• MAKE-UP POLICY:  All families are permitted 3 make up classes per semester.  Please call the Staten Island Family Music office at 888-731-8719 to schedule your make-up class.  Do not expect a return phone call - you will only be contacted if the make up spots in that class are full.
• GUEST POLICY:  Siblings or cousins may attend twice free of charge; thereafter there is a $10 guest fee.  The guest fee always applies to visiting children who are non-family members.  Please call to make certain that there is space in a particular class for visiting children.  There is noever any charge for visiting adults, so bring the grandparents, aunts, uncles, babysitters, etc.!
• PARTICIPATION:  In our classes it is very important for ADULTS to PARTICIPATE!  Children learn their attitudes from their caregivers, and you can help them become enthusiastic music-makers just by enjoying the class and participating fully.  You will be an excellent role model regardless of your own musical ability…a sense of fun is all that’s required!
• YOUR CHILD:  Our most basic rule is to allow the children freedom to explore, to play and to discover.  Children have the amazing ability to teach themselves through play – we try not to disrupt that precious process by giving too much direction.  Allow your child to experience the class in his or her own unique way.  We recommend that you experience the class with little or no expectations for your child…we know from working with hundreds of children over the years, that each child is actively processing the musical information, even if that’s not apparent during class.  Trust this process, relax, have fun, and let your child be, and you will begin to see new musical behaviors emerging as the semester progresses!  (We leave the “disciplining” to the parent…if your child needs some special attention, we recommend that you do so away from the group or outside the classroom.)
• SING, DON’T TALK:  Our approach to teaching is deliberately informal, but we take our work very seriously.  We especially ask the adults to maintain the musical mood and avoid talking – during and between class activities.  Talking distracts your child and interrupts his/her ability to process the musical experience we are so carefully creating.
• TOYS, FOOD, SIPPY CUPS, BOTTLES & DIAPERS:  If possible, leave toys in the car or at home.  Please, NO FOOD of any kind in the classroom.  Bottles and sippy cups are okay at the very end of the class – during “Quiet Time”.  Of course, this does not apply to infants; they can and should nurse or have a bottle at any time.  If you need to change your child’s diaper, please do so on a changing pad and not on the carpet…and please take the dirty diaper with you!

 If you have any questions, please feel free to call Sandy at the office at any time:

(888) 731-8719.