For more information on date availability for the school year 2015/2016 plus program details - call Bill @ 615-969-2740 or email me at Bill@RondaFriend.com.  See below for more information on assemblies, writing workshops and family nights.

Children's author Ronda Friend has traveled extensively throughout the United States in twenty-seven states presenting her assembly programs in over 1300 schools and before a million students and educators.  Her programs combine storytelling, hilarity, puppets, music and audience participation that entertains while challenging and inspiring students to be positive contributors to their schools, communities and families.  Ronda encourages aspiring young writers and motivates all students to be avid readers.

“Hilarity with a message”

R. Friend Character-Based Assembly Programs will challenge your students to be avid readers, creative writers and citizens with character. This high energy, fast-paced, entertaining program is guaranteed to keep the audience totally engaged from beginning to end. Ronda takes the students and staff back in time to Down on Friendly Acres -  family farm life in the 50s and 60s and acts out R. Friend - Swallows Her Pride (a book on forgiveness). Tempted to call her brother, Duane, a bad name, Ronda places clothespins on her ears, nose and mouth - a visual reminder that "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". This nostalgic series has best been described as Little House on the Prairies meets Green Acres. Each book contains original songs, recipes, poems, hidden sunflowers, new vocabulary words, historical facts and pictures, true-to-life cliffhangers and a life lesson (e.g. forgiveness, patience, honesty, etc.)

Students will also be taught a heart-warming sign language song and then delight in watching their teachers join Ronda on stage for a performance that will keep them in stitches. The room will explode with laughter, smiles and funny faces as Ronda goes from playing Penelope the Pig to Sparky the Skunk to Sheriff Stinkbug to the evil foxes - Eeany-Meany, Miney, Moe as she brings to life her picture book on teamwork -  P. U. You Stink! The program concludes with two children (selected before the performance) that use puppets to help Ronda share a heartwarming song entitled, Momma, I See Something You Don't See. Students are admonished to sow seeds of different kind (forgiveness, patience, kindness, etc) because no matter how young or old we are - we all are like a little lamb - we L.eave A. M.ark B.ehind.

Writing Workshops

Creating outside the box motivates even the unmotivated

Creative Writing Workshop - Motivating Children to Write From Their Hearts and Minds

Let the fun begin!  Creative juices will flow as students learn by doing. With the use of an acrostic and alliteration, seven important aspects of creative writing will be covered: suspenseful storyline, purposeful plot, innovative ideas, colorful characters, knowing kids, edit, edit, edit and terrific titles.  R. Friend encourages students by example to include music, poems, recipes, hidden objects, new vocabulary words, and true-to-life dilemmas in their stories. With Ronda at the helm along with a unique, innovative writing card game, students will be forced to think outside the box as they stretch their imaginations to create a memorable, meaningful, magical story together. Students and staff will walk away with light bulbs going off in their heads along with practical tools to implement in their writings for years to come.  Students will also have the opportunity to win a signed copy of a book from R. Friend by taking to heart what they learned in this one-of-a-kind workshop.

Make Reading a "Funtastic" Family Priority

FAMILY NIGHTS will be one for the books as students beg their parents to come back for a concert and a play (no rehearsal needed). Students will perform two songs that Ronda taught them during the assembly program - Love You to the Moon and Back! and There's No End in Friend. The show stopper of the evening will be when the students along with their parents act out P.U. You Stink and dress up as pigs, skunks and stinkbugs to defeat the evil foxes - Eeany-Meany, Miney and Moe (played by teachers and administrators). The moral of the story in the end is the "family who stinks together - sticks together!" This unique series - Wild & Wacky Animal Tales - is one of a kind in the children's publishing world. The book is written two different ways on the same page - in prose for older students and in rhyme for younger children. The evening will conclude with parents hugging their children as everyone sings - Love Me to Bed which emphasizes the importance of reading to their children each night.

An R. Friend Family Night  is great in conjunction with PTA/PTO hosted Family Read Nights, Dr. Seuss Read Across America, AR or Reading Counts Celebration and Family Literacy Nights.   Whether your family night becomes a pajama night, superhero night, favorite athletic team jerseys nights or students and families dress up as farmers for the "Down On Friendly Acres" theme - one thing is for sure - you will have a memorable magical moment - guaranteed.