Parent/Child Classes
My
Smart Hands™ Level I
These 6 or 8-week sessions introduce you to every day words, family
signs,
and food and animals signs and in the 8-weeks you will learn over 100
signs to use with your child. Classes are 45 minutes in length and are
created for parents/ caregivers and babies. In a playful, educational
and language-rich environment, caregivers and children will build their
American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary through instruction,
interactive games and songs. You will learn recommended first signs; we
will discuss the benefits of using ASL with infants and demonstrate
easy techniques for successfully integrating signs into everyday life.
Some of the ASL vocabulary covered for this age group includes:
everyday words, family, food, animals, emotions, opposites, bed time
and play signs.
My
Smart Hands™ Level II
These classes are designed for graduates of My Smart Hands™ Level I
class or for infants with basic ASL comprehension. These classes run in
either 4 or 8-week sessions. The 4 week session introduces you to
people, food, animal and emotion signs. In the 8 week session you will
learn over 120 signs to use with your child. The 8-week session allows
for more review, discussions, songs and practice of signs. Classes are
45 minutes in length. We will review signs learned in My Smart Hands™
Level I and continue to build our signing vocabulary. Weekly themes
covered in class include: people, food, animals, emotions, opposites,
weather and color signs.
Parent
Workshops
Learn how to enrich your child's language development by increasing
vocabulary and building self-confidence through the use of American
Sign Language (ASL). This workshop is an introduction to the benefits
of using ASL with your child. Children are not only auditory learners
they also learn visually and kinesthetically (touch and experience).
Using sign language with your child encompasses all learning styles.
Your child will hear you when you say the word, he/she will see you
make the sign and will also experience/feel the word as he/she learns
to sign. This workshop is designed for the busy parent; you will learn
recommended first signs and easy techniques for successfully
integrating signs into everyday life. Over 50 signs will be introduced.
Fee includes a My Smart Hands™ curriculum book.
Educator
Workshops
These workshops are designed to give teachers the tools to incorporate
American Sign Language (ASL) into the current curriculum. As educators,
we know that there are different types of learning styles in the
classroom; auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Using sign language in
your program encompasses all learning styles. The students will hear
you when you say the word, he/she will see you make the sign and will
also experience/feel the word as he/she learns to sign. These workshops
are designed to suit the specific needs of the school. Teachers will
learn about the research supporting the use of sign language in the
classroom, they will be given resources and will be provided with
vocabulary specific to classroom use.
Sign
and Sing Classes
Young children are
active, creative and spontaneous. They love to sing,
listen to music and dance to different songs that have various rhythms
and beats. For ages, children have loved to put actions to songs such
as ‘The Itsy Bitsy Spider’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. In the
‘Sing & Sign’ class we teach the ASL signs that go along with
traditional children’s songs as well as learn new modern songs. We will
learn how to sign the key words in each song, play games, read books
and review signs. But more importantly, we will laugh and have FUN!