life's challenges, igniting a spark of hope and optimism that leads to confidence and achievement. Each program culminates in a powerful documentary video, including skydiving, scuba diving, my artwork, and other creative expressions. Together, this represents a journey centered around an important life philosophy: "Yes I Can!" Those three words are precisely the name of my new book. I created this published resource to help teens, parents, and other special needs kids overcome self-doubt and anxiety when faced with bullying or prejudice. Each chapter is filled with stories that highlight principles such as self-love, positive attitude, support group, perseverance, resilience, and empathy. You can search my name on Amazon and read the reviews. Following my programs, I donate a signed hardcover to the school library. I suggest assemblies at multiple schools, possibly in the same district, on consecutive days to help share travel and hotel expenses from my central NJ home. Due to my hearing loss, please email me to establish initial contact before reaching out by telephone. I am flexible with speaker fees, depending on audience size. For assembly details and video testimonials, visit my online speaking resume: www.JustTheWayYouAre.com/resume
Bright Star Children's Theatre
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Bright Star Touring Theatre has grown to become one of the nation's largest professional touring theaters for young audiences. Bright Star was founded in 2003 and currently expects to serve around 4,000 audiences this year with programming across America and around the world. Bright Star annually offers more than 60 different 45-minute programs ranging from anti-bullying and literary classics to American history and science-based STEM shows. Bright Star is the nation's largest provider of Black History programming and has had the honor of bringing shows to venues as diverse as the National Park Service and the National Archives and to schools and libraries across New York State. This season, our programs include more than 70 shows, including Peter Pan, Winnie-the-Pooh, A Dickens Tale, Bullysaurus Rex, The Story of Anne Frank, The Life of Dr. King, Let It Shine: The American Civil Rights Movement, a bilingual Little Red Riding Hood, and more. In addition to touring productions designed to perform in any space, the company offers theater production camps, theater workshops, residencies, and more. Our shows include comprehensive classroom study guides, post-show Q&A's, and professional actors that join our company from around the country. We are always here to answer questions and help you become acquainted with us and our work! We can't wait to entertain your young audience, as we've done for millions of audience members around the globe.
Magnetic Personalities
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Gizmo D Robot is the host of three amazing, memorable and impactful elementary presentations around the topics of anti-bullying, growth mindset and health awareness. In addition, he is co-host - along with talented musician Dave Lambert - of a music education presentation for grades K-2. Students enjoy Gizmo and his unexpectedly high interactive capabilities as well as his delightful sense of humor. Educators love Gizmo because he delivers vital messages in a way students can quickly grasp. “…the best assembly we have ever had!” was the response from Lebanon Borough School in New Jersey.
Jeff Boyer Productions - Fun With Energy
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Fun With Energy The science of energy is as fun as it gets! Jeff Boyer shows kids that energy is what makes our world work, through carefully laid out activities illustrating the laws and forces which govern the world around us. Jeff takes audiences on an exciting energy filled ride they’ll always remember. He brings kids right up on stage for interactive demonstrations that entertain and amaze! See also Fun With Energy Curriculum Guides Available Fun With Energy Media Kit Available
Slapstick Science
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Slapstick Science shows are REAL science demonstration-lectures; not random acts of science, but true lessons that cover an entire UNIT from an IPS textbook. All programs were written by and are presented by Ted Lawrence (a.k.a. Dr. Quinton Quark who has been visiting elementary schools since 1992)– they are spectacular and funny shows, but while each lecture is jam-packed with the most memorable science demos, they teach basic principles and concepts intended to make kids realize that science is fun and embrace pursuit of "hard" science. All Slapstick Science shows start with a lesson plan written by a certified high school chemistry, physics, and math teacher (Ted Lawrence) and are presented by a gifted teacher with a knack for thrilling an audience (also, Ted Lawrence). “Much Work with Little Effort” teaches about Kinetic Energy, Potential Energy, Friction, and Simple Machines. “The Notion of Motion” teaches Newton’s Laws of Motion – Inertia, Force and Acceleration, Action & Reaction – as well as the use of a hypothesis and units. “Flight” teaches K – 8th graders how an airplane flies and uses the audience to show off genuine Madgeburg spheres, the Bournelli Effect, and the classic “Guinea and Shuttlecock” demonstration that establish the foundation for understanding how air has pressure and is strong enough to lift heavy airplanes. “Kiddie Chem” teaches about solids, liquids, gases, and chemical reactions using exotic chemicals for K -2, and “Combustion” is a spectacular chemistry lecture teaching basic fire safety that EVERYBODY should know before cooking dinner on a stove top or lighting a backyard grill. Circus skills and humor abound, but the lessons-including “Science is FUN”-are what’s important. Guaranteed to excite even the most science-phobic students (and teachers) as evidenced by a 30+ year-long experience hearing "that was the best assembly" frequently after each school visit.
Alexandra Kahn
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Sasha Kahn offers author visits virtually or in-person for preschool and K-5th. Pre-K and K focus on readings and art activities and are 20-30 minutes. Author visits for grades 1-5 are 45-minute presentations or assemblies, including Q+A. Designed to inspire and invite children into the creative process, author visits provide a glimpse of Sasha’s path as an author/illustrator, how to turn an idea into a story, how the words and pictures move the story along, how a book gets made, and more. She offers two programs, one for grades 1-3 with an emphasis on story and one for grades 3 and up with an emphasis on STEM topics, research and revision.
Billy Floyd
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My name is I’m Billy Floyd and I'm the arena host and in-game announcer for the Adirondack Thunder, Union Men’s and Women’s Hockey, and the Glens Falls Dragons. Since 2021, I’ve been blessed enough to entertain and connect with fans all over the Capital Region and North Country -- especially kids! This year, I’m bringing that same energy and positivity right into schools. When I visit, we play trivia and fun games (just like we would do at the arena or ballpark for in-game entertainment) and I give away prizes. But here’s the thing... every trivia question and game comes with a valuable lesson that kids can really take with them. I also share stories from my own life about why failing and losing isn’t the end, how to bounce back, and why it’s so important to support others when it’s their time to shine. We talk about surrounding yourself with people who lift you up, doing what you love, why creativity is key, and why taking action matters more than anything else. Basically, I want to help students build confidence, stay positive, and have fun while learning how to succeed on and off the field. It's critical for my presentations to be extremely interactive because I want all of the kids to be involved in the "show" and this is my favorite way to connect with everyone. I'm beyond thrilled to bring the good vibes to your school!