Welcome to Mrs. Steed's Web Page

Contact Mrs. Steed at csteed@d91.net

Milne Grove School 815-838-0542  ext. 125

INDOOR RECESS

 If you would like to send a quiet game, activity, or coloring book to occupy your child's time, please label it and send it to school.

Specials

For the most up-to-date information regarding homework, please check your child's student planner/assignment book and take home folder nightly.  In addition, after homework is completed, please sign your child's daily entry in his/her student planner/assignment book.  

For the Week of:  May 14, 2012

Homework

* Indicates class time was given.  If your child did not complete the activity at school, he/she will need to complete it at home.

Additional Learning Websites

These can be found on the LRC portion of the District 91 Website.

Events

Multiplication Fact Tests

This Week's Reading Story: Lon Po Po

Genre:  Fairy Tale

Scroll down to find this week's vocabulary enrichment word.  Look for this week's story title.

Spelling Words:    pulled, begged, hugged, silly, correct, latter, matter, supper, common, lesson, collect, setting, bottles, different & jelly

Challenge Words:  fairy tale, cultural, grandma, courage & weave

Vocabulary Words:  latch, dusk, cunning, embraced, tender, brittle & delighted

Build Your Child's Background in Science & Social Studies

Geography Vocabulary

Please scroll down to find our current units of study, review old units, or preview upcoming units.

Science Vocabulary Words & Key Concepts

Minerals, Rocks and Fossils:  rock, mineral, crust, mantle, core, sedimentary rock, igneous rock, metamorphic rock, rock cycle, and fossil

Key Concepts 

        What minerals are and how they are used

        What is under the surface of the Earth

        How rocks form

        Ways people use rocks to make things

        How fossils form

        How fossils show that life on Earth has changed

Forces That Shape the Land:  weathering, erosion, earthquake, flood, volcano, landform, canyon, mountain, valley, plain, plateau, barrier island, glacier, and desert 

Key Concepts

        What forces change Earth's surface       

       The way some landforms look

        Why landforms are always changing

        How wind, water, and ice change Earth's surface

        How earthquakes and volcanoes change the land

        How floods change the land

Soils:  soil, humus, topsoil, bedrock, clay, loam, resource, conservation, strip cropping, and contour plowing

Key Concepts

        Where soil comes from

        Why soil is important

        What harms soil

        How soil can be saved

Earth's Resources:  resource, renewable resource, reusable resource, nonrenewable resource, and recycle

   Key Concepts

        What are resources

        How we get resources

        Which resources will never run out

        Which resources could be used up

        What is recycling

        How recycling saves resources

The Water Cycle:  groundwater, estuary, evaporation, condensation, precipitation, & water cycle

Key Concepts

        Why Water is important

        Where water is found on Earth

        How water changes form

        How water moves from place to place

Observing Weather:  atmosphere, weather, temperature, front, wind, anemometer, & weather map

Key Concepts

        The layers of the atmosphere

        What is weather

        How weather changes

        The ways temperature, precipitation, and wind are measured

        How people forecast weather

        How to read a weather map

Earth and Its Place in the Solar System:  solar system, orbit, planet, asteroid, comet, rotation, axis, revolution, phaes, lunar eclipse, & solar eclipse

Key Concepts

        The names of the planets

        Other bodies in the solar system

        Why there are seasons

        What causes day and night

        What are the moon's phases

        What causes eclipses

Properties of Matter:  matter, physical property, solid, liquid, gas, atom, evaporation, volume, and mass

Key Concepts

        How to observe matter

        Three states of matter

        What matter is made of

        How matter changes

        How to measure matter

        How to use tools to measure matter

Changes in Matter:  physical change, mixture, solution, and chemical change

Key Concepts

        How matter can change and still be the same

        Two kinds of mixtures

        How new kinds of matter are formed

        Some ways we use chemical changes every day

Energy:  energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, electricity, fossil fuel, vibrate, and circuit

Key Concepts

        Different forms of energy

        How energy can be stored

        Uses of stored energy

        How energy can move as waves

        How energy can move as electricity

        How energy from sunlight can be changed into other forms

        How food, fuel, and electricity can produce motion and heat

Heat:  thermal energy, heat, friction, conduction, conductor, insulator, convection, radiation, and thermometer

Key Concepts

        What is thermal energy

        What is heat

        What thermal energy can do

        Three ways thermal energy moves

        How to keep thermal energy from moving easily

        How to measure temperature

        Ways to control thermal energy

Forces and Motion:  force, motion, speed, gravity, weight, work, simple machine, lever, and inclined plane

Key Concepts

        How motion begins

        How to find speed

        What is gravity

        What is work

        What force has to do with work

        What is a simple machine

        Names of simple machines

Social Studies Vocabulary Words & Key Concepts

What is a Community?:  map, symbols, title, labels, map key, scale,  globe, location, city, state, country, continent, hemisphere, equator, cardinal directions, intermediate directions, compass rose, cooperate, citizens, government, laws, consequence, mayor, judges, responsibilities, resource, volunteers, history, ancestor, missionary, time line, custom, culture, and founders

Key Concepts

        Why might you need to find out where places are?

