Archive for June, 2008
6-Day Baby Sign Language Playgroup Series
No Comment |Posted by: crobinson on June 27, 2008
Jump-start you child’s verbal skills with Baby Sign Language! Baby Sign Language gives parents the opportunity
to communicate with babies long before they can verbalize their wants
and needs. Signing with babies has been proven to help accelerate
language development, reduce frustration, enhance a child’s self esteem
and deepen the bond between parent and child.
Six-Days 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Dates and Themes
Monday, June 30 Mealtime signs
Thursday, July 3 Colors and Clothing
Monday, July 7 Things that go Zoom around the house
Thursday, July 10 Animals
Monday, July 14 Playtime and Action
Thursday, July 17 Family and Feelings
An opportunity to learn to sign with your baby while making new friends!
You are invited to a six-day
Baby Sign Language Playgroup Series
Hosted by Mora Oommen and Noelle Thurlow
10 month old Mallika and Nathan
Downtown Menlo Park
Address will be revealed upon enrollment
5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Starting this coming Monday!
Mondays AND Thursdays
June 30 – July 17
Jump-start your child’s verbal skills with
Baby Sign Language
Baby Sign Language gives parents the opportunity
to communicate with babies long before they can verbalize their wants
and needs. Signing with babies has been proven to help accelerate
language development, reduce frustration, enhance a child’s self esteem
and deepen the bond between parent and child.
Six-day Playgroup Series
Join Instructor Bill White for six interactive one-hour playgroups. In
a playful environment, you will build your sign language vocabulary
through songs, games, and activities. Weekly themes include mealtime,
animals, colors, family, feelings, safety, and more! Babies’ minds
are developmentally ready to start memorizing words and signs by six
months so you will want to have a solid signing vocabulary by then.
Stop guessing what your baby is trying to tell you and start spending
more time fulfilling your child’s specific desires and needs. Start
building your baby sign language skills today. If you miss a
playgroup, you may make it up a following series most anywhere in the
baby sign language program network of classes at no extra cost.
Six-Days 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Dates and Themes
Monday, June 30 Mealtime signs
Thursday, July 3 Colors and Clothing
Monday, July 7 Things that go Zoom around the house
Thursday, July 10 Animals
Monday, July 14 Playtime and Action
Thursday, July 17 Family and Feelings
Families are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes early to get settled so that we may start on time.
If you happen to miss a playgroup you will have a chance to catch up,
since time is set aside at each playgroup to completely review the
previous week’s material. Plus, you are allowed to make up a playgroup
at other locations in Bill’s network of classes at no additional charge.
Do I need to bring my baby to the playgroups?
Babies are welcome but not required. If your baby is napping or
cranky, it is perfectly fine to come without your baby because we are
teaching you, the parents, baby sign language. At this stage of the
game, the babies are just along for the ride.
When should I start signing with my baby?
Six to eight months of age is generally considered an optimal time to
start signing with your baby, since before they’re six months old,
babies have very little long-term memory to retain the signs they see.
Younger babies also lack the motor skills and hand-eye coordination
required to make very precise gestures, so parents may miss their
babies’ early signing attempts, perceiving them as random gestures.
Once babies reach six months of age, however, memory retention
increases rapidly. If you start signing to them when they’re between
six and seven months of age, for example, you can reasonably expect
them to sign back when they’re between eight and ten months old. Older
babies and toddlers will generally catch on much more quickly because
they’re reaching the stage in their development where they begin to
imitate, and when they attempt to use gestures to communicate. They
may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to sign back.
Having said this, there is no harm in starting to sign as early as you
like. It’s worthwhile to note that deaf parents sign to their babies
from birth, and their babies generally sign back significantly earlier
than babies in hearing families do.
Location:
Downtown Menlo Park
Address will be revealed upon enrollment
We will be in the back yard so bring picnic blankets.
Payment
The six-day series is $120 and is based on a “family unit.”
A family unit is considered to be one adult and one baby. Additional adults are $5 per day.
Twins and triplets are counted as one and are not penalized with additional charges.
To reserve a spot
Please immediately contact Mora Oommen <mora_o@hotmail.com>
Space is limited so please contact Mora right away.
Dress
Please wear comfortable clothing and bring some things to keep your
child occupied and happy, like a few of your child’s favorite toys,
snacks, and something to drink. If your baby is napping or cranky the
day of a playgroup it is perfectly fine to come solo because Bill is
teaching us, the parents, sign language. At this stage of the game,
our babies are just along for the ride.
