Kindergarten
Christine Richy: Kindergarten Teacher
B.A. In Elementary Education
M.A. In Early Childhood
Teaching at Thornton-Donovan since 2016
"I Believe In Many Different Approaches To Learning And Love To Explore A Mix Of Them All In My Classroom! Cooperative Learning. Hands-On Approach. Whole Group Instruction. Individualized Instruction. Play-Based Learning."
PHONICS: Students are learning about the alphabet: letter recognition, handwriting, phonetic awareness and sound to symbol. They learn about all of the consonants and as well as an introduction to short and long vowels. Students are also learning about high frequency site words, and are given 5 new words each week to master. Each week a new noun is introduced.
SPELLING: Students are learning about high frequency site words, and are given 5 new words each week to master. Each week a new noun is introduced..
GRAMMAR: Students are learning the basic skills of constructing a sentence with proper punctuation and capitalization. Journal writing is an innovative time where students can reach inside their imagination and put their thoughts onto paper through writing and illustrations.
WORLDLY WISE: Students learn 160 vocabulary words throughout the school year in this curriculum. It includes role-play, demonstration, picture cards, multiple choice questions, journal writing and drawings illustrating each word learned.
SOCIAL STUDIES: Students learn about communities and jobs. We also explore transportation, past and present, and the world around us... near and far!
SCIENCE: The topics we learn about are: motion, living and non-living things, earth and sky and the pure nature of science. We learn about observation and asking questions to learn about and solve a problem.
MATH: Students learn about numbers 0-20. They are learning to compare and order numbers. Students are also learning how to compose and decompose numbers. We practice sequencing and skip counting by 10's up to 100! We also learn about measurement, shapes and sorting, classifying, counting, and categorizing data. Last but not least, we learn addition and subtraction up to 10.
ITALIAN: Introduction to Italian & Italian Culture. Topics covered may include the alphabet, numbers, colors, weather, and basic vocabulary.
SPANISH: Introduction to Spanish & Spanish Culture. Topics covered may include the alphabet, numbers, colors, weather, and basic vocabulary.
MUSIC: Focuses on beats and rhythms, as well as learning melody and basic instrument families. Basic note reading and counting begin.
ART: Learning shapes, colors and how to blend them, rainbow sequence. Learning concepts of pattern and symmetry. Basic drawing techniques for animals, plants and figures. Some techniques we explore include: simple origami folding, blot painting, stencil printing, rubbings, crayon/watercolor resist painting, "melted" magic marker painting, model magic sculpting