IN THE CLASSROOM:

Six-year-old Marion Govednik used a blue marker to meticulously draw ice on her “All About Me” poster, which she had been constructing all week in preparation for her kindergarten graduation.

Marion and her 17 other Holy Redeemer School classmates were given the task of completing their posters before their June 9 graduation, so their parents could see what they learned about themselves this school year.

Kindergarten teacher Evelyn Cortes helped Marion and other students spell out challenging words, such as veterinarian, Ireland and Dodger Stadium, on a white erase board, so they could finish the poster.

“Think about what you are going to write and go word by word,” Cortes said.

She prompted students to take it one question at a time, like one in which students were asked to write down what their singular wish would be.

“I wish I could fly,” Marion said.

The students had to complete sentences on the poster about their favorite foods, animals, places and plans for the future. They also had to bring in photographs of themselves and their family to place on the poster, in addition to drawing some of their favorite things.

“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” Cortes said. “No one is perfect. Everybody’s learning.”

Marion’s blue ice on her poster was made to demonstrate that she wanted to be an ice skater when she grew up. On her poster, she wrote that her favorite color was gold, favorite thing to do was art, and her most preferred place to be was home.

The poster also allowed students to showcase their writing skills, Cortes said.

Throughout the school year, the children learned how to spell words phonetically, and how to write other simple vocabulary words such as “to,” “the” and “go.” Cortes encourages her students to sound out difficult words to spell them.

Six-year-old Emilio Barbosa wanted to know how to spell “beach” during Thursday’s class.

But Cortes wanted him to sound the word out.

She asked students “What about if two vowels go walking?” The students responded, “The first one does the talking.”

Since the beginning of the school year, Cortes said the children have become more confident in their abilities to write, read and draw.

Cortes came up with the idea of having the children create a poster about themselves so they could reflect on their progress, tell a story and “express what they want to say,” she said.

“This is kind of the last step,” she said.