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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

Today we celebrated Jacob, whose birthday is during spring break. Hope you have a wonderful birthday Jacob. 
I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break. I will post the Week at a Glance next Monday, March 31st and see you back in the classroom on Tuesday, April 1st.
Today we learned all about the modern artist Paul Klee.  We made portraits out of string in the same style as Paul Kleen, with vivid colors and many shapes. Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers Mrs. Jennings, Mrs. Jamilkowski, and Mrs. Fahrenbach!
Today we made booklets and learned all about St. Joseph as we prepair to celebrate his feast day tomorrow, March 19th. We will be attending Mass tomorrow and due to the change in schedule to accommodate Mass unfortunately we will not be having gym class. The students do not have to wear their gym uniforms and are encouraged to wear the red polo. 
Today, we had a wonderful field trip to Ryerson Woods to learn how sap is collected from the sugar maple tree and boiled down into maple syrup. We learned that it takes 30 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

Week at a Glance March 17th - March 21st

Math Objectives: Students will be able to describe measurable attributes of a single object. Students will be able to compare the capacity of two objects to determine what holds more and what holds less. Students will be assessed on the objectives taught in Chapter 8, Measurement.  

Science Objectives: The students will be able to identify the key steps in making maple syrup, from tapping the tree to boiling the sap, and understanding that it comes from maple trees. Students will review the transition from winter to spring, being able to describe observable changes in nature and weather that signal the arrival of spring. Students will continue to work on identifying and describing the basic characteristics of the three main cloud types: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus, using visual aids and simple language to explain how they look in the sky.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write (upper and lowercase), and produce the correct sounds for all 26 letters plus all the long vowel sounds. The students will be able to identify and produce the sounds of the digraphs ch, sh, th, wh, and ck. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to read and write words. To identify the correct initial sound, middle sound, and ending sounds in words. To be able to read the 47 sight words. The students will practice being able to identify and produce words that rhyme. The students will work on identifying how many syllables they hear in a word. The students will be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. 

Social Studies: Students will learn about the history, how it is done, and the significance of dyeing the Chicago River green for St. Patrick’s Day.

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to identify St. Joseph as a loving and caring family member, and understand his role as a protector and provider of Jesus. The students will continue to focus on Lent as a time for prayer, reflection, and helping others.

Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work on developing writing skills: starting with capital letters, stating a complete thought, using the correct punctuation, and adding spaces between words. The students will work on writing a narrative story about our trip to Ryerson Woods Forest Preserve.

Our field trip to Ryerson Woods is on Monday, March 17.  Please dress your child appropriately for being outside. If your child will not be able to make it please email me. 

 

In writing, we are working very hard on using graphic organizers to help us write a paragraph about an exciting day we had. Amelia and Joey wrote about a fun day they had at the beach. 
Wednesday, March 12th is Food Pantry Collection Day. Kindergarten is asked to bring in pasta. 
Today we learned about 4 types of clouds: cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and nimbus. Have your students see if they can identify the clouds for you.  
Fireman Conor from the Libertyville Fire Department came into Kindergarten today to talk to us about the difference between toys that are safe to play with and tools that are not safe for kids to play with and only adults should use. Thank you Libertyville Fire Department for helping to keep us safe. 

Week at a Glance March 10 to March 14

Math Objectives: The students will use direct comparison to compare the heights of objects. The students will guess, check, and revise to solve problems. Students will use direct comparison to compare objects by weight.

Science Objectives: Students will be able to identify and describe the basic characteristics of the three main cloud types: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus, using visual aids and simple language to explain how they look in the sky.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write (upper and lowercase), and produce the correct sounds for all 26 letters plus all the long vowel sounds. The students will be able to identify and produce the sounds of the diagraphs ch, sh, the, and wh. To continue to work on blending the learned sounds to read and write words. To identify the correct initial sound and ending sounds in words. To be able to read the 47 sight words. The students will practice being able to identify and produce words that rhyme. The students will work on identifying how many syllables they hear in a word. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. 

Social Studies: The students will be able to identify and verbally explain basic differences between “now” and “then”, demonstrating an understanding of how things have changed over time.

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to identify Saint Patrick as the patron saint of Ireland and understand that he spread Christianity there.

Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work on developing writing skills: starting with capital letters, stating a complete thought, using the correct punctuation, and adding spaces between words. The students will work on writing a narrative story about a small moment they have experienced. The students will continue to work on being able to write a five sentence paragraph with an opening sentence and a closing sentence.

Today we celebrated Luca! Happy Birthday Luca!
 
We also did 10 minutes of silent reading today in class, if you would like to add it to your students' reading log. 
The readathon begins today.  I sent home the reading logs for you to keep track of your students' reading, you may double dip with the March Reading Logs in the DOT Books log. Happy reading!