The St. Cletus kindergarten program offers a faith based learning environment for your child. We work hard to teach the whole child, helping each student grow academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.
Social/emotional and spiritual growth is fostered by leading kindergartners in the following activities:
- We make weekly classroom church visits.
- We attend Mass with our 8th grade buddies 2x a month.
- We learn about God and prayer from our daily religion lesson.
- We learn from our monthly kindness projects, where children are encouraged to help one another and get caught doing it! Be respectful, be responsible, be compassionate, be a CARDINAL!
- We donate food to the food pantry.
Academically, we help your child reach his/her greatest potential by:
- Offering small group learning opportunities through math, science and literacy centers.
- Offering a balanced literacy program that teaches children to read and write through daily journaling, shared writing activities, read alouds, guided reading and writing, Jolly Phonics instruction and the Michael Heggerty Phonemic Awareness program.
- Offering math instruction that features whole group, small group and individualized instruction beginning with calendar time and leading into math centers.
- Offering STEM instruction where the children are encouraged to become critical thinkers by creating, building and experimenting.
Not only do the children show growth by the end of the school year, they have FUN! Children learn best through play. Our kindergartners are engaged in developmentally appropriate activities that allow them to learn and have fun at the same time! Kindergarten Rocks! Explore the kindergarten webpage to learn more!
- Number poems (practice writing numbers using these poems): Number Poems
- Ten frame mat (ask your child to show you 7. Show you 10. When your child is comfortable with numbers under ten, move onto teen numbers. Use kindergarten language. “How many groups of ten in 17? (1)” “How many ONES leftovers are there? (7): double ten frame mats
- Help your child feel like a SUPER reader by playing this game in the car: environmental-print-bingo
- Edit by inserting our different word wall words. Take a toy car and ask your child to park in each spot. If your child needs help with letters, instead edit and insert letters- Ll, Ss- and have your child park in each ‘spot.’ Sight Word Parking Lot
- Let your child highlight word wall words in the newspaper.
- Have your child point out word wall words in books while reading.
- Write your child notes. Try to use as many word wall words as you can.
- Ask your child to “stretch out” or “tap out” words. Again, use our kindergarten language.
- Print 2 copies and play bingo:
LETTER and NUMBER PRACTICE: (PRINT, COMPLETE AND TURN INTO TEACHER!)
NAME WRITING PRACTICE:
Current word wall list:
October-November: word wall list- word wall list- October November
December-January:word wall list-word wall list-DecemberJanuary
February:Word wall list-February March
April and May: Word wall list-AprilMay
Word Wall list power point presentations: Press play and have your child read the words. For extra practice, write the words on paper, on a white board, chalkboard, magnadoodle or ipad:sight word presentation-1st trimester 30 words, final
Word wall flash cards: Simply print, cut and flash the words for extra practice (FIRST trimester): Sight word flash cards 1st-3rd
Jolly Phonics: Jolly Phonics Flash cards (2)
List of Jolly Phonics letters and actions:Jolly Phonics note to parents
KINDERGARTEN GOALS: Kindergarten Goals
Classroom Prayers and Pledge: kindergarten Prayer and Pledge
Thanksgiving: thanksgiving tally
The MOST important thing you can do to help your child is READ to him/her EVERY day. Any books with rhythm, rhyme and repetition are EXCELLENT choices for reading with your child. Below we compiled a list of our own recommendations.
Scholastic’s Guide to Kindergarten:
**Great articles to read at the start of the kindergarten school year!**
Tips for Reading with your child:
Use the link below to search for books related to a specific topic:
Scholastic Book Recommendations:
Popular books for young children from GoodReads:
2017 Monarch Award Winners:
Picture books not to miss (2017)
100 Great Children’s Books:
Popular Books for kindergartners:
- THE DAY THE CRAYONS QUIT, by Drew Daywalt. Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
(Philomel.) A colorful problem arises when Duncan’s crayons revolt. (Ages 3 to 7)
- GOODNIGHT, GOODNIGHT, CONSTRUCTION SITE, by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld
(Chronicle.) Trucks at sunset. (Ages 4 to 8)
- THE PIGEON NEEDS A BATH!, by Mo Willems
(Hyperion.) A filthy bird is persuaded to bathe. (Ages 3 to 7)
- DRAGONS LOVE TACOS, by Adam Rubin. Illustrated by Daniel Salmieri (Dial.) What to serve your dragon-guests. (Ages 3 to 5)
- JOURNEY, by Aaron Becker(Candlewick.) A lonely girl draws a red door on her bedroom wall and enters an imaginary world. (Ages 4 to 8)
- ROSIE REVERE, ENGINEER, by Andrea Beaty. Illustrated by David Roberts (Abrams.) A young inventor learns to fail better. (Ages 4 to 8)
- PRESS HERE, by Hervé Tullet (Handprint/Chronicle.) A dance of color. (Ages 4 to 8)
- LOCOMOTIVE, by Brian Floca(Richard Jackson/Atheneum.) A family’s 1869 journey across America on the newly completed transcontinental railroad. (Ages 4 to 10)
- PETE THE CAT: I LOVE MY WHITE SHOES, by Eric Litwin. Illustrated by James Dean (Harper/HarperCollins.) Well-shod Pete has rainbows on his feet. (Ages 3 to 7)
- MY NEW FRIEND IS SO FUN!, by Mo Willems (Hyperion.) Gerald must deal with the fact that Piggie has a new pal. (Ages 6 to 8)
Mrs. Bentley and Mrs. Mahr’s Favorite Books and Authors:
(The Kissing Hand (Great for the first week of school!)
- Jan Brett: The Mitten, Gingerbread books
- Lois Ehlert
- Laura Numeroff: If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, If you Give a Moose a Muffin, etc.
There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly
- Doreen Cronin: Giggle, Giggle, Quack, Quack, Click, Clack, Moo, etc.
- Bill Martin, Jr. : Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You see? Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you hear? etc. Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM
- Rosemary Wells
- Kevin Henkes: Wemberly Worried, Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse, etc.
- Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, etc.
- Dr. Seuss: Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, etc.
- Mo Willems: Elephant and Piggie Series, Pigeon Series
- David Shannon: Too Many Toys, David Goes to School, No David! etc.
- Ian Falconer: Olivia series
- Jane O’Connor:Fancy Nancy Series (leveled readers also avaiable)
- Viorst, Judith: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good, Very Bad Day
- Van Allsburg: The Polar Express
- Freeman, Don: Corduroy Series
The books below are great for beginning readers. Remember, books with rhythm, rhyme and repetition are PERFECT for beginning readers:
- Leveled Readers/Easy Readers
- I Can Read books
- Ready to Read books, etc.
- Dr. Seuss Books
- Mo Willems Elephant and Piggie
Click to link below to access our kindergarten year-long goals:
Kindergarten Goals FINAL
We love to share photos of our student experience in kindergarten. Click on an album below.
Read about all the exciting activities and learning taking place in kindergarten.