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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

Today, Ella, Maggie, Charlie, Lucas, Peyton, and Dean presented their amazing 100 posters. Thank you for all your hard work and creativity. 
 

Week at a Glance February 2nd to February 4th

Math Objectives: Students will be able to count to 100 by ones, tens, and fives. Students will practice writing numbers 1 to 100. Students will use the minus symbol (-) to show subtraction.

Science Objectives: Students will be able to identify a groundhog, explain the concept of a shadow, and understand the basic idea of Groundhog Day.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write (upper and lowercase), 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 and ending sounds in words. To be able to read the 22 sight words. The students will continue to use the reading strategies Pointer Pup, Lips the Fish, Eagle Eye, and Stretchy Snake to assist when they encounter unfamiliar words while reading. The students will learn to implement the reading strategy, "Flippy Dolohin". When they encounter a word they can not sound out, they will try flipping the vowel sound from short to long and see if the word makes sense. The students will continue to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading.

Religion Objectives: The students will work on being able to say and understand the Lords Pray. 

Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work on developing sentence writing skills: starting with capital letters, stating a complete thought, using the correct punctuation, and adding spaces between words. The students will work on adding details with adjectives. The students will be able to write at least three complete sentences.

I would like to extend a HUGE thank you for all the donations of tea and pillows. Your generosity was overwhelming!
Today we learned all about Groundhog Day. We made predictions on what we think will happen on February 2nd.  Nine of us think Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow, and it will feel like winter for the next 6 weeks. Eleven of us think Punxsutawney Phil will not see his shadow, and it will start to feel more like spring over the next 6 weeks. 
Today we celebrated Siobhan 1/2 Birthday since we will not all be together for her actual birthday in July.  Happy 1/2 Birthday Siobhan!
We enjoyed Mass with our 7th-grade buddies today, where we recognized all the wonderful volunteers who help keep our school running smoothly. I want to extend a special thank you to all the parent volunteers in my classroom. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Week at a Glance January 26th -January 30th

Math Objectives: Students will solve addition problems with numbers one to nine that, when added together, make 10. The students will demonstrate understanding of all the objectives in Chapter 5: Addition by successfully completing the Chapter 5 test. Students will model subtraction as taking away from or separating groups of objects. Students will use concrete objects to solve subtraction problems.

Science Objectives: Students will be able to identify a groundhog, explain the concept of a shadow, and understand the basic idea of Groundhog Day.

Reading Objectives: To be able to recognize, write (upper and lowercase), 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 and ending sounds in words. To be able to read the 22 sight words. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. The students will practice being able to identify and produce words that rhyme. The students will be introduced to reading strategies to help them become “word detectives” when they come across a word they are unfamiliar with while reading.

Social Studies: The students will be able to identify Groundhog Day as February 2nd and recognize that folklore claims a groundhog’s shadow predicts the arrivalof spring. 

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to define the sacrament as Church celebrations throughout our lives. The students will be introduced to the 7 sacraments. The student will be able to pray the Lord’s Prayer.

Writing Objectives: The students will continue to work on developing sentence writing skills: starting with capital letters, stating a complete thought, using the correct punctuation, and adding spaces between words. The students will work on adding details with adjectives. The students will be able to write at least three complete sentences.

The kindergarten will be working on a new service project. We will be creating care bags for Chemo Care at Lake Forest Hospital. The kindergarten students will be responsible for creating cards and collecting Ginger Tea.  If you are able, please send in your donations for our service project any time this week.

Thank you very much!

Mrs. Walsh, one of our school counselors, came into our classroom to teach us about cooperation.  She read us a story, and then each table had to cooperate to draw 1 animal. 
Today in Religion, we read the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and discussed that one of the lessons from this story is that we should share what we have with others. We then did an activity to work on sharing, and all the students at the table had to work together and share to make one picture. They did a tremendous job sharing.

Week at a Glance January 12th to January 16th

Math Objectives:  The students will show understanding of all the objectives in Chapter 4: Compose and decompose Numbers to 10. The student will model subtraction as take away from or separating groups of objects. The students will use concrete objects to solve subtraction problems. The students will use a minus symbol (-) to show subtraction.

Science Objectives: Students will continue to develop a basic understanding of hibernation as a way for animals to sleep through the cold winter months. Students will develop a basic understanding of the concept of migration and why animals do it. Students will be able to identify a few common animals that hibernate and a few common animals that migrate.

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 and ending sounds in words. To be able to read the 22 sight words. To be able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. 

Social Studies: Students will be able to identify Martin Luther King Jr. as a person who peacefully fought for everyone to be treated fairly. 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 learn that God calls us to share and help others in need. They will learn that when we share, we are showing Jesus’ love to others.

Writing Objectives: Students will continue to develop sentence writing skills, focusing on starting sentences with capital letters, expressing complete thoughts, using correct punctuation, and adding spaces between words. The students will work on adding details using adjectives (such as color, size, shape, and texture words). The students will be able to write at least three complete sentences.