
CMIT North Middle School Newsletter
Week of November 27, 2022

Week of January 8, 2023
CMIT's Mission
In partnership with students, parents and the community, CMIT will attain educational excellence by providing a rigorous and technology-integrated education for middle and high school students with an emphasis on mathematics, science, and information technologies.
Administrative Announcements
Important Dates
1/16: MLK Jr Day - Schools and Offices Closed
1/24: End of Second Quarter
1/25: Asynchronous Learning Day - Schools Closed for Students
1/28: CMITs 12th Annual STEM Fair
Sync school calendars with your own Google Calendar using the links below.
CMIT Tardy Policy
There is a strong correlation between students attending class on time, academic achievement, and behavior concerns in middle school. The Tardy Policy is designed to provide an incentive for students to arrive to each class on time in order to earn a Casual Day. Casual Days are awarded on the first Friday of each month based on the prior month's Tardy Report; unless otherwise announced by the administration.
Students begin each month with no tardies.
*Students with a suspension are also ineligible to participate in an upcoming Casual Day.
Excused Absences and Make up Work (AP 5113)
Scholars who have excused absences have the opportunity to complete any work that they have missed. Upon 48 hours of a scholar's return to school, the teacher should provide make-up work. The number of days allowed to make up missed work will be equivalent to the number of days the scholar was absent. Scholars who have unexcused absences will not be able to make up missed work.
Administrative Procedure 5113: Student Attendance, Absence, and Truancy
CHARTER SCHOOL LOTTERY OPEN NOV 1 - FEB 10
The PGCPS lottery for specialty programs and charter schools is now open until February 10th. Siblings receive preference BUT must still apply to the lottery.
Siblings already at CMIT North Elementary do not need to apply. They will automatically move to CMIT North Middle School after they complete 5th grade.
Cell Phones and Air Pods
Electronic devices are causing increased distractions in the classrooms and to students' ability to learn. For this reason, CMIT has implemented a strict No Cell Phone policy during the instructional day. Cell phones must be stowed in the student locker.
This policy is now extended to bluetooth enabled headphones, such as Air Pods. Students have been found to be using bluetooth headphones to connect to devices stowed or concealed in classrooms. In some cases they connect to a friend's phone.
Headphones must be wired and only used at the discretion of the teacher. All wireless headphones will be confiscated in accordance with CMITs Electronic Device Policy.
Academic Announcements
Our First Art Installation: The Giant Gingerbread House
This happened by accident. It happened right in front of my eyes. I had been brainstorming different ideas for an art installation that the students could create for the school; then I looked up and saw our Giant Gingerbread House and realized we had been working on an art installation for a month.
What started as a box that hauled our new ceramics kiln, became a physical representation of us. We received our kiln in a 4’x4’x4’ cardboard box that I asked to keep for repurposing reasons, of course. Because it’s a box. Who wouldn’t keep a box like that? The scholars even echoed my sentiments.
When I saw that box, I saw a house. The top and bottom lid fit on like a shoebox top. We hooked the lids together with zip ties to make a 90* angle and sat it upon the body of the box like a modular home roof. It was clear we needed windows and a door. Doors and windows were cut with cardboard saws. Now it was a house.
We needed rules if we had a door, we needed boundaries. Students could only go in the house if they worked on it, or decorated it, and only one student was allowed in the house at a time. I was amazed that all of the students respected the house and its boundaries, it was still just “trash” after all.
With boundaries in place, we needed an aesthetic goal. We decided on a giant gingerbread house. The Giant Gingerbread House still needed to represent all of us. “What makes us happy or brings us joy this time of year?” became our aesthetic/theme. This could be a holiday, could be colors, could be snow; Pokémon is even celebrated with a drawing of Delibird welcoming people on the front. Everyone’s joy is celebrated with paint, string, stickers, glue markers, paper, etc. The more we decorated our house, the more it became weathered and started to collapse.
The next question I have for the students…what should we do structurally to avoid our last fate? Or should we make a new sculpture out of the cardboard?
Ms. Knox, Art Teacher
Athletics
TIGER POWER!
The CMIT Tigers boys and girls basketball programs completed their season against Martin L. King Middle School.
The Lady Tigers closed out their season in stunning fashion! The girls came into a hostile Martin L. King home crowd that was a packed house! The score was a seesaw affair for much of the game. However, after halftime head Coach Mr. Kendall Pinkney and assistant coach Mr. Samuel Kydd made a few adjustments and went to a pressure-style defense that created turnovers and scoring opportunities. The final score was 35 to 23, Tigers with the win!
The victory sends our eighth-grade girls out in winning style; Cerenity Major, Vivian Akinfe, Lola Almonte, Laila Johnson, Victoria Archer, Sade Oyelola, and Eden Kwende. This group of young ladies did a tremendous job to turn around the girls’ basketball team from last season. The whole team played well throughout the season and ended with a winning record of 5-4.
The Boy's team also had a productive season as well, Chima Amadi, Noah Rutherford, Aaron Key, Aaron Stills, and Cordell Young all eighth graders, go out with a winning record of 6-3.
For the first time this season, the Cheerleading team performed at an away game at Martin L. King Middle School. The Cheerleading team did an outstanding job representing CMIT, their families, and themselves! Special thanks to our cheerleading team coaches, Mrs. Ronina Spence and Mrs. Lisa Torres, who did an awesome job all season!
Summer Opportunities
Israel, Jordan, and Egypt Tour - Summer 2023
Summer is coming, which means it is time to plan travel. I, along with EF Go Tours, am organizing a Summer tour of Israel, Jordan, and Egypt for the Summer of 2023.
An interest meeting will be held on January 12th, 2023 at 6 pm in room 114 at CMIT North Middle School. This trip will host families from Prince George's, Montgomery, Howard, and Anne Arundel Counties.
For families interested in learning more about this trip, please use the enclosed link to RSVP. https://forms.office.com/e/HKdra4cXJv.
Please be aware that this trip is not a PGCPS or CMIT-sponsored field trip and is privately organized for Maryland families through EF Go Tours. This trip is a cultural and historical exploration of these three countries and will include experiencing world heritage sites important to understanding the interconnectedness of this region. Some of the sights we will see are Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock, the Holy Sepulchre, the Wailing Wall, Yad Vashem, Mount Zion, Masada, The Dead Sea, The Temple Mount, Al-Aqsa Mosque, Amman and Aqaba, The Ruins at Petra, The Wadi Rum Desert, Cairo, The Great Pyramids at Giza, and more. We hope to see you at the interest meeting on January 12.
Breakfast/Lunch Menu
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PTO Announcements
PTO Volunteer Sign Up Sheet
Please use the following link to sign up if you want to be listed as a volunteer for any upcoming activities or events sponsored by the PTO. PTO Volunteer Sign-Up