Bring Picnic Blankets to sit on
Payments/Rescheduling/Cancellations Policy
Cancellations are nonrefundable unless we can find a substitute family to take your place.
If Touch Blue Sky cancels a workshop, you are entitled to a full refund or credit.
RSVP: Mora Oommen <mora_o@hotmail.com>
650-644-5354
© 2008 Bill White
Here are a few testimonials parents have recently sent in;
“Our little Sienna is 15-months
old. We were in Bill’s classes when she was about 6-9 months old. Now
she is signing about 20 different signs - some helpful, some just cute!
I especially love when she signs ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘beautiful’ and
‘red’. What we find most helpful is when sienna is ‘whining’ for
something, we can say to her “please use your signs and she will stop
the whining, and she will try to tell us something with a sign”. This
is a relief from the whining but more importantly, we realize that she
can tell us something and she understands us. We can’t believe this
early in her life she really ‘gets things’, more than we think..”
Koryn and 15 month old Sienna (San Francisco, CA)
__________________________________________________________________________________
“I keep showing Lucas the proper signs and he’s now picked up Drink
which helps a lot. For Eat and More he still claps probably because we
understand him and he’s communicating which I guess is more important.
Lately he’s really been picking up the signs and it’s been a lot of
fun. His favorites are ball, plant, light, banana, drink, and more-eat,
and he understands a lot of others.
I have to admit not only is it adorable but it’s really exciting to be
able to communicate with Lucas at such a young age. He lights up when
he signs and I can tell he feels empowered to be able to communicate
too. Thanks for the workshop on signing.”
Kira and 12 month old Lucas (San Francisco, CA)
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Dennis is signing a lot… in fact, I’m finding it hard to keep my
vocabulary ahead of his! He has even made up a sign or two…
sometimes a little challenging to figure out, but it’s fun. I’m
totally convinced that it really helps keep him a happy baby. I want
to personally thank all of you because I don’t think I’d have been as
successful in signing with him without our playgroup!”
C.G. and 16 month old Dennis (San Francisco, CA)
If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please let me know.
Privacy Policy: Bill White and Touch Blue Sky does not give out your information to anyone, period.
© Bill White 2008
Signing with your baby is easy –
a lot easier than not signing with your baby!
-Monta Z. Briant, author of Baby Sign Language Basics
This program is presented by
Touch Blue Sky
Touch Blue Sky is
a resource for parents and parents-to-be who want to learn more ways to
nurture, communicate, and bond with their children. Touch Blue Sky
offers massage therapy (including prenatal and postnatal massage),
infant massage workshops, baby sign language workshops, playgroups, and
parent support groups.
Bill White
received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychobiology from
University of California, Santa Cruz. He is a baby sign language
instructor for JFCS Parents Place in San Mateo, DayOne Center, Babies
And Moms, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Hospital, Mission College in Santa
Clara, the Child Care Coordinating Council of San Mateo County, The
Pacific Athletic Club, and The Parks and Recreation Departments of San
Mateo, Daly City, and Redwood City. Bill is passionate about the
benefits of signing with babies and is the proud father of two hearing
sons who both sign.
In
addition to teaching sign language courses, Bill works as a commercial
print model and hand model in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has had 25
years of dance training and has taught dance classes locally to
children and adults. He was also Director of Operations for Kidsfaire
for five years and has been the Fashion Show Director for Modern Bridal
Productions for the past seventeen years.
Kathleen Harper,
CMT, CIMI, offers therapeutic massage for people ranging in age from
adolescents to seniors, including prenatal and postnatal massage. She
teaches infant massage workshops at DayOne Center in Palo Alto and for
Healthy Horizons/babiesandmoms.com.
For more information please visit
www.TouchBlueSky.com
or call 650-571-0337
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6-Day Baby Sign Language Playgroup Series
No Comment |Posted by: crobinson on June 27, 2008
Jump-start your child’s verbal skills with Baby Sign Language: from 5:00-6:00PM Mondays and Thursdays learn to sign with your baby! Starts on Monday, June 30th.
An opportunity to learn to sign with your baby while making new friends!
You are invited to a six-day
Baby Sign Language Playgroup Series
Hosted by Mora Oommen and Noelle Thurlow
10 month old Mallika and Nathan
Downtown Menlo Park
Address will be revealed upon enrollment
5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Starting this coming Monday!
