St. Joseph Catholic School

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Mrs. Jennifer MacRitchie » Welcome to Kindergarten!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Welcome to Mrs. MacRitchie's Kindergarten!


I am so excited to join the St. Joseph Catholic School community. After receiving my bachelor’s degree and doing the master’s program at St. Mary’s University in Minnesota my first teaching job was at St. Joseph Catholic School teaching kindergarten. I taught at St. Joseph for 7 years and then stepped away after my first child's birth. When my children were in school I returned to teaching at a public school in Geneva, working with children with special needs. After 6 years in the public school system, I decided to return to the Catholic School Community and started teaching kindergarten at St. Mary School in Elgin. This summer I moved back to the northern suburbs and feel so blessed to be back at St. Joseph Catholic School.

We are fortunate to have a full-time instructional kindergarten aide, Mrs. Graziella Bosco, working in our classroom this year. Mrs. Bosco has been a kindergarten aide at St. Joseph School for 17 years!

Together, we will develop a caring classroom community that will foster growth and develop a love for learning. We are both very excited to work closely with each student to ensure a successful Kindergarten year!

 




 

Posts

We were very blessed today to have 3 wonderful volunteers come into our classroom to teach us all about the artist Marc Chagall. We looked through kaleidoscopes to see the world like a Marc Chagall painting, then we made beautiful stained glass windows. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful program at St. Joseph School.
Mrs. Hein gave the school a spirit wear dress-down day tomorrow, Friday, because the school reached our Day of Giving goal. Thank you for all your support!
I am excited to announce that the kindergarteners are now ready to work on sight words (trick words). We will review the sight words at school, but the more practice your students get with them, the more success they will have with reading. I highly recommend making flash cards and going over them with your students as often as possible. Please let me know if you have any questions. I appreciate all your support!
Very exciting news in kindergarten! We got new tables yesterday for the second trimester.  Ask your students who they are now sitting with and at what table.
Today we got our book bag in our DOT Book! At the back of the DOT Book, you will find a book that your student should be able to read to you and a November book log.  After your student reads the book to you and you talk about the book to check for comprehension, you should write the date, the book's name, and your initials.  I will ask each day for the students to let me know if they need a new book and if they let me know and the log is filled out I will replace the book. If you think your student's book is too easy or too challenging please let me know and I will evaluate your student and see if the book is at the correct level. This is not something that needs to be done every night, this is just something that I provide for my students to help them.  Please remind them to use their reading strategies, eagle eye, pointer pup, lips the fish, and stretchy snake. Please email me if you have any questions.

Week at a Glance November 18th to November 22nd

Math Objectives: The students will be able to write and represent numbers 0 to 20 with objects. The students will work on counting to 100 by ones and by tens.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write, and produce the correct sounds for all 26 letters. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to make words. To identify the correct initial sound in words. To be able to recognize and write the color words and sing the color songs for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, brown, and gray. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions about a while reading. The students will practice using the reading strategies of Pointer Pup, Eagle Eye, Lips the Fish, and Stretchy Snake to help them develop their reading skills. The students will work on identifying how many syllables they hear in a word.

Social Studies Objectives: The students will learn about the First Thanksgiving and be able to compare and contrast the First Thanksgiving to Thanksgiving now. The students be able to name 3 facts about the Pilgrims. The students be able to name 3 facts about the Native Americans.

Religion Objectives: The students will learn that we are God’s family, and we belong to his Church.  The students will learn the importance of following Jesus and loving one and other and the world through the Church.

Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work on developing sentence writing skills, starting with capital letters, stating a complete thought, and using the correct punctuation. The students will work on adding details with shape adjectives.

Week at a Glance November 11th - November 15th

Math Objectives: The students will be able to name, recognize, write, and count quantities 0 to 17.

Science Objectives: To be able to name the 4 seasons and provide descriptions of each season.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write, and produce the correct sounds for the letters t, b, f, n, m, i, u, c, o, a, g, d, s, e, r, p, j, l, h, k, v, w, x and y. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to make words. To identify the correct initial sound in words. To be able to recognize and write the color words and sing the color songs for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, and brown. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions about a while reading. The students will practice using the reading strategies of Pointer Pup, Eagle Eye, Lips the Fish, and Stretchy Snake to help them develop their reading skills.

Social Studies Objectives: The students will learn about the holiday Veteran’s Day and how it honors those who protect the nation. The students will learn about the First Thanksgiving.

Religion Objectives: The students will attend a prayer service for Veteran’s Day. The students will continue to work on the Sign of the Cross. The students will generate a list of gifts from God that they are Thankful for.

Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work of developing sentence writing skills, starting with capital letters, stating a complete thought, and using the correct punctuation.

We had so much fun at the Halloween party, I wanted to send a special thank you to all the parents who helped we could not have done it without you!

Week at a Glance November 4th to November 8th

Math Objectives: Chapter 11 Test; The students will be able to identify, name, and describe squares, rectangles, circles, triangles, and hexagons.  The students will be able to create, compare, and understand patterns. The students will describe objects using the names of shapes and their relative position. The students will practice putting shapes together to form new shapes.

Science Objectives: To be able to name the 4 seasons and provide descriptions of each season.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write, and produce the correct sounds for the letters t, b, f, n, m, i, u, c, o, a, g, d, s, e, r, p, j, l, h, k, v and w. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to make words. To identify the correct initial sound in words. To be able to recognize and write the color words and sing the color songs for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, and brown. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions about a while reading. The students will be introduced to reading strategies to help them become “word detectives” when they come to a word they are unfamiliar with while reading.

Social Studies Objectives: The students will be introduced to democracy and voting.

Religion Objectives: The students will deepen their knowledge of Jesus by learning that Jesus heals us when we are sick or sad.  

Writing Objectives: To develop being able to write a complete sentence and understand that adding an adjective (size word) can make you a better writer.

There is no school on Friday, November 8.