Steele Family Newsletter
2024 - 2025
Steele Elementary School
Mrs. Grice, Dean of Students
Mrs. Knuth, Nurse
Mrs. Hickey, Family Engagement
Mrs. Mowen, Outreach
Mrs. Fones and Ms. Patch, Front Office Assistants
Email: kcoate@galesburg205.org
Website: https://steele.galesburg205.org/
Location: 1480 West Main Street, Galesburg, IL, USA
Phone: (309)973-2016
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steele205/
X: @wearesteele
Instagram: @205steelestars
We held our first family night and we were very excited to see all of the families enjoy a variety of math activities. We had 135 families attend. When each family walked in they were greeted by staff members and handed a map of activities, bag of Goldfish crackers and water bottle to enjoy as they wandered through the building. Thank you to the PTO for providing the snacks. In addition, we had a family donate several apples from their orchard that the students were able to enjoy as well. Pictures from the event will be posted here..
Our second graders visited Tanner's Apple Orchard for their first field trip of the year. Third graders will attend Wildlife Prairie Park on Wednesday. Field trip permission slips are required for all out of town trips. For in town field trips, a notice will be sent home. We expect that all students follow the same behavior expectations that are required at Steele School. A complete list of field trips for the year is listed below.
As we move into October, we are noticing that our incidents of student misbehavior are increasing. We would like your help talking to your children about the importance of using calm down strategies instead of letting frustration out on others. We know that all of the students are still learning how to appropriately respond to unexpected events. As students mature and learn appropriate conflict strategies, more is expected. What we will not tolerate is fighting instead of using a non-physical response to big feelings. At school, it doesn't matter who starts it, all students are expected to use non-physical responses. Thank you for your help partnering with us to make Steele the best it can be.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Coate
You may have heard that Mrs. Coate had to speak with the entire third grade on Friday afternoon about too many incidents of disrespect to teachers and substitutes and students not acting or working to their potential. Every teacher had talked to Mrs. Coate about this over the last two weeks. In this talk she told the students that if improvements weren't seen this week, then she would consider cancelling or rescheduling the field trip. She also challenged the third graders that are following expectations to start using their voices to tell others to stop ruining it for the others. We anticipate that everything will proceed as normal. However, if not, families of those affected individuals will be notified by Tuesday evening.
The students will leave by 9:30 AM and return at 2 PM.
School tours Include:
Over 180 animals to see, including our new bears
11am | Keeper Chat on Visitor Center Bricks
9am - 4pm | Nature trails & animal exhibits
10am - 4pm | Visitor Center Museum
3 Playgrounds & our infamous Gollywhopper, a 50-ft slide! Picnic areas throughout the park.
CLOTHING REQUIREMENTS
Play clothes and tennis shoes
Please do not wear open-toed shoes or flip-flops!!!
Hip, Hip, Hooray! You have won breakfast at Judy's Cafe! We are so fortunate to partner with Judy's Family Cafe in Galesburg for our weekly attendance prizes. Judy graciously donates a free breakfast to each one of our winners every week! Teachers will pick one student per week that has been at school all week long and has shown up ready to learn.
Judy's Family Cafe 1195 N. Broad Street, Galesburg https://www.facebook.com/judysfamilycafe
Respect Family Connection Newsletters
Take a look at the "Family Strong" website for more resources for home FamilyStrong
PTO Meeting Dates
All meetings are held at Steele in the library. Meetings run from 5:30 - 6:30 PM and are typically on the first Monday of the month.
A Google Meet will be set up for those of you that want to attend but cannot be in person.
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/jms-yjdu-agj
Or dial: (US) +1 678-487-9512 PIN: 356 280 867#
Quarter 1: August 8 - October 11, 2024
Quarter 2: October 14 - December 20, 2024
Quarter 3: January 6 - March 14, 2025
Quarter 4: March 17 - May 21, 2025*
*unless emergency days are needed
How do we grade at the elementary level? We use a standards-based report card instead of a report card with letter grades. Elementary report cards are issued at the end of each grading period. They are intended to give an evaluation of the scholastic achievement and work habits of each child. Parents should examine all cards carefully since each child is rated not only on academic progress, but also progress in development of social attitudes and work habits.
We use a 4,3,2,1 system to assess a student's mastery of standards.
4 = Exceeding State and District Standards
3 = Meeting State and District Standards
2 = Approaching State and District Standards
1 = Not Meeting State and District Standards