Mondays AND Thursdays
June 30 – July 17
Jump-start your child’s verbal skills with
Baby Sign Language
Baby Sign Language gives parents the opportunity
to communicate with babies long before they can verbalize their wants
and needs. Signing with babies has been proven to help accelerate
language development, reduce frustration, enhance a child’s self esteem
and deepen the bond between parent and child.
Six-day Playgroup Series
Join Instructor Bill White for six interactive one-hour playgroups. In
a playful environment, you will build your sign language vocabulary
through songs, games, and activities. Weekly themes include mealtime,
animals, colors, family, feelings, safety, and more! Babies’ minds
are developmentally ready to start memorizing words and signs by six
months so you will want to have a solid signing vocabulary by then.
Stop guessing what your baby is trying to tell you and start spending
more time fulfilling your child’s specific desires and needs. Start
building your baby sign language skills today. If you miss a
playgroup, you may make it up a following series most anywhere in the
baby sign language program network of classes at no extra cost.
Six-Days 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Dates and Themes
Monday, June 30 Mealtime signs
Thursday, July 3 Colors and Clothing
Monday, July 7 Things that go Zoom around the house
Thursday, July 10 Animals
Monday, July 14 Playtime and Action
Thursday, July 17 Family and Feelings
Families are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes early to get settled so that we may start on time.
If you happen to miss a playgroup you will have a chance to catch up,
since time is set aside at each playgroup to completely review the
previous week’s material. Plus, you are allowed to make up a playgroup
at other locations in Bill’s network of classes at no additional charge.
Do I need to bring my baby to the playgroups?
Babies are welcome but not required. If your baby is napping or
cranky, it is perfectly fine to come without your baby because we are
teaching you, the parents, baby sign language. At this stage of the
game, the babies are just along for the ride.
When should I start signing with my baby?
Six to eight months of age is generally considered an optimal time to
start signing with your baby, since before they’re six months old,
babies have very little long-term memory to retain the signs they see.
Younger babies also lack the motor skills and hand-eye coordination
required to make very precise gestures, so parents may miss their
babies’ early signing attempts, perceiving them as random gestures.
Once babies reach six months of age, however, memory retention
increases rapidly. If you start signing to them when they’re between
six and seven months of age, for example, you can reasonably expect
them to sign back when they’re between eight and ten months old. Older
babies and toddlers will generally catch on much more quickly because
they’re reaching the stage in their development where they begin to
imitate, and when they attempt to use gestures to communicate. They
may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to sign back.
Having said this, there is no harm in starting to sign as early as you
like. It’s worthwhile to note that deaf parents sign to their babies
from birth, and their babies generally sign back significantly earlier
than babies in hearing families do.
Location:
Downtown Menlo Park
Address will be revealed upon enrollment
We will be in the back yard so bring picnic blankets.
Payment
The six-day series is $120 and is based on a “family unit.”
A family unit is considered to be one adult and one baby. Additional adults are $5 per day.
Twins and triplets are counted as one and are not penalized with additional charges.
To reserve a spot
Please immediately contact Mora Oommen <mora_o@hotmail.com>
Space is limited so please contact Mora right away.
Dress
Please wear comfortable clothing and bring some things to keep your
child occupied and happy, like a few of your child’s favorite toys,
snacks, and something to drink. If your baby is napping or cranky the
day of a playgroup it is perfectly fine to come solo because Bill is
teaching us, the parents, sign language. At this stage of the game,
our babies are just along for the ride.
Bring Picnic Blankets to sit on
Payments/Rescheduling/Cancellations Policy
Cancellations are nonrefundable unless we can find a substitute family to take your place.
If Touch Blue Sky cancels a workshop, you are entitled to a full refund or credit.
RSVP: Mora Oommen <mora_o@hotmail.com>
650-644-5354
© 2008 Bill White
Here are a few testimonials parents have recently sent in;
“Our little Sienna is 15-months
old. We were in Bill’s classes when she was about 6-9 months old. Now
she is signing about 20 different signs - some helpful, some just cute!
I especially love when she signs ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘beautiful’ and
‘red’. What we find most helpful is when sienna is ‘whining’ for
something, we can say to her “please use your signs and she will stop
the whining, and she will try to tell us something with a sign”. This
is a relief from the whining but more importantly, we realize that she
can tell us something and she understands us. We can’t believe this
early in her life she really ‘gets things’, more than we think..”
