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

Week at a Glance January 21st - January 24th

Math Objectives: The students will be able to solve addition problems with numbers one to nine that when added together make 10. The students will demonstrate an understanding of the concept of addition by successfully completing the Chapter 5 test.

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 (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.

Religion Objectives: The students will learn the Hail Mary prayer, understanding that it is a way to talk to Mary.

Social Studies Objectives: 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.

 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.

Today we got to learn all about Leonardo da Vinci.  Thank you Mr. Heidle, Mrs. Jennings, and Mrs. Thibaudeau for coming in to teach us all about Leonardo da Vinci and help us make beautiful self-portraits.
Mrs. Bosco told the kids today that she is having a medical procedure tomorrow and will be out for 3 to 6 weeks recovering.  We will miss her greatly but are lucky to have Mrs. Lijovic subbing while she is recovering. 
Food Pantry Collection is tomorrow, Wednesday, January 15th. Kindergarten is asked to bring crackers, but all donations are welcome!
In science, we have been talking about what animals do in the winter to survive. Today we sorted a groups of animals into animals that hibernate during the winter and animals that migrate for the winter.

Week at a Glance January 13th to January 17th

Math Objectives: The student will be able to use the plus symbol (+)to show addition. The students will be able to use the equal symbol (=) in addition sentence. The students will use concert objects to show how many in all. The students will be able to write number sentences to solve addition problems.

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. 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: 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 be able to explain that a disciple loves and follows Jesus. The students will be able to define what a disciple is. The students will be able to say the Guardian Angel, Hail Mary, and Grace Prayers.

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 (color, size, shape, and texture words). The students will be able to write at least three complete sentences.

Please help your child practice the prayers that have been sent home and the sight words in the DOT book.

Luca saved 25 tickets and purchased the coupon Story Selector. He picked the book he wanted to share with the class and then decided he wanted to read it to the class. Thank you Luca we loved listening to you read.
We have been learning about winter. This week, we read Jacqueline Briggs's Snowflake Bentley and Ezra Jack Keats's The Snow Day and started making some fun snowmen to decorate our new classroom bulletin board. 
We loved being back together again! We had a very busy day, we learned how to write a capital M and N,  talked about the New Year, got introduced to addition, had Mass with our buddies, and went to music as well as many other fun things. 

Week at a Glance January 7th to January 10th

Math Objectives: The students will be able to model addition by putting groups together or adding to groups. The students will be able to use concert objects to represent and solve addition problems.

Science Objectives: Students will learn what different animals do to adapt and survive in the cold winter months. Students will 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. 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: Students will be able to identify New Year’s Day as the start of a new year, a special day to celebrate a fresh start.

Religion Objectives: The students will be able to identify and verbally explain the key elements of the Epiphany story including the three wise men, the star, and their gifts to baby Jesus. The students will be encouraged to reflect on their own journey to find Jesus.

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 (color, size, shape, and texture words). The students will be able to write at least three complete sentences.

We had so much fun today at our Christmas party. Thank you, Mrs. Natonon, Mrs. Schreiber, Mrs. Duprey, and Mrs. Jenning, for planning such an awesome event. Remember, tomorrow is an 11:00 dismissal. We will not have lunch; we will have a snack. 
What a busy day! Colin brought in a fun joke book for show and tell so we got to have joke breaks all day long. Thank you, Colin. We read The Legend of the Poinsettia retold and illustrated by Tomie dePaola and made beautiful Poinsettia. You will also find the gifts we made for Mom and Dad in the beautiful snowman bags we created in our backpack. I must warn you that the gifts have mints, so if you have a pet in your home with a good sniffer, you might not want to put the gift under the tree yet. Lastly, tomorrow is a dress-down Pajama day for the whole school, please make sure your student has gym shoes on and not slippers. One week till Christmas.