Steele Family Newsletter

Mrs. Grice, Dean of Students

Mr. Orellana, Dean of Students

Mrs. Knuth, Nurse

Mrs. Hickey, Family Engagement

Mrs. Fones and Ms. Howerter, 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

As we continue this month of gratitude, I want to share how truly thankful I am for the amazing support of our Steele community. Your partnership makes such a difference for our students, our staff, and our school as a whole.

We hope to see you Tuesday night at our next Family Night! This event will feature several multicultural stations where families can explore holidays celebrated around the world. Students will have the chance to learn, create, and take home items connected to each tradition. It will be a wonderful evening of celebrating the diverse cultures that make our community so special.

Looking ahead, December offers two opportunities to spread kindness:

• PTO Staff Luncheon Contributions: Families are invited to help provide food items for a PTO-sponsored luncheon to show appreciation for our Steele staff.

• Student-Made Holiday Gifts: We’ve included a list of simple, meaningful, homemade, no-cost gift ideas that students can create for special staff members. These small acts of gratitude go a long way.

Thank you, families, for your ongoing partnership, encouragement, and care. Steele is a stronger, brighter place because of you.

With gratitude,

Mrs. Coate, Principal

Calling All Storytellers!
Do you have a story waiting to be told? We’d love to read it! Students are invited to take part in the Galesburg Young Authors’ Program. Everyone who participates will receive a special ribbon to celebrate their hard work and creativity.

A few authors from each school will be selected as Honored Authors and will be invited to a special luncheon in April, where they’ll receive a medal and certificate and celebrate with other young writers from across Galesburg. Let your imagination shine — your story could be the one we celebrate next!

Mark these dates on your calendar!

**Monday, November 17, 2025- Official Start Date**

**Friday, February 27, 2026- Student Stories Due to School Office**

**Friday, March 27, 2026- Judging Deadline for Buildings**

**Thursday, April 23, 2026- TBA**

You can add your own illustrations to make your story come to life! Please do not use pictures from the internet — we want your creativity to shine. To get started, plan your story. Think about your characters, the setting, and what will happen. You can use a story map to help organize your ideas. Then, write your first draft, reread it and make changes to improve it, edit and revise to make your writing even stronger, write your final copy neatly, and finally add your own illustrations to go with your story.

Click here to access the November Board Brief

The Shine in #205 program is a way for you to salute any CUSD #205 employee who goes above and beyond what is expected. Whether you are a parent/guardian impressed with that special touch your student's teacher added to a moment, a coworker who thinks their colleague doesn't hear often enough about the great job they are doing, or a community member who witnessed a staff member's commitment to students-you can submit a Shine nomination!

Link to nominate a staff member

Often we can find ourselves noticing things that we don’t like or that we wish were different. Choosing to notice and appreciate things in our life, things in others, and things in the world can be a challenge, but practicing Gratitude can increase our well-being and happiness. This month's focus for:

• Kinder is on practicing Gratitude to support emotion identification.
• 1st grade is on practicing Gratitude to help with emotion awareness.
• 2nd grade is on practicing Gratitude to support emotion regulation.
• 3rd grade is on using Gratitude to support emotion advocacy.
• 4th grade is on Gratitude to support positive self-talk.

Kindergarten Gratitude Family Newsletter

First Grade Gratitude Family Newsletter

Second Grade Gratitude Family Newsletter

Third Grade Gratitude Family Newsletter

Fourth Grade Gratitude Family Newsletter

Please make sure your student is coming to school with weather appropriate outerwear for recess and remind them that it needs to be worn. We have had several students attempt to go outside the last few days with short sleeves on!

We have hats, gloves, scarves and coats if you are in need. Please call the office to request these items.

Families help their children learn and grow every day. This parent-friendly magazine provides effective and easy strategies to promote reading throughout a child’s early years. The magazine is available in English and Spanish and includes a monthly calendar of activities to do with your child.

https://familieslearning.org/learning-material/cultivating-readers/

Please download the Galesburg App. When you receive your invitation email, then you can sign up for messaging. All staff will use this for communication this school year. Once you have the app downloaded, you will see your child's teacher and information in the app.

If you haven't received an email or text, you can reach out to the office to get a code. If you are having trouble connecting, please contact our main office at 309-973-2016

All meetings are held at Steele in the library. Meetings run from 5:30 - 6:30 PM and are on the first Tuesday 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#

View more: htpp://schools.mealviewer.com/school/SteeleElementarySchool