Koryn and 15 month old Sienna (San Francisco, CA)
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Free Music in the Park - Summer Series
No Comment |Posted by: crobinson on June 9, 2008
City Arts of San Mateo & the City of San Mateo present the
2008 Central Park Music Series!
June 12-July 31, 6-8pm Every Thursday Evening
Whether you are looking to socialize with friends, get
some much needed family time, or dance the night away, the 2008 season
is sure to be a great time.
June 12: The Sun Kings (Beatles tribute)
The
Sun Kings present an evening of Beatles music that’ll send more than
one amazed shiver down your backbone. The music of the Beatles is
encoded into their collective DNA, and they bring the joy and energy of
this music to the concert stage. Hailing from Alameda, California, the
Sun Kings repertoire contains about 100 Beatles songs - played just the
way you remember them.
June 19: Fast Times (80’s dance party)
Fast
Times 80s plays dance hits from the ultimate decade of decadence. From
A-Ha to Young MC, every song is an instantly recognizable hit
guaranteed to get audiences on their feet. Band members – vocalists
Chynna and Elektro, guitarist Bistie, Mr. Hand on synth, bassist
Quatro, and drummer Mr. Roboto – have performed with numerous bands and
have appeared on various original CD releases. Their outrageous onstage
fashions, 80s rock star flair, and power-packed set list make Fast
Times 80s dance party totally awesome!
June 26: Inoahband (R&B/neo-soul)
Inoahband
is made up of four unique musicians who vocalize rearrangements of jazz
and contemporary music. The band has preformed four years in the Bay
Area at public and private events. Bill Bronson on the saxophone,
Bernard Boult keyboards, Curtis Funderburk drums and Keith Jones double
neck guitar bass.
July 3: Toot Sweet Jazz Band (Dixieland/New Orleans jazz)
Founded
in 1991, the Toot Sweet Jazz Band is well known in the San Francisco
region as a high-energy band that radiates enthusiasm and plays lively
and entertaining traditional jazz music. They perform with a full
complement of traditional (or Dixieland) instruments – trumpet,
clarinet, trombone, tuba, banjo, piano and drums – all complementing a
great young singer. They have an ever-expanding and diversifying
repertory of great music that is highly entertaining and danceable.
July 10: Blusion (Funk/fusion)
Blusion®
is a remarkable blend of funk, Latin, jazz hip-hop, blues, rock,
reggae, vocal and instrumental music. Blusion® has been performing
their offbeat funky rough-jazz fusion throughout the Bay Area and
beyond for the past twelve years. They have performed with or opened
for such notable musicians as jazz drummer Steve Smith, fusion pioneers
Spyro Gyra, singer/songwriter Bonnie Hayes, guitar legend John
Scofield, and blues rock diva Lydia Pense. These seasoned veterans and
young prodigies create music likened to that of Frank Zappa, Gil
Scott-Heron, and Steely Dan.
July 17: Fotia (Traditional/modern Greek)
FOTIA
performs Greek Music of all styles – traditional and modern. The band
is comprised of musicians Michael Kutulas, George Psarras, Paul
Psarras, Anthony Catchatoorian and singer, Olympia. The instrumentation
consists of the guitar, keyboards, percussion and the national stringed
instrument of Greece, the bouzouki, along with two smaller versions of
the bouzouki – the tzoura and the baglama.
July 24: Los Boleros (Latin-American dance)
Los
Boleros is an all Acoustic Latin Music group that is taking off in San
Francisco. The music style is Traditional Son Montuno, Son Cubano,
Boleros, Cumbia, Merengue and many others. Los Boleros revives old
classics like “Dos Gardenias,” “Cuarto de Tula,” “Como Fue,” and “Besa
me Mucho.” The group’s female and male singing talent is backed by the
Afro-Cuban beats of Tumbao and Bolero. Up-Right Bass in sync with
Congas, Bongos, clave and guiro. Passionate solos by Flute, Sultry
Saxophone and Hot Tres Cubano will get you hooked.
July 31: Native Elements (Roots reggae)
San
Francisco’s own Native Elements combines the colorful influences of the
culturally diverse music scene of the San Francisco Bay Area into an
amalgamation of positive, vibrant music that speaks from the heart of
the roots-reggae tradition. They have been nominated for a San
Francisco Weekly, Local Music Award (Wammie) and BAM Magazine’s™, Bay
Area Music Award (Bammie) for Outstanding World Beat/Reggae Club Band.
With a myriad of musical influences ranging from classic R&B soul
to the deepest tradition of Jamaican and English dub, Native Elements
delivers a dynamic sound that appeals to all music lovers.
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