March 2023
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all which have the power to turn a life around.” Motivational author and speaker Leo Buscaglia
Spring Has Sprung
by Superintendent Simpson
As we enter the spring season and fourth quarter of the school year, it is important that we not let the busyness and rigorous demands of daily schedules, tasks, practices and competitions displace what always needs to remain our top priority: supporting and caring for each other as we strive toward the common goal of guiding students toward success. Yes, spring can be challenging academically and somewhat hectic with school, civic and/or church-related responsibilities/events. However, if we all prioritize the importance of being kind, caring and supportive of each other, the season will not overwhelm us, and we will actually give ourselves and our students the opportunity to truly enjoy the many experiences and activities that this time of year offers.
Following the first week that we return from Spring Break, our 3rd-8th grade students will be engaged in state testing in Reading and Math during the weeks of April 8th-12th and 15th-19th. Additionally, 5th and 8th graders will take the Illinois Science Assessment on April 24th and 25th.
When we near the end of the month of April we will have our annual celebration of Arbor Day. We have been invited to the United Methodist Church 2PM on Friday, April 26th, for an Arbor Day presentation led by Mrs. Karen Bonnell. Once again this year the Village of Steward has been designated as a Tree City USA and for the second-year in a row Steward Elementary has earned the designation of a Tree Campus USA through the National Arbor Day Foundation.
cont...
Planning for the Future
This June we have two long-serving Steward Board of Education members who would like to enjoy a well-deserved retirement from their board service. Prior to their departure, our Board would like to interview anyone who would be interested in serving our school by becoming a school board member. If you are interested in this potentially powerful and lasting form of civic leadership, please contact the school office or reach out to our Board of Education President Mrs. Chele Wells: cwells@stewardschool220.org . We appreciate anyone’s interest in serving in a district governance capacity!
Superintendent Simpson’s article continued...
Celebrations
Spelling Bee
We had our annual Spelling Bee on Friday, February 2nd and our winner was Ben Hayes with Ryley Ginn coming in second. Ben went on to the regional spelling bee in Dixon where he finished in the top ten. He was cheered on by Steward’s top five spellers and they celebrated by having lunch at Pizza Ranch afterwards.
American Legion Essay winners
We had twenty students participate in the American Legion Essay contest. The question each student had to answer was “Why I am proud to be an American.” Every student who participated received a small sundae from Culvers. Morgan DeLille was the first place finisher and Ben Hayes finished second.
Celebrations
Speech team
Pictured students proudly displayed their medals on the Rochelle High School stage. (Morgan DeLille, Barbara Palmer, Janitza Perez Reyes, Evi O’Rorke, Molly Kedzie, Wren Tran, Levi Kedzie, Reese Wells, Ben Hayes, Lizzie Hayes.)
Ten Steward students grades 5-8 competed in the Rochelle Speech Contest at Rochelle Middle School on March 5th and then at the High School on March 12th. The team had entries in the following categories: Humorous Interpretation, Prose Reading, Verse Reading, Duet Acting, Radio Speaking, and Impromptu.
School wide Roller skating
On February 24th we had our school wide roller skating party at the Rink. We had over 50 people show up to skate. It was a great night of skating!
Social Emotional Learning
Math
In math, we just finished our unit on addition, subtraction, and identifying shapes. The students have put foam shapes together to make pictures. They also had the goal to preserve and never give up.
Science
Kindergarten has been extremely busy working on our social emotional learning. We currently need one more key to our kingdom in order to earn a party. They have applied their skills in working together and not giving up. They have also applied the skill, "sharing is caring"!.
In science, we will be covering plants and life cycles. We can't wait for April because our eggs will be here! They just love to learn about the different types of life cycles, but it is more exciting when it is right in front of them.
Leprechaun
The sneaky little leprechaun came and visited our classroom. It was a HUGE mess, but sadly we did not capture him. The children learned the importance of cleaning up and working together to get everything done.
Reading
Our students keep learning and growing as the year continues to fly by. The first graders are currently learning about different genres in reading. The genres we are focusing on are mysteries, poetry, fables, historical fiction, biographies, and fairy tales.
Phonics
Math
In phonics we are working on beginning and ending blends in words. These are two or three letter combinations that are often seen together, such as “bl”, “st”, “und”, and “ink”. In writing, we are
working on writing with a set voice. This means that we write in a way that shows emotion, such as happiness, silliness, or sadness.
In math we are continuing to work on addition and subtraction. We are now working on two digit problems with a focus on regrouping as well as using mental math to add and subtract. We have also worked for several weeks on story problems involving comparison.
12 + 29 = 41
Read Aloud
Science
In science we just finished a unit on the earth, moon, and sun. The students loved learning about how the rotation and tilt of the Earth causes our daily and seasonal patterns. We are now starting our unit on living things and have begun to look at the needs and parts of plants and animals.
We love listening to stories and have just finished our read aloud of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” We are now reading “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The students are looking forward to seeing all the magical parts of Willy Wonka’s factory.
Bucket List
Several rewards from filling our bucket list have been met.
