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Our Programs
Amazing Animals!
Join veteran Zoo naturalist and living history performer Dianne Moran as she presents a fun-filled learning experience. Live animals (spiders, insects, snakes, lizards and small animals), bio facts of skins, skulls, etc. along with lots of audience participation...
Amazing Creatures!
Join veteran zoo naturalist Dianne Moran as she engages students to join her on a journey into the wild realm of animals! Live animals, animal bio facts (skins, skulls and uniquely preserved specimens) along with lots of student participation highlight this fun and...
Be an Instant Storyteller!
In this workshop, the dynamic Sherry Norfolk will immerse students in the artistic process of storytelling. They hear stories, create their own tales and then immediately tell the new story to a classmate. This is an excellent way to kick off a creative writing unit...
Brazilian Percussion
Take an exciting getaway to Brazil! After seeing the sights in a short videotape and a demonstration on how to play Brazilian national instruments, students warm-up with theater games and play music with a South American flair. Available for after school. Audience:...
Character Travel
For children, it’s amazing how fun fabrics, interesting props, music and movement can create a whole new world of characters. Ed Reggi facilitates this discovery as students use theatrical improvisation to try on new languages, customs and cultures. This workshop...
Chef Alfredo and Madam Souffle
Join Chef Alfredo and Madam Souffle as they cook up some fun with facts in their kitchen – your classroom! These entertaining and crazy cooks will use Drama Based Instruction (DBI) to show the relationships between sets of data, the order for solving equations, and...
Civil War Diary
Explore the life of a woman during the Civil War with storyteller and historian Dianne Moran. What was life like during the war? Did women participate in any of the fighting? Dianne plays her mountain dulcimer, spins a few tales and shows relics from the battles. She...
Colonial Peasant Woman
Colonial life in the Midwestern woodlands is resurrected as Dianne appears in period dress to tell true stories of the wilderness and village life. She answers questions including — Who were they? Why did they move here? What did they do at home? What games did the...
Creative Movement Exploration
Creative Movement Exploration introduces students to creative concepts of dance, body-spatial awareness and expression through performance. Students will explore movement to music, while joyfully focusing their energy and stimulating their imagination. The program...
CSI: Photosynthesis!
Someone has killed Penelope’s beloved plant – and she calls in an expert detective to help her solve this mystery: “Detective C.O. Science.” However, Detective Science never works alone. Instead, she utilizes a large group of CSI interns, played by your students!...
Earth Woman Stories
Join Living History presenter Dianne Moran as she leads your students back to a time when hundreds of Native Americans lived as one with nature. In the Residency, students will learn the importance of tribal storytelling, the lessons they taught and dress in Native...
Gathering the Village: West African Song
DeBorah Ahmed of Rhythms in Anoa will introduce your students to West African culture in this exciting and fun-filled workshop. Students will learn about the traditions of the Manding cultures of West Africa through rhythms, songs, choreography, and discussions of the...
Hear It! Tell It! Learn It!
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the cornerstones of literacy and all four are combined in this action-packed residency. Students will hear stories and then become storytellers themselves…repeating the stories in large groups, small groups and...
How Freedom Works (Deluxe Edition)
Students gain a deeper understanding of American government with this lighthearted and engaging workshop plus performance. A group of 20-30 students plus and adult work with Jay and Leslie of Laughing Matters in a workshop and then during the show, they become the...
Lewis and Clark’s Sacagawea
Learn about the life of Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who became immortalized because of her journey accompanying the Corps of Discovery in 1804-1806. Sacagawea recounts the story of her amazing life and adventures. In Shoshone dress, with articles for her survival,...
Life and Times of Absalom Grimes, Civil War Spy
Students will relive the experiences of Absalom Grimes, one of Gratiot Street Prison's former inmates, as the hardships of prison life and the absurdities of Civil War era justice as related by actor, Barnes Bradshaw. Twice sentenced to death by the federal...
Messages in the Media
Ed Reggi leads a variety of theater games, hands-on projects and video presentations where students analyze the effects of media messages on their community’s attitudes and sharpen their own media literacy skills. Each student creates a mini-commercial in the form of...
Mindful Movements for the Soul
Mindful Movements for the Soul will introduce students to mindfulness through yoga. Students will engage in breathing exercises and intentional movement to learn to listen to their bodies and minds. Students will always choose and feel empowered to take their yoga...
