While in Farmington, New Mexico, I attended University of New Mexico and received my Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Science. I am certified not only in Elementary education but in Early Childhood Education as well. When we moved to St. Joseph, I continued to attend classes and received a Masters in Curriculum & Instruction from UMKC. I have also attended and received credits through Baker University towards my Doctorate in Educational Leadership, in which I plan to continue. I have taught in the SJSD for 7 years, mainly in Kindergarten and First Grade and have received training in many different areas such as Kagan Cooperative Learning, Pathways Phonemic Awareness, Reader’s Workshop and Writer’s Workshop, Love & Logic, among others.
In Kindergarten your child will learn many new things. Besides being exposed to different learning opportunities, he/she will grow socially and spiritually since cooperative learning and religion is in place in our classrooms daily. This is also the grade where he/she will begin to read, write, participate in Science experiments and learn about different topics in Social Studies.
We are thrilled to have you here and please do not hesitate to stop by or contact me with any questions regarding your child or any other corcern.
Thank you and have a wonderful 2015-2016 school year!!
Mrs. Larkin
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WOW!!! How exciting to see my Kdg students building letters!! They were working very hard during our "Choice Time" which will eventually become our "Daily 5" time. During the "Daily 5" students will have the opportunity to work with words, develop writing skills, read to self, read to a friend and listen to reading. In addition, a small group will be with me for a Phonemic Awareness lesson! Well... we are not there yet, but this is a great beginning!
WORD WORK AND LETTER WORK
In a Kindergarten classroom, centers look a little different. These are a few examples of activities that are hands on and students get to build and write letters and words!
Saxon Math - Exploring Pattern Blocks and Bear Counters
ART & POETRY
Every Friday Kindergarten students will have the opportunity to use art to illustrate a poem in the classroom. Students will explore a poem and use different mediums to develop their own piece of art!
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Halloween 2015
Thanks to Mrs. McCullough and our room parents for organizing a
super fun Halloween Party for our Kindergarten Class!
super fun Halloween Party for our Kindergarten Class!
I know the kids had fun... They talked about it for days!!!
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Special Visitor: Mrs. Marilyn Hastings
We were blessed with a very special guest yesterday! Mrs. Hastings, a former librarian, has come to visit us and share one of her favorites Christmas books, "The Sweet Smell of Christmas". Mrs. Hastings is absolutely wonderful and sure engaged the students through a combination of read aloud and scents of Christmas pass around activity. At the end of the story, Mrs. Hantings passed around store bought Gingerbread Cookies for snack.
Thank you so much Mrs. Hastings! We had a lot of fun!
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December Author Study: Jan Brett
This is my favorite time of the year... It is time for Jan Brett's Author Study!
In Kindergarten, we begin the Author Study before Christmas with a few of Jan Brett's most famous stories like "Gingerbread Baby" and "Gingerbread Friends" and we will continue with other favorites after our Christmas Break. We will also build a Jan Brett Mural outside our classroom full of activites that we will acomplish throughout the Author Study.
Make sure to check it out!
During Jan Brett Author study, we focused on Story Elements and Comprehension Strategies.
Here are a few pictures of the students working together after we read "Trouble with Trolls"
