Bernardo Parent Bulletin #5

Thanks for the generosity of our PTA, we are excited to provide music classes to all of our Bernardo students this year during the school day through a company called Maestro Music. Beginning this week, each class will attend a class where they will learn the basic concepts of music in a fun and collaborative way. We also look forward to putting on some awesome musical productions later in the year for our families!

Thank you parents for supporting our PTA so that we can offer this fantastic opportunity to our students!

Due to the amount of traffic each morning at our school, our teachers do not mark any students tardy unless they arrive after 8:05 each morning. This is to provide a few extra minutes for students whose families may have been stuck in traffic or at the back of the drop-off line.

If you are ever running late, please do not drop off your child at the curb on the street. Those areas are not supervised it will likely take them longer to get into school than if you just wait another minute or two to get through to the drop-off curb inside the parking lot.

Also, please know that your child can enter the campus through any of our front gates. So if you drop off at the end of the line, your child can enter through the upper grade gate and then walk down to their classroom.

Thank you to everyone who has been so cooperative to help our drop-off and pick-up processes get smoother and smoother. Here are a few reminders:

• Please pull all of the way forward so that we can get as many cars to the drop-off curb as possible. This may result in your child having to walk a little further but just think of it as great exercise!
• Please do not exit your vehicles in the drop-off/pick-up line. If you need extra time to buckle/unbuckle or help your child get ready before exiting the vehicle, please pull all of the way forward in the line so that others behind you can move forward.
• When coming down Mountain Heights Drive, please allow one car from the parking lot to enter the street in front of you. This helps our parking lot flow so that we can get students into their vehicles quicker.

In the past, students who volunteered for band would have to miss out on other class activities during band class. This year, each class will attend band together so that every student can experience learning to play an instrument, hopefully inspiring some to consider pursuing music in their future. The band classes will take place once a week starting on Friday, September 9 and will run throughout the entire school year.

Parents will have an opportunity to rent instruments if they wish but thanks to our PTA as well as the school district, we will have many instruments available here at school for students to check out for free.

The only thing that we are asking of 4th/5th grade parents at this time is to complete the interest form that was sent home this past Friday so that we can begin determining what instruments we have available. Other than that, there is nothing that need to be done at this time.

We'll share out more information in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, if you have any questions, please email the fabulous Band Teacher, Ms. Baker at pbaker@eusd.org.

We know kids enjoy many different activities during their recess breaks. Therefore, we allow students to bring toys or stuffed animals out to recess with the following guidelines:

• Toys are to be stored in backpacks and only taken out of backpacks during recess or lunch.
• Pokemon cards may be played with but are not allowed to be traded at school. If we catch students trading cards, we will keep them in the office for parents to come and pick up at the end of the day.
• We recommend that students do not bring any toys or items that are valuable or may have significant personal meaning in case they get damaged or are lost.

Our first PTA meeting of the year will take place on Wednesday, August 31 at 6:00 pm in our library. The meeting will also be on Zoom for those who would like to join virtually. Click here for the Zoom link.

Bring the family by Menchie's on September 1st and a portion of the proceeds will come right back to our school. The PTA will be giving away some surprise gifts throughout the event time.

The Giving campaign is our annual fundraiser which helps us raise funds quickly in the beginning of the year. So far, our giving campaign has raised just over $1,500! We are hoping to be able to generate $10,000 as we begin the school year and thank you for considering how you or the company you work for may be able to contribute via the giving form below or through the TOTEM dashboard.

At our Friday morning assemblies, we'll roll out the lost and found cart. If your child has already misplaced a sweatshirt, water bottle, hat, etc. come and take a look to see if it's in the cart.

Also, as a reminder, please write your child's name on the inside tag of any clothing or on water bottles. This will help us return any found items throughout the year.

For safety sake, we ask all parents to please adhere to the following procedures for student drop-off and pick-up:

• Only drop-off or pick-up students in the parking lot, not on the neighborhood streets where we do not have supervision.
  
• Please do not park at any red curbs or on the sidewalk side of Mountain Heights Drive at any time.
• Have your child exit on the side of the vehicle closest to the sidewalk so they don't have to walk in any traffic areas.
• Use the crosswalks and sidewalks and do not cut across the parking lot or grass.
• If crossing the street, please hold your child's hand.

8/31 - PTA Meeting, 6:00 pm in our Library and Zoom

9/2 - Friday Morning Student Assembly, 8:10

9/5 - Labor Day, No School

9/8 - School Board Meeting, 7:00 at the District Office

9/29 - Picture Day

9/30 - Fall Festival