Missouri, Eyes to the West
The realities of the wagon train migrations to the west were exciting but filled with struggles of people searching for a better life. Lewis and Clark opened the West, but it would be another 40 years after the expedition ended before great numbers of pioneers would...
Moving Through Math
This interactive lecture-demonstration is a fun and lively program using music and dance to bring elementary math and geometry to life. The performance catalyzes children’s capacity to grasp mathematical concepts by simultaneously stimulating visual, auditory and...
Moving Through Science
Students learn from Sir Isaac Newton and his team of dancers how scientific principles affect human movement in this performance. As students witness The Law of Motion Dancers perform a series of leaps, turns, and lifts, they discover how scientific knowledge can be...
Natural Wonders… Earth Protectors Who Led the Way
Former St. Louis Zoo Naturalist and Great Ape Keeper Dianne Moran leads students on a journey into environmental history as she portrays either Mountain Gorilla Researcher and Defender Dian Fossey, or Mother of Environmentalism Rachel Carson. Stepping from character,...
Papa’s Percussion and Puppets for Preschoolers
The energetic enthusiasm of “Papa” Wright is woven throughout this workshop designed to introduce young students to the percussion family of instruments. A wide variety of instruments become the vehicles to learning to count and play simple rhythms. By using puppetry,...
Play by Play Shakespeare
Students participate in interactive exercises designed to introduce them to Shakespeare’s poetry. They physically respond to lines of dialogue, perform scenes and play with the bard’s words; exploring word order, rhythm and emphasis. Throughout the workshop, they...
Professor I Drop, The Juggling Scientist
Jay Cady of Laughing Matters illustrates the concepts of kinetic and potential energy using bean bags, spinning plates, and other juggling equipment in this interactive classroom workshop. He also shares original poems about famous scientists and challenges students...
Re-Tell Me a Story
In each thirty minute residency session, children will hear and actively participate in a variety of curriculum-themed stories that strengthen their listening skills and stretch their attention spans – AND within each session, children will dramatize and re-tell...
Revolutionary War, An American View
The battlegrounds of Valley Forge, Trenton, and others stand witness to the Revolutionary War. However little is known of the battle of Ft. San Carlos, fought on May26, 1780 at Fourth and Walnut streets, right here in St. Louis. Students learn why the colonists...
Samba Blast!
A hands-on, team-building rocket blast to Brazil! With authentic instruments, students will build a satisfying musical ensemble in only fifty minutes. This workshop is fast-paced, powerful, and a joy for students. Great for International days or a one-time amazing...
Smiling at Diversity: Billboard Project
During this socially-minded studio arts program students will design a community billboard proposal. Lessons in drawing, color theory, painting, bookmaking and collage will prepare students with visual and conceptual tactics that can be used in all categories of...
St. Louis and the Great Fire of 1849
The City of St. Louis nearly disappeared from the map the night of May 17, 1849. While docked on the Mighty Mississippi, a small fire started on the steamboat White Cloud. The flames quickly spread to the loading docks and soon destroyed 15 blocks of the city. Through...
Tellin’ Tales
This fast-paced, participatory workshop involves verbal and physical response, singing, dancing and problem solving. Children learn and re-tell a folktale in their own words, enhancing oral language, sequencing and conceptualization skills. Also available for virtual...
Turn Off The Lights
With shadow puppets, a completely different type of performance is available. Shadow Puppets resemble silhouettes more than traditional puppets and can move in very life-like and dramatic ways. When the house lights go down and the stage light casts the first shadow,...
Voices of the American Dream: The Ellis Island Story
What would cause thousands of people to give up a way of life, leaving their homelands and, sometimes, their family members behind to come to foreign shores? Students will find out with Dianne Moran by dressing in turn of the century clothing, showing personal...
West African Drum Orchestra and Culture
Students in this program learn how to play West African drums and other percussion instruments. As they sit in a drum circle each week, where the focus is on their fellow students’ work, they learn to listen. Lessons about rhythm and improvisation are interspersed...
Wright Rhythms for Small Hands
While scraping, shaking and striking a wide variety of instruments, the enthusiasm of Glen “Papa” Wright energizes the classroom as he leads students through a creative musical adventure. Instruments are amusingly introduced to demonstrate basic rhythms, sound effects...