Students enjoyed wearing slippers and bringing their favorite stuffed animal. They also earned another slushy treat.
Science
Read Aloud
Students have studied properties of matter with hands on labs such as making bubbles, (picture), and building bridges (picture).
The class finished hearing the classic book “Charlotte’s Web” by E.B. White, writing responses and watching the movie. They are in the final chapter in the book “Stone Fox” by John Reynolds Cardiner.
Fundations
Reading
Students enjoy taking turns being the teacher as they review the letter sounds. (Beckett is the teacher in the picture) Students are challenged by beating the clock to spell trick words as a class. Recently we celebrated 6 words correctly spelled as a whole class in 2 minutes.
100th Day
Students presented to the elementary students the reader’s theater titled “The Chocolate Touch” a story about a boy who is crazy about candy who learns to put others first. The students practiced hard to deliver the script clearly. I’m proud of each student for having the courage to read in front of others.
100 days in school students had a variety of activities. One activity was to stack 100 cups in 100 seconds. (picture) They started a list of 100 acts of kindness and have 60 acts so far.
Math
Second grade students are learning what is a reasonable measurement either inches, feet, or yards and centimeters or meters. Recently we learned that a student’s arm span is about 1 meter and that our classroom is about 10 meters wide. (picture) Third graders have finished a unit on fractions and learned how to use a model or number line to determine if a fraction is greater than, less than or equal to.
Reading
Math
In math, the 5th graders have been hard at work with their fractions. After completing our adding and subtracting fractions unit we then moved on to multiplying. Currently our focus is on dividing fractions, which the class is doing a fantastic job with!
The 4th graders have finished their fractions unit, did incredible with their decimals unit, and are now tackling measurement.
Happy spring! As we have finished the third quarter, I am amazed at how much both the 4th and 5th grade classes have learned. In reading, we have been working on identifying genres. We will be taking our test after spring break and then we will start some of our last sets of lessons. They will be close reading, fluency, and ABC order.
Positive Action
Social Studies
In Positive Action, we have been discussing treating others the way we want to be treated. The class came up with some great ideas for ways they can treat others kindly and respectfully.
In social studies we had a chance to do a week-long simulation of what it was like to be an explorer sailing to the New World. Our three ships, The Tiger, Phillip, and The Black Rose, all managed to make it safely home despite many mishaps along the way. The three groups worked together to make decisions and compromise, all while recording their journey in their explorer’s logs. We are now discussing the thirteen colonies and the different roles that colonists had during that time.
Science
In science, we finished
two units. Our first unit
focused on natural
disasters while our
second focused on
fossils. We had a fossil
day where we made
fossils out of air dry clay
and created some candy
core samples. We are currently working on our structures and functions unit. Right now we have been looking at the parts of plants and how they adapt to their environment. We have done a few experiments on the topic, including dissecting flowers and seeing how celery can change when using colorful water.
Valentine’s Party
Science
6th - 8th Science: This month Mrs. Pratt talked
with the students about springtime and
gardening during Ag In The Classroom. The
students designed their own gardens. They had
to choose which flowers or vegetables went
next to each other, paying attention to our
growing zone and compatibility charts to make
sure that their gardens would flourish.
The students also made seed balls out of clay and dirt. They will be able to "plant" these soon to grow a variety of pollinator flowers. In Science class, we have been discussing atoms, elements and the periodic table.
Student Council
Student Council: We finished April with our Girls'
Basketball Spirit week during their end of season
tournament. We have also been conducting our
spring community service project. Almost 100 dog
and cat toys were donated for local animal shelters!!!!
These kids ROCK. We will be celebrating their
generosity with an all school recess.
Speaking of community service, the 4th-8th grade students will take a trip to Feed My Starving Children after our return from Spring Break. This annual event broadens all of our students' horizons to the situations and living conditions of children outside our immediate little world in Steward. I'm always inspired with our students' generosity and caring toward those in need!
6th grade Social Studies
Students in the 6th grade
social studies finished up their unit on Ancient Rome and completed two fantastic projects! The first project completed was a poster outlining their favorite facts and places from the Rome unit. The second project was the building of the Roman Colosseum!! Students used popsicle sticks to form the Colosseum and glue to hold it together!
7th grade Social Studies
Students in the 7th grade social studies class just
completed their unit focusing on the presidency of Andrew
Jackson. Students learned about the various policies Jackson put in place during his presidency and how it impacted the United States long after his presidency was complete. Students are now focusing on Manifest Destiny in the United States and how this idea is going to shape the continent! After we
discussed how Texas became a state they
made posters showeing what they learned.
8th grade
Social Studies
Students in the 8th grade social studies class have had a busy month of learning! We started the month looking at imperialism in the early 1900’s.
More recently students have been learning about the Progressive movement and different reforms during this time period. Students have also been focusing on the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt!
K-1st grade
Hello, art friends and families! Kindergarten and 1st grade scholars and I read Splatter by Diane Alber and reviewed how primary colors create secondary colors! The kids got blobs of red, blue, and yellow paint on papers. Next, they blew those blobs with plastic straws in order to make them splatter!
