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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 have been working very hard learning about opinion writing. We decided it would be fun to write about what we believed to be the best snack. First, we did our prewriting on a graphic organizer. Then we met with a teacher and made revisions. Today, we completed our final copies and added illustrations. 
Today, we got to go over to the parish garden and plant, water, and mulch the vegetables we grew from seeds. The parish will care for the plants over the summer and when we return next year we will go back to the garden to help harvest the vegetables for the food pantry. 

Week at a Glance May 26th to May 30th

Math Objectives: The students will work on mastering the concept of subtraction. They should be able to solve simple subtraction problems using objects, number lines, and drawings.

 Science Objectives: The students will observe caterpillars transform into butterflies to help them understand the concept of metamorphosis and the life cycle of a butterfly. They will be able to name the stages of the butterfly's life and understand how the needs of the butterflies change as they progress through these stages. The students will also be able to identify the different parts of the butterfly.

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, ck, and ph. The students will continue to work on blending the learned sounds to read and write words. The students will be able to identify the correct initial sound, middle sound, and ending sounds in words. The students will 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 being able to sequence events that occurred in their reading, as well as being able to identify the main topic of a story.  The students will work on being able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. The students will practice reading fluently with the expression. 

 Social Studies Objectives: The students will understand that Memorial Day is a day to remember and honor those who served in the military, especially those who died to protect our country.

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to explain the concept of forgiveness. The students will learn that we need to forgive others just as God forgives us when we make bad choices. 

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 write an opinion paragraph on what their favorite snack is.

Week at a Glance May19th to May 23rd

Math Objectives: The students will deepen their understanding of addition to 10 using objects, pictures, and counting strategies.

Science Objectives: The students will observe caterpillars transform into butterflies to help them understand the concept of metamorphosis and the life cycle of a butterfly. The students will be able to name the stages of the butterfly's life and understand how the needs of the butterflies change as they progress through these stages. The students will be able to identify the different parts of the butterfly.

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, ck, and ph. The students will continue to work on blending the learned sounds to read and write words. The students will be able to identify the correct initial sound, middle sound, and ending sounds in words. The students will 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 being able to sequence events that occurred in their reading, as well as being able to identify the main topic of a story.  The students will work on being able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. The students will practice reading fluently with the expression. 

Religion Objectives: The students will understand that showing love for our families shows our love for God. The students will be able to explain that our families love and care for us and help us make good choices. 

 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 learn about opinion writing. 

We are amazed by how big our caterpillars have gotten. They have eaten most of the food at the bottom of the container, so we think they will be making their chrysalis soon. 
Mrs. Hein announced that we did an awesome job on Wednesday with the food pantry collection and that the school earned a spirit wear dress down day for tomorrow. Thank you for your generosity!
Tomorrow is our last Food Pantry Collection of the year.  Kindergarten has been asked to bring in rice. If we have a successful collection, Mrs. Hein said we will earn a Spirit Wear dress-down day on Friday. 
Our caterpillars arrived on Friday and were about 1/4 of an inch long. When we returned to the classroom today, we were excited to discover that the caterpillars were now about an inch long and much fatter. Science is so cool!

Week at a Glance May 12th to May 16th

Math Objectives: The students will develop an understanding of money. They will be able to identify different coins and understand their individual values. The students will recognize that coins can be used to make purchases. 

Science Objectives: The students will observe caterpillars transform into butterflies to help them understand the concept of metamorphosis and the life cycle of a butterfly. The students will be able to name the stages of the butterfly's life and understand how the needs of the butterflies change as they progress through these stages. 

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, ck, and ph. The students will continue to work on blending the learned sounds to read and write words. The students will be able to identify the correct initial sound, middle sound, and ending sounds in words. The students will 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 being able to sequence events that occurred in their reading, as well as being able to identify the main topic of a story.  The students will work on being able to observe, wonder, and ask questions when reading. The students will practice reading fluently with the expression. 

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to identify good choices and bad choices. The students will be able to explain that God’s love helps us make good choices. The students will be introduced to the Ten Commandments.

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 learn about information writing.
 
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!