        Why do people in your community need to work together?

        What kinds of things do you need to live?

        Why is learning about the past important?

        Why do you think most communities are made up of different groups of people?

Where People Start Communities: physical feature, landform, mountain range, valley, plateau, plain, peninsula, coast, climate, desert, and human-made feature

Key Concepts

        What makes the place where you live different from other places?

        What are some physical features of a place?

        Along what kinds of waterways and bodies of water do people build communities?

        Why are many cities and towns build near water?

        Why is land next to a body of water a good place to build a community?

        Where do poeple meet in your town?

        What is the place called where two routes meet?

        Why is crossing point a good place to build a city?

        What is it about a place that makes people want to build communities there?

        Why were the branches of the Mississippi River important?

        Why was the location of Chouteaus's trading post important?

        What does the Gateway Arch stand for?

        Why do you think cities and towns are built near resources?

        How do resources help people decide where to start farms?

        How can the location of minerals help people decide where to build communities

        Why would location be an important reason for building a city or town?

        Where are many state capitals and county seats located?  Why?

        Why would location be more important than physical features in deciding where to build a city?

        Why did Brazil's leaders want to move the capital city?

        Why did people think Brasilia could not be built?

The Many People of a Community: opportunity, religion, immigrant, literature, heritage, holiday, tradition, folktale

Key Concepts

        What parts of the world have people in your community come from?

        What is an immigrant

        Why did many African Americans leave the South and move to cities in the North?

        What is literature?

        What form of music became popular in harlem?

        How do you celebrate you favorite holiday?

        What do Vietnamese people call the New Year's holiday?

        What is Kwanzaa?

        Why do many people celbrate the New Year's holiday in Times Square?

        Compare the way you live with the way a person your age in another country lives.

        On which continent is India located?

        What is one of the largest groups of people in India?

        What is the important lesson taught by "the Jackal's Tale"?    

        What makes the people of India different from one another?

        What are the two main religions in India?

People Working Together: basic needs, rural, service, product, technology, producer, raw materials, marketing, human resources, wage, and industry

Key Concepts

        How do you work with others in your community, school, and home?

        Why are the Amish sometimes called the Plain People?

        What is a barn raising?

        What are some products and services the Amish buy from other communities?

        How are most products made?

        What are human resources?

        What is an industry?

        What makes a person decide to buy one product or service rather than another?

        What can competition do to price?

        What is an advertisement?

        How do inventions create demand?

        How do people in your community buy products from other countries?

        How is international trade today different from trade long ago?

        How do communication links help trade?

        How is an export different from an import?

Living Together in a Community, State, and Nation:  petition, council, government service, tax, vote, Constitution, election, candadite,ballot, majority rule, minority rights, campaign, governor, public property, private property, jury, Congress, Supreme Court, patriotism, anthem, pledge, allegiance, and province

Key Concepts

        What can you do to help solve a problem in your community?

        How do city governments pay for government services?

        What rules and laws help resove conflicts in your community?

        What was the Mayflower Compact?

        What does the Constitution describe?

        How is a state government like other kinds of government?

        Why does each state need its own government?

        How is the governor's job like the job of the mayor of a city or a town?

        What do state lawmakers and judges do?

        What are some of the things state governments do?

        How many parts make up the government of the United States?

        What are some duties of the President?

        What are the two parts of Congress called?    

        How are the justices of the Supreme Court chosen?

        In what ways can you show that you are proud to be a citizen of your community and country?

        Why has the design of our country's flag changed many times?

        Who worte "The Star-Spangles Banner"?

        What is the Pledge of Allegiance?

        What are places that display the national flag?

        How are governments in other countries like our government?

        How has Nelson Mandela brought change to South Africa?

        Who has the right to vote in the United States?

Communities Grow and Change:  reservoir, decade, century, planning, disaster, decline, canal, causeway, empire, pollution,  and historical society

Key Concepts

        In the time you can remember, how has your community changed and how has it stayed the same?

