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Mrs. Jennifer MacRitchie » Welcome to Kindergarten!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Welcome to Mrs. MacRitchie's Kindergarten!


I am so excited to be a part of the St. Joseph Catholic School community. After receiving my bachelor’s degree and completing the master’s program at St. Mary’s University in Minnesota, my first teaching job was here at St. Joseph Catholic School, where I taught kindergarten. I taught at St. Joseph for seven years and then stepped away from teaching after the birth of my first child. 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. In 2024, 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 18 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

In Social Studies, we started learning about the first Thanksgiving. We did some research and came up with 3 facts about the Pilgrims and wrote them down in our Thanksgiving book.
Congratulations to Marian for being the Kindergarten to Second Grade Knight Note Winner last week and taking her dress down day today.
During morning meeting today, we found out that Niko and Beau both lost teeth this weekend. As a class, we have lost 6 teeth this year. 

Week at a Glance

November 4th - November 7th

 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 describe objects using the names of shapes and the relative position. The students will practice putting shapes together to form new shapes.

Science Objectives: The students will be able to name the four seasons and describe at least two key characteristics of each season, such as the weather, typical clothing, or changes in nature

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, and h. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to make words. To identify the correct initial sound in words. The students will be able to read the first trimester sight words. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions while reading.

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

Religion Objectives: The students will understand that Jesus loves everyone. The students will know that Jesus is always with them. 

 Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work on writing complete sentences and understand that adding an adjective (color word) can make them better writers.

There is no school on Friday, November 7, 2025.

We had two great show-and-tells today.  Thank you, Dean and Sloane. We are getting so good at asking questions that we were able to guess what was in the bag in under 10 questions.
We finished our Pumpkin Investigation this week.  We learned that the lines on the outside of a pumpkin are called ribs and that each rib is a row of seeds on the inside of the pumpkin. We measured our pumpkins to see how many cubes tall they were. We cut a string to try and guess the circumference of our pumpkin. We also guessed how much we thought our pumpkins would weigh, and then we weighed our pumpkins. Lastly, we cut our pumpkin in half so we could see what was inside the pumpkin.
Today, we did buddy reading with the wordless picture book, American Gothic. First, we learned all about the artist Grant Wood and how he came up with the idea to paint the famous painting American Gothic that hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. Then we retold the story to our buddy reading partner. 

Week at a Glance October 27th to October 31st

Math Objectives: The students will be able to compare shapes to understand patterns. The students will describe objects using the names of shapes and their relative position. The students will be able to put shapes together to form new shapes. The students will work on using logical reasoning to solve problems.

Science Objectives: The students will be able to identify and describe the physical characteristics of a pumpkin. To explore math concepts like counting, weight, and measurement with a pumpkin. To be able to name the 4 seasons and provide descriptions of each season.

Reading Objectives: The students will 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, and j. The students will continue to work on blending the sounds they have learned to form words. To identify the correct initial sound in words.  The students will be able to read the first trimester sight words.  To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions while reading.

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to identify All Saints Day as a day to remember all the people who live with God in heaven. 

Writing Objectives:  To develop the ability to write a complete sentence and understand that adding an adjective (color words) can make you a better writer.


Friday is Halloween. The kindergarten students may wear a costume to school, but please no masks, weapons, or inflatable costumes. Please keep in mind that they will have gym and recess on Friday, also.

We read a fun book called Alpert yesterday to help us understand the importance of creating a detailed setting when we write. Then we created fun settings for Alpert and shared them with the class. 
Today we learned the letter r. I asked the students to make me something that starts with the r sound, Lena made a rainbow and a ring. 
Today, we learned that both a square and a rectangle have four sides and four vertices. If all four sides are exactly the same length, then the shape is a square. We also worked on our fine motor skills by making Candy Corn people to decorate our classroom for Halloween. 
Today in math we started Chapter 11: Two-Dimensional Shapes. We used some shapes to make Jack-O'-Lantern faces that we will use to decorate the hallway. 

Week at a Glance October 20th to October 24th

Math Objectives: To be able to identify, name, and describe squares and 2D shapes: squares,  rectangles, circles, triangles, and hexagons.

Science Objectives: The students will be able to identify and describe the physical characteristics of a pumpkin. To explore math concepts like counting, weight, and measurement with a pumpkin. To be able to name the 4 seasons and provide descriptions of each season. 

Reading Objectives: The students will 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, and r. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to make words. To identify the correct initial sound in words.  The students will be able to read the sight words red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and black. The students will work on being able to create a setting for a story.

Religion Objectives: The students will understand that Joseph is Jesus’ father on earth and that Joseph said yes to God and is part of the holy family. 

Writing Objectives: The students will be able to explain that the “setting” is where and when of a story. The students will be able to identify the setting of a story by using evidence from the story. The students will create a setting for a story. The students will begin to develop the ability to write a complete sentence and understand that adding adjectives (color words) can make them better writers.

Thank you, Mrs. Brill, for organizing the Prumpkin Patch today. We had so much fun, we didn't even notice it was drizzling. I look forward to talking with everyone tomorrow.