We are SO excited to announce that Grow and Sing Studios has been awarded with the Kindermusik Conductor’s Circle Maestro Award for 2013-2014. We are in the top 1% of Kindermusik Programs in the world, and ranked #20 out of over 5000 programs worldwide.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! We hope you enjoyed your day with your family and your precious little ones.

We are about to begin our final week of Spring Kindermusik classes. Summer classes resume the week of June 17th so we will be on a break. THIS IS A PERFECT WEEK to do a free preview class to see what our classes are like, or if you are in our classes, to bring a friend!!

Tuesdays – Avalon Park, Dr. Phillips, Port Orange

Wednesdays – UCF/Oviedo, Hunter’s Creek, Port Orange

Thursdays – UCF/Oviedo, Lake Nona, Deland

Fridays – Downtown

To find out what classes are available this week and to schedule your preview class contact us at 407-970-2774 or email us at .

Come see what we are SO excited about!
Grow and Sing Studios
“Connecting Families Through the Magic of Music”

We’re the winner of Nickelodeon’s 2008 ParentsConnect.com Parents’ Picks Award for “Best Artsy Class for Little Kids in Orlando, FL”! Parents from all over the city picked us as the best. Check out our listing on ParentsConnect.com/ParentsPicks !

Thanks to all who voted for us!!!

We just received the following email from the CEO of Kindermusik International:

On behalf of everyone here at Kindermusik International, I want to CONGRATULATE you for being named as a 2008/2009 Mezzanine Level Maestro. As you know, being named a Maestro Producer, Mezzanine Level, means that you are in the top FIVE PERCENT of all Kindermusik Educators. And, in that we have over 5,000 educators across the globe, this is an accomplishment for which you can be extremely proud. Thank you for doing what it takes to ensure the success of your program, as you continue to introduce incredible numbers of families to the Kindermusik experience. Thank you for your vision, for your dedication, and for your goal of reaching every child with the gift of Kindermusik.

Congratulations again on achieving Maestro status. I honor and thank you for all that you do each and every day. Keep in touch!

Best always,
Michael D

Love, Holly

Hi everyone!

We have some VERY exciting news! By popular demand, and also due to perfect timing, we will be bringing our Kindermusik classes downtown to the very special Misty Forest Enrichment Center! This will be our 3rd location! This location is in downtown Orlando, on N. Hyer Road, right near Mills and Colonial (50). Three classes will be offered on Fridays, starting on Friday, February 29, 2008. You can learn more about these new classes on our website, specifically our classes page. Here’s the new Friday schedule!

9:30am – 10:15am – Kindermusik Village (Newborn – Age 18 months)
$140 for 10 weeks

10:30am – 11:15am – Kindermusik Family Time for Toddlers – (18 months – 3.5 years old)
11:30am – 12:15am – Kindermusik Family Time for Homeschoolers/Multi-age/Siblings. Bring one child or more to this class! (Newborn – 7 years old)
1 child: $165 for 10 weeks
2 children: $245 for 10 weeks
3 children: $305 for 10 weeks

REGISTER NOW!! SPACE IS QUITE LIMITED TO ENSURE THE HIGHEST QUALITY EXPERIENCE!

Any questions? Email Holly Lesnick at  or call 407-970-2774. See you soon!

Best,

Holly

Hi everyone!

I am currently accepting enrollments for our next Sign and Sing workshop which begins on Wednesday, November 14th and thought, this would be a PERFECT time and place to address some questions and concerns that parents sometimes have about babysigning in general. I am approaching my 7th time teaching this workshop. At the beginning of my journey with Sign and Sing, I was even a bit skeptical. I wondered if it really works or does it delay a child’s speech? As a parent of two, I didn’t use babysigning with my daughter Anna, who is now 6. She was an early talker, so I didn’t even think it was a topic that pertained to our situation. My son Aiden however, is taking his time talking. He is currently 2 1/2 and even now most people aren’t sure what he is saying. His words aren’t quite clear yet, even though he is talking. Both of my children fall into the “normal” developmental range for the onset of talking. Every baby crawls, talks, walks, etc. in their own time. Over the course of my Sign and Sing journey so far, I have learned that if I had done babysigning with Anna, it would have only helped her speech and giving her an opportunity for long term learning. For Aiden it was AMAZING! I started teaching this course at JUST the right time because I could use Aiden as my “practice baby”. My husband embraced it as well, as did Anna, and our household starting signing. Boy did we eliminate lots of tantrums with Aiden. He was able to tell us when he was “all done”, or if he wanted “more” without crying or yelling. All babies are going to communicate. Before they can talk, the only way for them to express their needs is to cry, yell, tantrum. Well, Signing is a nice, calm and quiet alternative to all of that!!

Sign and Sing Class

Now to maybe clarify some myths that are out there!

The assumption that babysigning will DELAY speech is a complete myth.

A parent once asked….“so I would think talking to them and encouraging them to speak (reading to them consistently is proven to build language), would be more beneficial to them then encouraging them to sign instead”. Parents with hearing children are NEVER encouraged to sign INSTEAD of speaking. It is SO important to note that. What we do is encourage parents to speak WHILE signing. That is why, in our Sign and Sing class, we sing our songs, while we sign. The children then associate the speech to the signs. By doing this, we are giving them another form of communicating. In no way are we discouraging speaking! All babies need to express their needs. Most babies and toddlers are not able to do this specifically with speech for quite a long time, so their instinctual response is to scream, cry or tantrum. The biggest reason for meltdowns and tantrums in toddlers are simply because the child cannot communicate their needs properly. As Dr. Greene says, “Their ideas far outstrip their language skills. The “terrible twos” are less terrible the more children learn how to get across their intense and conflicting thoughts. Baby signs are a wonderful way to do this. Shaking the head or moving the hand is far easier to learn than the intricate manipulation of the lips, jaw, and tongue necessary for each new word. Large muscle coordination is learned before small muscle coordination – at about the same time kids want to express themselves.” 

I would like to welcome you to our new blog. I have created this with the goal of sharing useful information related to our program, Kindermusik, parenting and child development! We plan to post on here when we feel like sharing a magical moment that happened in one of our classes, if we have useful information to share or anything else we can think of!! We hope you enjoy and visit often.

We just returned from an amazing trip to Chicago. We attend the annual Kindermusik Convention. Kindermusik is now offered in 66 countries around the world with over 5000 educators. We feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing network of educators.

Thanks for reading. Come back often.

Holly Lesnick

Owner/Director
Grow and Sing Studios in Orlando, FL