Dr. Splane, Principal

Mr. Garner, Assistant Principal

Email: rvelasquez@ogsd.net
Website: bernalis.schoolloop.com
Location: 6610 San Ignacio Avenue, San Jose, CA, United States
Phone: 4085785731

Hello students and families,

We are already finished with the first grading period and at the third month of school. We have accomplished a lot in such a short period and are excited about the start of the year. To recap the beginning of our year, we are continuing our digital reward, incentive, and tracking system called HERO. As a reminder, HERO is a digital system that we use to scan, track, tally, and record when students are being acknowledged by staff for positive behavior. The system relies on students wearing their school assigned identification badges. The identification badges this year helps with our goal of keeping our school safe and secure, as well as helping us identify and recognize students in order to acknowledge when they are meeting school behavior expectations.

We have also finished our first academic benchmark assessment system. iReady assessment has been given to all of our students in their Language Arts and Math classes. iReady assesses where students are currently performing in reading and math. The results of these assessments help teachers understand their student’s strengths as well as areas of need. Speaking of strengths, our athletic and afterschool sports program is already underway. We are coming to a close of our cross-country season and will soon begin our girls’ basketball season.

Our lunchtime activity schedule has been full of awesome activities created by Mr. Beaulieu that keep the students engaged, excited and full of school spirit during lunchtime. In addition, our leadership students have been working hard building school spirit by creating and displaying positive posters around school, playing positive music at lunch, as well as helping new students to Bernal get acclimated to school.

Our club day was again a huge success and this year we have many student clubs ranging from Girls Equity Club, Chess Club, Latino Student Club, Art Club, GSA, and many more. Please see our school website for full details.

Also, don’t forget our Home School Association continues to sell Bernal spirit clothing for all students and families. You can pick up an order form in the front office. Also, check out our Home School Association Facebook page, and ‘like’ that page so you can get regular updates about new school and spirit wear on sale. That’s it for now. As always take care of yourselves and each other.

Jamal Splane

Principal

Hello Bernal Family,

The 2018-2019 school year has kicked off to a great start! Our students are behaving well, they're engaged in their classrooms, and our clubs on campus have launched. I want to share some reminders with you and also talk about restorative practices.

Parents, just a friendly reminder, please do not drop off your students in the staff parking lot. Student reminder, there is no food allowed outside the forum during break and lunchtime. Both parent and student reminder: students are not allowed in the front of the school during break time and lunch time for safety reasons.

Some parents are beginning to ask me “What are restorative practices?” Restorative practices is an emerging social science that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities. Restorative practices simply seek to repair relationships, including those damaged through bullying. It does this by bringing about a sense of remorse and restorative action on the part of the offender and forgiveness by the victim. Through this lens of discipline, we can predict a drop in suspensions and detentions throughout the year.

Miles Garner

Assistant Principal

Our first six-week term ended on September 28th. Grade reports for Term 1 will be mailed home on Friday, October 5th.

10/5 - Wear PINK for Breast Cancer Awareness

10/19 - Wear ORANGE for Anti-Bully Month

Wed. 10/31 - Wear your Halloween costumes! See the guidelines below.

Tuesday, Oct. 2nd: Montgomery Hill Park in San Jose @ 4:00pm (Qualifiers only)

Thursday, Oct. 11th: Christmas Hill Park @ 4:00pm (Qualifiers only)

Season Dates: 10/1 - 12/6

Tryouts:

10/1 - 7th and 8th grade

10/2 - 7th grade only

10/3 - callbacks only for both 7th & 8th grade

A Team Games:

10/24 Jamboree (7th grade at Britton; 8th grade at Bernal) 3:30-6:30

10/25 Valley Christian at Bernal 7th 3:30/8th 4:45

10/30 Bernal at Brownell 7th 3:45/8th 5:00

11/1 Solorsano at Bernal 7th 3:30/8th 4:45

11/6 Davis at Bernal 7th 3:30/8th 4:45

11/8 Bernal at Herman 7th 3:30/8th 4:45

11/13 South Valley at Bernal 7th 3:30/8th 4:45

11/14 Bernal at Britton 7th 3:45/8th 5:00

11/15 Bernal at Murphy 7th 3:45/8th 5:00

12/4-12/6 Playoffs TBD

B Team Games:

Girls B Basketball

10/30 Christopher @ Bernal 3:30

11/1 Bernal @ Davis 3:30

11/8 Herman @ Bernal 3:30

11/13 Bernal @ Herman 3:30

11/15 Davis @ Bernal 3:30

Hi Bernal Parents/Guardians,

Bernal's annual fall book fair is just around the corner! The Home & School Association needs volunteers to help make the book fair possible. If you are interested in helping out click the link below to sign up! We need volunteers to help set up, work shifts, and tear down from Friday, October 12th through Friday, October 19th.

