Mrs. Bernal's Kindergarten Classroom

Dear families, We are in the middle of the first quarter. Students are progressing accordingly. Kindergartens develop so many skills in one year. This week, several times, I overheard some students saying, “I love school!”. Kindergarten is a grade level with many hopes and expectations for the families but, also anxiety. Parents, trust the process; we all just need time and practice. If you are teaching your child how to ride a bike, you know it will take time for your child to really master how to ride a bike. Mrs. Bernal What we learn this week! Notes: Please practice all the phonograms at home. At the end of the quarter, students will perform a cumulative test on all the 26 phonograms learned during the first quarter. Remember, proper Spalding handwriting is one point for each phonogram. Spalding:  This week, students were introduced to phonograms: H I J K. Our stack of learned phonograms is getting bigger! Daily, we practice all the phonograms learned from before. At the ...

  Dear families, These kindergartens are finally mastering all the routines and procedures. They can spend the entire day at school without being tired. They are working hard on all subjects! At home, when they answer a question, encourage your child to answer in a complete sentence, not just yes and no answers. Read daily to them, and then go back and retell the story using your own words. Let them be independent by carrying their own things and help at home with chores. Mrs. Bernal Notes: Phonogram test will include the phonograms taught that week, and on the back of the page the phonograms from the previous week. The purpose of this is to check for retention. Keep practicing all the phonograms at home! Next week, new phonograms will be tested. Also, at the end of the quarter (towards the end of September) students will have a cumulative test for the 26 single letter phonograms. What we learn this week! Spalding:  This week, students were introduced to phonograms:...

Dear families, I am so proud of these scholars! Their first week with Spalding phonograms went well! They are so excited about doing the hand motions! Thank you for your support at home! For the next several months, we will be going through each of the seven continents of the world and many of the countries within them. We started with our own continent and our own country this past week. Next week we will move on to Mexico. I love the continents-study because we have an opportunity to learn about different cultures from around the world. Every year, I have several students in the Kindergarten class who have parents from different countries. It is wonderful to invite parents to come in and share a presentation about the countries they are from. If you are from a country other than the United States and are willing to give a short presentation (15 minutes) about your country, please email me, so we can set up a day for you to share with us. Parents have brought in pictures, costumes...

What we learn this week! Spalding Homework reminder: Monday, Spalding begins with the first 5 phonograms, working toward the cumulative test over 26 phonograms by the end of September (and 55 phonograms in mid-March/mid-May). Each Friday, students will test on the current phonograms for a grade. The teacher will say the sounds and the students will write the phonograms, going down the paper. Students will receive: one point for the correct phonogram,  one point for forming the phonogram correctly (handwriting matters in Spalding),  and in the case of qu , one point for remembering to underline double letter phonograms. This week's test will be worth 10 points. Students will also be quizzed each Friday on the previous week's phonograms. This review will not be graded but it will help students be ready for the cumulative tests.  The homework and agenda will go home on Monday, have your child write the phonograms, while saying the sounds , going down the paper three times....

  Notes:  Your child should bring a daily snack to school placed in the front pocket of the backpack. On Wednesdays, students can bring two snacks since it is half day and they will have their lunch later for that day. Remember, no juices/liquids, or food that will need utensils like forks or spoons. If you want your child to tell you more about school, this are some ideas on how to ask them about their days: o    “Tell me two things you learned today.”   o    “What was the best part of your day?”   o    “What was challenging today for you?”   o    “Tell me about what you did at recess today.”   What we learn this week! Spalding: This week, students were introduced to Spalding. We explained that spoken words are made of individual sounds called phonograms, and we will learn how to hear and write those sounds. Students learned how to sit down with head high, back straight, hips back, slant the paper, and the pencil gr...

  What we learn this week! Literature: Students read “The Kissing Hand”. We talked about Chester’s first day of school. Ask your child about him and something special about his hand. Math: We discussed the difference between a letter and a number, paying close attention to the letter “o” and number zero. History/Geography: We learned that our classroom is a community and we are part of it. Students identified their two teachers, Mrs. Bernal and Mrs. Thareja. We discussed how we can help our community. Students learned many rules, procedures, and routines in the classroom. We all still need to practice them! We were all exhausted at the end of the day! Looking forward to learning more next week!