        How many years are in a decade?  a century?

        What important service do schools provide?

        Why is it important to plan changes?

        What are examples of changes that are unplanned?

        In what ways did communities change many centuries ago?

        What problems do cities face today?

        What are some ways to find out about a community's history?

        Who can provide you with information about the history of your community?

Character Education

Caring, Fairness, Respect, Trustworthiness, Responsibility, and Citizenship

CLASSROOM VOLUNTEERS

Become a Classroom Volunteer and make a Difference!

Please contact me if you are interested in becoming a classroom volunteer.

Math Flashcards 

Book Buddy

Science/Social Studies Flashcards 

Help during Centers 

Hallway Display

Birthdays

If you would like to send a treat to share with the class for your child's birthday, please contact me and I will let you know the number of students and the best day to bring the treat.  Instead of a treat, you may consider the healthy alternative of making a donation to the classroom in your child's name.  Some items of need are picture books and chapter books for the class library or 100 piece puzzles, games, and arts & crafts supplies for indoor recess. 

Scholastic Book Orders

Please return book orders by the date indicated on the form/note.  Checks should be payable to Scholastic Books.  Since I use teacher bonus points to purchase books and materials to enrich the classroom, thank you for your orders!!  If you would like to order online, our class will get a free book.  Please use the following website:  www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

Activation Code:  HCV9L

Book It

Your child will have the opportunity to participate in the National Book-It Program sponsored by Pizza Hut.  This program supports the fact that reading is an essential part of school success.  The program runs from October to March.  Your child must read two books each month.  One book must be a fiction selection and the other must be a non fiction.  Once your child has read his/her two selections, then a form indicating  title, author, date and parent signature needs to be completed and returned to school by the end of the month.  Your child will then receive a coupon for a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut.  Happy reading!!

VOCABULARY ENRICHMENT

Subject Areas

Reading:  Reading Class is usually based on one story per week with corresponding vocabulary, comprehension and reading strategy activities. Typically on Tuesdays your child will bring home a Reading Reminder Note (R.R.N.).  For the R.R.N., I ask that your child read to you or with you the week's story and review the vocabulary words. Please sign and return the R.R.N.. In addition, a study guide for each story is sent home.  Please take the time to use the study guide to help prepare your child for the weekly vocabulary/comprehension test.  Besides the study guide and the R.R.N., all additional reading activities are worked on during reading class time.  Although, if your child does not finish, activities may be sent home to be completed.  On many Fridays, a parent/child reading worksheet will be sent home.  It is due on the next school day.  Please be sure to have your child read the story out loud to you as it will help with fluency and answer the questions together as it will aid in comprehension. 

Language Arts:  Language Arts will cover the areas of grammar, parts of speech, writing forms, and spelling.  Your child will study sentence types, punctuation,  and capitalization  In addition your child will participate in writing workshops to develop the skills necessary for journal writing, narrative writing, persuasive writing, and expository writing. The spelling pretest is given the first day of the school week and the post test is given the last day of the school week.  All children are encouraged to practice their spelling words and challenge words nightly. Please have your child practice writing the words not just spelling them orally. Challenge words spelled correctly are worth bonus points on the test.  There is no penalty for incorrectly spelled challenge words.  

Handwriting:  The children work in a practice book to review cursive letters and work on letter connections.  Much of the school work will be completed in manuscript (especially spelling test).  Cursive will be used for other assignments as the year goes on.

Math:  Math class activities allow your child to use everyday math skills related to time, money, temperature, calendar, number sense and patterning.  There is typically a math lesson in which we complete Side A as a class and then Side B is to be completed for homework unless otherwise indicated.  On many days, there will be a fact practice Side A page and then Side B fact practice is to be completed at home unless otherwise indicated.  Please check & sign your child's work for accuracy.

Social Science: The focus of our social science program is the similarities within different worldwide communities.  The students will also learn the role that government plays within our city, state, and country.  Vocabulary and concepts will be learned through discussions, class activities, and projects.

Science:  The topics of study for our science program are matter, Earth's cycles, energy, force, Earth's land, and ecosystems. Vocabulary and concepts will be learned through discussions, class activities, experiments, and projects..

Geography:  Students will learn about the world around them by completing geography activities in a variety of ways. (whole group, small group, partners or individually).  Students will also learn to identify which resource is most beneficial to answer geography questions. (computer, atlas, dictionary, map, globe or other reference materials).  Additionally, third grade students learn about the world around them by reading/discussing the classroom magazine:  "Time for Kids".

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Page updated: 05/11/12