4th-5th grade
2nd-3rd grade
Our 4th and 5th graders got their weave on with yarn fiber and chosen color patterns! To start, students used notches in cardboard for reusable looms. After stringing the looms, kids chose any color pattern to transform simple yarn into beautiful displayable weavings!
2nd grade and 3rd grade artists discovered a bit of Cubism with artist Pablo Picasso! First, they viewed specific techniques Picasso used with angles in faces. Next, they tried making an eye from a side view combined with an eye looking straight ahead. These portraits are always so funny and if you happen to walk by the art room during this project, you will hear lots of laughs!
6th-7th grade
6th and 7th grade used patient planning in a
simple line drawing as they set up the beginnings of string art on wooden planks. These drawings then got secured right to the boards as students measured just where the nails should be placed atop. This process is not exactly a quiet endeavor as the young artists utilize hammers to layout nails for their final step: string wrapping. Gorgeous colors and varying subject matter make these wooden artworks so unique!
8th grade
8th graders studied artist Pedro Linares Lopes’s art style for their three-in-one animal sculpture! These 3D forms are called “alebrijes” and are based on Mexican folk art style. Plaster cloth strips and paper mache held our newspaper sculpture animals together. If you have ever seen the movie, “Coco,” you will relate the students’ brightly colored, patterned sculptures to the imaginary animals featured in the film.
It’s always a good time in the art room here at Steward School!
The Superman Challenge
The Superman Challenge! You may have heard your child talking about the Superman Challenge. The Superman Challenge is a physical activity that requires strength and endurance. It is a series of running two laps, followed by 15 repetitions of an exercise. Then it is repeated with four different exercises. It is timed, where the students can challenge themselves to better their previous accomplishment.
After watching our kids compete with themselves and their classmates, I thought it would be fun to introduce the challenge to the other schools in our conference. With a positive response from the other Schools, we thought it would be fun to have the students compete with the other students from other schools in the conference for one night gathering of fun.
It is very exciting watching the kids cheer and encourage one another. Even though they will be competing with other students, with similar times, the emphasis is more on challenging themselves to improve. We were initially planning on having the competition on March 19, but due to some conflicts, we were unable to keep that date. The new date is April 2, the Tuesday we return from spring break.
The event is strictly volunteer although encouraged so that we have a strong representation of our school. It will be held at the Steward Elementary gymnasium at 6:00 PM. All heats will be seated by time and are open for fourth grade to eighth grade. Would love to see everyone out that night for the fun and to cheer on our students.
Thank you and have a blessed day.
David Hanes
April 2nd
6:00pm
4th-8th grade
Highest Honors
(97%-100%. No individual grades below 90%)
High Honors
(94%-96%. No individual grades below 85%)
Tenley Ramsey
Barbara Palmer
Morgan DeLille
Reese Wells
Derik Maertz
Hannah Gittleson
Diana Lopez
Aiden Connolly
Ryley Ginn
Honors
Garrett Davis
Evi O’Rorke
Chris Lopez
Mayson Smardo
Braylon Wells
Jamie Riddell
Ellie Maertz
Molly Kedzie
Angel Hueramo
3rd Quarter 2023-2024 Grades 3rd-8th
Lizzie Hayes
Ben Hayes
(90%-93%. No individual grades below 80%)
Upcoming Events
April 2nd: Superman Challenge (grades 4th-8th) 6:00pm in the gym
April 5th: Field Trip to Feed My Starving Children (grades 4th-8th)
April 8th-15th: Illinois Assessment of Readiness (IAR) testing (Reading/Math) (grades 3rd-8th)
April 10th: Chess Tournament at Eswood (grades 3rd-5th) 4:00pm
April 11th: Field Trip to the Coronado Theatre in Rockford to see the Rockford Symphony Orchestra (whole school)
April 11th: Chess Tournament at Eswood (grades 6th-8th) 4:00pm
April 17th: Board of Education meeting 6:00pm
April 24th-25th: Illinois Science Assessment (ISA) testing
(grades 5th-8th)
April 25th: Kindergarten Round Up 1:00 (for all incoming Kindergartners)
April 26th: Field Trip to the Children’s Community Theatre at the Egyptian Theatre in Dekalb to see Mary Poppins Jr. (whole school)
April 26th: Arbor Day Celebration at the Methodist Church (whole school) 2:00 led by Karen Bonnell
April 26th: Kings School Dance Party (grades 6th-8th) 6:00-8:00
Upcoming Events
May 2nd: Track Meet at RTHS 4:00
May 3rd: Family Fun Night 6:00-8:00 here at the school
May 10th: Science Presentation by Storm Science 12:45-2:15 in the gym
May 14th: Spring Concert/Awards Night 6:00pm
May 21st: Field Trip to the Madison Zoo (whole school)
May 23rd: Graduation Night 6:00pm
May 24th: Last Day of School
Talent Show at 1:00
CPR Demo
On March 5th Lyndsay Breedon came and gave a CPR demonstration to the entire school. She even let several students give chest compressions on her testing device named George.
Online calendar
www.stewardschool220.org