Please use this link to sign up to volunteer! Thank you!

~ Bernal Home & School Association

Bernal’s first Super Saturday Academy Session of the 2018-2019 school year will tentatively be held on Saturday, October 13th from 8:15am - 12:30pm! Attending the Super Saturday will allow students to make up one absence from this school year. Permission slips will be sent home week of October 2nd.

Students need to turn in their permission slip by Monday, October 8th and attend the full session on Saturday, October 13th so they can:

• Earn 10 Bronco Bucks!

• Be entered into a raffle to earn a pizza party for them and 5 friends!

• Earn an In-n-Out certificate!

• Be entered into a raffle to win a mile pass for P.E.!

Please encourage your student to attend this Super Saturday Academy Session to participate in exciting experiments, hands-on activities, and/or engineering challenges, and so much more!

Please email Allison Crawford at acrawford@ogsd.net if you have any questions!

*Permission slips may be turned in late (by 10/11), but students will NOT be able to order a lunch if it's turned in late. They will need to bring their own lunch.

Congratulations to the following students for being the top 15 earners of Bronco Bucks during September! Keep showing RISE behavior to earn your Bronco Bucks! :-)

David C., Dayna L., Justin S., David L., Jett C. ,Carlos D., Monica A., Nicole N., Matthew T. , Trei R., Jerusalen C., Kori P., Demetrius K., Emily D., and Sandie P.

From Bernal's Counseling Corner: Making Friends in Middle School

1. Go over social rules and cues.

Some middle-schoolers with learning and attention issues have more trouble with social skills than other tweens. Talk with your child about social cues and social rules—but do not just do it in the aftermath of a social blunder. Discuss basic social skills when things are calm and going well, too.

It can also be effective to discretely point out social cues when you see others using (or missing) them. For example: “Do you see how Mr. Jones backed away when Zach talked to him? That’s because Zach was standing too close.”

2. Remind her there are different types of friends.

Not everybody can be a friend for all situations—and that is OK. Talk that through with your tween. For instance, some kids are not good at keeping secrets, but they are lots of fun. Some are easy to talk to about feelings, but do not share the same interests. Some are great to work with on projects with but not so great to hang out with.

Let your child know just because someone is not “best friend” material that does not mean she cannot be a friend. It just means there are limitations to that particular friendship.

3. Understand what your child wants and needs.

Some kids do not need a bunch of friends. Managing the drama of multiple friends is sometimes too much. Check in with your child. Ask, “What are you looking to get out of a new friendship? What kinds of things do you picture doing with a friend?”

Keep in mind that your child’s friendship needs might not match yours. In addition, they may change over time, too. So keep checking in.

4. Keep talking about what is important in a friend.

Explore what your tween thinks makes a good friend. It may actually help her understand how she views friendship. Try to listen and not project your own ideas. Ask open-ended questions like, “What do you think makes someone a good friend? Why?”

Exploring what your child has to offer as a friend can also help. Ask her to consider what qualities or things make her a good friend to have.

5. Help her recognize possible friends.

Your child may not recognize the kid who could be a friend. Talk about who she likes to spend time with, either at school or outside of it. Point out who she talks about in positive ways.

Sometimes kids aim to be friends with kids who have very different values. Guide your child by helping her voice values that are not negotiable to her. Ask things like: Do you want a dependable friend who shows up on time? Is honesty very important to you, or having a friend you can confide in?

6. Explore new ways she can start friendships.

Joining afterschool activities is a good way for tweens to meet kids with common interests. Once your child feels confident with kids in that group, she may want to hang out one-on-one.

Help her come up with things to say like, “You do great accents in drama club. Let’s hang out sometime and maybe you can teach me.” She could also invite a friend to come with her to an activity. “Are you going to the food drive on Saturday? Want us to pick you up on the way?”

7. Talk about behaviors that can damage a friendship.

Kids with learning and attention issues may wear out a friendship because they want so badly for it to work. Kids with ADHD can overwhelm friends by talking nonstop or interrupting.

Be frank with your child about what she needs to know to avoid hurting a friendship. For instance: Friends need space and cannot always be together. They may each have other friends they want to see sometimes. You and your friend both need a chance to talk about your feelings and what is important to you. Moreover, friends can disagree without hurting each other.

8. Keep your eyes and ears open.

When kids are this age, keeping on top of the help they need in making friends can be tough. Volunteer to drive carpools or host a small group of kids for a movie marathon. Or volunteer at school to see what’s happening in that environment. You will get a chance to observe and listen to not only their words, but to their emotions as well.

Let your child know she can talk to you—and you will listen without being judgmental. That indirect route of being a sounding board helps keep the lines of communication open.

Bernal's Yearbook class is in need of quality camera equipment! Click the link below to donate to her class!

Apply to get affordable internet access at home:

https://www.internetessentials.com/apply