Mr. Scruggs' Kindergarten: October 2014

Wow! October is flying by! I apologize for not posting on the blog lately. October is a very busy month in elementary schools; fire prevention month, quarterly testing, preparing for parent/teacher conferences, fieldtrips-there's a lot going on! We are winding down the first quarter of school. The kindergartners of Room 5B are in full kindergarten mode, having settled into a balanced routine, and we are finishing the last of our quarterly assessments. Next week will be parent/teacher conferences. In your child's Ware Bear folder you should have received a conference time. Please sign this note and mark whether or not this time is ok for you and return the note to school with your child tomorrow (Tuesday, October 14).   Parent/teacher conferences are a great way for me to communicate with you, one-on-one, about your child's progress thus far. Please come to your conference with questions and concerns...that's what this time is for! I look forward to our conference together!

Our field trip to the Beach Art Museum at Kansas State University was a great success! We had a lot of fun looking at several of the exhibits and then making our own art. We discussed the 5-senses and how we use them to appreciate art and other objects in the world around us. This trip also gave us some good background knowledge about art and art museums that will be put to good use in an upcoming unit about art and music. The kids' behavior was excellent; you would have been very proud.

In an effort to keep up with our district's technology plan for the district, your child has been practicing logging on to the computers here at school. This is a BIG accomplishment! They are practicing finding the keys that makeup their login name on their keyboard and typing them in correctly. After logging in, students get to play a fun, theme-related game.  This is a simple procedure to you and I, however for the kindergartners it is the first in many lessons to become proficient in technology. There are several ways that you can help your child become more technologically proficient at home:

Have them practice logging on to education city using the login and password taped to the inside of their Ware Bear folder. This is also a great way to practice basic skills taught in class through fun, interactive, educational games.
Have your child practice typing his or her first and last name on the computer. Knowing where those keys are will be extremely helpful the next time we login.
Show your child the backspace, enter, and space bar keys and explain their function. Have them practice using them.

Our fall festival is coming up the week after parent/teacher conferences. This is one of my favorite classroom activities of the year. We will have a costume party and a special snack on the day of the party. At conferences I will have sign-up sheets for those that want to bring things for our party. There will also be sign-up sheets for our Christmas and Valentine's celebrations as well. Class parties are fun ways to celebrate the holiday season so please think about signing up for one or two things when you visit me for conferences.

I want to say thank you so much for all you do to support me in the classroom. It is very obvious that many of you are working with your child on their homework and practicing basic skills like writing their name. Our class's behavior is truly amazing. When I've had to be gone for a sub I have received nothing but praise from our guest teacher and paras about how well the class performed in my absence. I have to attribute part of that to you. Without your support of our rules and classroom management system (bucket filling) at home, our class would not be reaching the high expectations they need to reach in order to be successful. Thank you for your continued support. I look forward to seeing you at conferences.