Edgar Vergara sings the ABC song quietly by himself.

As he sings, he arranges magnetic letters and numbers in three rows on a refrigerator in Bertha Medina’s bilingual kindergarten class at Salazar Elementary.

Along with his backpack, Vergara brought stickers to give to classmates with him on Thursday, the first day of school.

“If nobody listens, I’m not going to give out stickers,” he said as students plopped down on the carpet to listen to their teacher read a book about caterpillars in English, tossing in a few Spanish words along the way.

It’s 11 a.m., and nobody’s running out of steam yet.

But there are still four more hours to go.

All-day kindergarten is brand-new at Salazar, with two English classes and one bilingual class. The state is paying for the classes this year at 79 schools around New Mexico, the first time state money has been used to pay for full-day kindergarten.

Parents exposed to the full-day classes for the first time seemed to like the idea.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Cindy Green, the mother of one Salazar student. “I think if I were a stay-home mom, then maybe I’d want a half day.”

But she has been working as a dental assistant since her son, Anthony Berry, was 6 months old. “These days with bosses, it’s so hard to say, ‘I have to leave.’ If he didn’t go here, he’d be in day care. I don’t see how that would benefit him.”

Green said her usually quiet and introverted son adjusted on the first day of school without any tears. She attributes that to his summer camp experience at Salazar and the fact his older brother also was taught by Kristy Janda two years ago.

For years, Santa Fe Public Schools has been one of 18 school districts in the state that offered full-day kindergarten only in some schools, using federal funds.

Now nine of Santa Fe’s 20 elementary schools will provide full-day kindergarten, four of them Salazar, Cesar Chavez, Sweeney and Alvord using the state money.

Alvord has had full-day kindergarten classes for six years, using private grants to pay for it.

Most kindergarten programs in the United States were full day until teacher shortages caused by World War II, according to Think New Mexico’s 1999 report on full-day kindergarten.

The 2000 Legislature funded the new, optional full-day kindergarten literacy readiness program for five years. The goal of the program is to prepare children to read by the time they complete third grade.

A total of 253 schools applied for the first round of state funding. Factors weighed included high student mobility, low income and limited English proficiency.

Under the new state program, any parent could have requested half-day kindergarten at registration Tuesday, but none did in Santa Fe. Full-day kindergarten classes were packed to their limit of 20 students each.

“They come to us frequently with limited language skills and to some extent limited experiences,” Principal Vickie Sewing said, noting few Salazar students attend preschool. About 35 to 45 percent come from Spanish-speaking families.

Socialization skills, such as taking turns, are as important as knowing letters, sounds, shapes and numbers, she said.

“In the half-day kindergarten program, we always tried to accomplish the same things. We just didn’t do it,” Sewing said. “The difference is we’ll have more chances to make sure kids achieve and have those basic concepts before they move into first grade.”

Sewing also expects school attendance to improve because she believes parents will take a full-day class more seriously.

The morning is set aside for literacy and math basics, with breaks, recess and a snack, but there are no naps, says third-year kindergarten teacher Janda. After lunch, children unwind during story time and listen to quiet music during rest time. Movement, music and a choice of activities are intended to lighten the afternoon.

“The balance will keep them energized,” Janda hopes.

About six children in Janda’s class speak only Spanish. When she asked for all the boys to stand up Thursday, three girls stood, too. That’s where bilingual teacher assistant Elizabeth Tapia comes in.

Tapia said little Spanish will be spoken in this classroom, and in a matter of two weeks, the children will pick up on nonverbal cues and fall in line with the rest of the class.

“They’ll be speaking English in no time,” she said.

Her daughter, though, attends Medina’s class, where some of the students speak little or no English, while others, such as Tamara Tapia, are there to learn Spanish.

There’s so much more for first-time students to learn, and remember.

Go down the slide, not up it. Keep your hands to yourself. Stand in a straight line, without poking the person in front of you. Don’t talk in the hallways or the bathrooms. Sing a song before diving into Cheese Bits and orange juice.

And stop what you’re doing when the teacher rings the bell.

“It’s cleanup time. Do you want to go to recess?” Janda asked her students Thursday.

“Anthony, we’re not playing with dinosaurs. We’re waiting for recess,” she reminded.

Then she waited, as students returned puzzles, featuring animal themes and others, neatly to the shelf before play time. But even then her job wasn’t complete.

“Who lost the puppy’s tongue?”



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