August 2015

CHAC Family Resource Centers

August News & Updates

Stay tuned, we are working on a new site that will make it easier for you to navigate.

In the meantime, you can visit our Google calendar to obtain the class schedule for our centers:

• (Mountain View) For classes at our Mercy Street Family Resource Center (click here)
• (Sunnyvale) For classes at our Vargas Elementary Family Resource Center (click here)
• (Cupertino) For classes at our Canon Music Family Resource Center (click here)
• (*for Mountain View Families) Escuela Family Resource Center (click here)

For future reference: Calendars are always available to the right hand side of your screen. If you scroll down it is under "Calendars". The calendars are regularly updated.

We Want to Hear from You! 
CHAC Family Resource Centers are forming a Parent Advisory Committee to find out what programs and services would help you and other families to create a more successful family and community.

In the weeks to come, we will visit your classes to gather feedback from you, and also have an online survey for you to complete to make your opinion count.

Parenting Playfully

Parenting Playfully Workshop Helps Parents Invent Creative Solutions to Parenting Challenges

In September, FRC Program Director Maddi Pascua will be offering a fun class that helps parents practice responding to in the moment challenges with playfulness and supportive connection.

• We have the best intentions
• We’ve read the books and taken the parenting classes
• We had all these ideas before we were parents…and yet…
• We can still get stumped and stuck, because kids and most of life are UNPREDICTABLE! As much as we wish there were a manual, life and day-to-day parenthood come without a script!

 This workshop playfully introduces the application of the Improv principles, skills and tools to parenting. This innovative work by Sue Walden of ImprovWorks! And Maddi Pascua ATR, will get your creative juices flowing for how to handle the challenges of parenting with fun and spontaneity.

Date: TBD (date change due to event conflict with the Mountain View Art & Wine Fesitval - stay tuned for new date)

Time: 9:30 am – 5:00 pm

Address: CHAC 590 W. El Camino Real, Mountain View

Cost: $175 per person

This full day workshop includes lunch. Part of the proceeds will support our Family Resource Center program.

Become a Science Kids Teacher

Learn to Teach Science Kids Classes. Aliza Savransky (pictured), developer of CHAC’s Science Kids Programs, is offering a free training for people interested in teaching Science Kids Classes at our FRCs.

Dates for training are: Thursdays August 27, September 3 and September 10 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Teaching Science Kids is fun and rewarding. Be a part of helping kids in the community starting a life-long love of science!

If you are interested in being a lead or support teacher, please contact Nancy Doan at nancydoan5@gmail.com or call 650-967-4813 for more information.

Class Updates

Vargas and Canon FRCs Resume Classes

• Vargas will reopen on August  24, starting with a full year of I’m Ready for Kindergarten for Spanish speaking parents with children 3-5, and Explorando Juntos, a pre-Kindergarten Readiness program for parents with children 0-3 (also in Spanish). Other classes and events will be found on the calendar here
• Canon Music FRC will resume classes on Mondays and Tuesdays starting August 17. Mondays are Mandarin and Tuesdays are English. These are very popular classes with a very small room, so please plan to arrive early to reserve a spot. Find their complete schedule here

• You can also be on a special Cupertino mailing list that has more details about Cupertino programs. Email Lin at lxu.chac@gmail.com

New Fall Offerings at CHAC FRCs

Save the dates and register early for these popular classes.

Mercy Street:

• I’m Ready for Kindergarten (Spanish): Tuesdays 10:00am-12:00pm. Children learn fundamentals for Kindergarten readiness while parents learn how to support their learning and transition. Orientation: 9/1, Class is 9/8 – 12/8, Graduation 12/15.
• Parenting Playfully – 1-day workshop at CHAC. Saturday September 12, 9:30am-5:00pm. Learn how to create more spontaneity and navigate day-to-day struggles using ideas from improvisational theater. $175 (includes lunch and snacks). English.
• [Location: CHAC, 590 W. El Camino Real, 1^st Floor Training Room, Mountain View, CA  94040]

Escuela (for Mountain View residents):

• Cooking with SEEDS: A healthy nutrition class combined with principles of SEEDS of Early Literacy concepts. Spanish. Thursdays starting July 23 - August 13.  

• Section 1: 9:00 am - 10:30 am

• Section 2: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm (Limited to current attendees of the Thursday Play and Learn group).

• SEEDS – Play and Learn style. English. Kids and parents learn how to create more opportunities to build vocabulary and literacy skills. Mondays 10:00 am – 12:00 pm starting Aug 3 for five weeks.

Vargas:

• I’m Ready for Kindergarten full year program (Aug – Jun). Wednesdays from 9:00 am-11:00 am. In Spanish. Kids learn fundamentals for Kindergarten readiness while parents learn how to support their learning and transition.
• Explorando Juntos is for parents with children 0-3. Tuesdays from 9:00 am -11:00 am. Full school year program in Spanish.
• Cafecito Mothers Group (Spanish) – meets the first Friday of every month. Childcare provided with registration at least two days prior to the event.

Northwest YMCA (new!):

• Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) Friday 10/9 – 10/23 10:00 am - 11:30 am. Members get first priority, but you can be on a waiting list for open spots. (English)
• Additional classes available on Wednesdays and Fridays for YMCA Members Only.

Class Spotlight – Friday Japanese Play and Learn

Thank you to our wonderful Japanese Play and Learn Parents at Mercy Street FRC. This  dedicated group arose from two volunteers’ passion for creating a class for children in Japanese. They built it from the ground up and it has been successfully running since April 2012.

The Japanese Play and Learn group is very organized with a rotating group of teachers. They make sure new families complete intakes and Ages & Stages Questionnaires, and the classroom is always left very clean. Many families stay after class to have lunch together and connect, which we love to see.

Demand for more Play and Learn classes is always high and we do not have enough funding for staff and supplies to meet that demand without strong dedication from family participants. Japanese Play and Learn is not the only example of dedicated families in our classes, but they are a wonderful model of what is possible when a passion for having a great space for kids to learn meets a willingness to come together to make it happen.

THANK YOU for supporting our program!

Many thanks to Guadalupe Romo and her husband Jose Chirino for their generous contribution to our program.

Thanks to Sevathon participants Monique, Bill, Alma, Magali, Mike, Brandy, Maddi, Yadira, Ling, Karla, Ciro, Irving, Jose and Kelly for coming out early and walking/running for our cause!  And great thanks, too, to those who also contributed funds during this event: Joan MacDonald, Bill James, Sharon Gross and others.

Donations

We very much appreciate all of you who kindly give us gently used clothing, supplies and toys for our classrooms.  In order to make sure that we have adequate space and good use for your donations, please call us first at (650) 967-4813 before bringing your donations to our centers.  Thank you!

If you would like to make a donation for supplies, our Amazon Wish List is on the side bar. Monetary donations can be directed to Program Director Maddi Pascua, made out to CHAC and mailed to: 748 Mercy Street, Mountain View, CA 94041