Welcome to the St. Thomas More Kindergarten Class!
My name is Cathy Jaehnen and this is my sixteenth year teaching at STM. I hold a BS in Elementary Education with twenty-four years of teaching experience. Eleven of those years were spent teaching kindergarten.
The kindergarteners attend school all day Monday through Friday. The students learn through group work, centers and individualized instruction. Students rotate through five different centers in the course of a day (15-20min. per center). It is during this time that I am able to work with one to five students at a time.
At circle time I read a story, we share and review calendar concepts. Students learn place value and money as we count and make change to show the number of days we’ve been in school. Singing and movement activities are also incorporated to help make learning more fun and meaningful.
The Jolly Phonics Program is used in kindergarten. It covers the 42 different sounds of the English Language using songs. The HMH Into Reading Program is also used with stories that cover a variety of genres. Grammar and writing lessons are also included.
In Religion, students use the Christ Our Life Series. God Loves Us is the program with lessons centered on Christ, along with Scripture, Catholic doctrine and tradition and the principles of Catholic social teachings.
The iReady Math Program is used for kindergarten math. Counting, Writing and Comparing Numbers, Geometry, Add and Subtract within Ten, and Measurement are some of the concepts taught in this program. Students will also take an iReady digital assessment three times throughout the school year that provides insight into student learning and growth. Simple Solutions Math is also used for daily practice of math standards.
Students receive Art, Music, and PE classes twice a week. Library is scheduled every Friday with trained volunteers to assist students in checking out books.
Various field trips are planned throughout the year. We hope to visit a farm in the fall where students can enjoy a hay ride, learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin and enjoy some farm animals. Students will take a field trip in the spring to Greenacres Foundation, a farm that provides a wide variety of outdoor educational opportunities. The trained staff provides an individualized, quality nature experience according to state curriculum standards.
If you have any further questions about St. Thomas More School, please feel free to contact the school office at 513-753-2540 or continue to explore our website at sttmschool.org.
Sincerely,
Cathy Jaehnen