CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary School Community,

As we approach the upcoming winter break, I'm thrilled to highlight the incredible achievements and successes of our students here at CMIT SES!

First and foremost, let's extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the students who received recognition during our Honor Roll Awards Assembly. Your hard work and dedication are truly commendable. Special applause to those with Character Awards, Tenacious Tiger Awards, Perfect Attendance, Honor Roll, and the Principal’s Honor Roll during the first quarter. Your commitment to academic excellence is inspiring!

We continue to emphasize the importance of consistent effort and improvement. For the second quarter, we encourage all students to continue their hard work and dedication. Let's keep striving towards our academic goals as we aim for excellence.

I'm delighted to share the news that our school has seen an improvement in our Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) report card. We've increased from 65.7 percentage points to 66.1 while maintaining our coveted four-star rating! This progress places us in the 71st percentile of elementary schools throughout the state of Maryland. It is also a testament to the collaborative efforts of our dedicated students, supportive families, and committed educators. Let's keep this momentum going as we aim to achieve a five-star rating this spring during the MCAP assessments for 2024. Together, we can reach our 5 star goal and beyond!

As we gear up for the winter break, I wish all our Tiger families a safe, joyful, and wonderful holiday season. Please note that the school will be out of session from December 25 through January 2, with classes resuming on January 3.

A gentle reminder to families who haven't checked their MySchoolBucks account:https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ please take this opportunity to rectify and reconcile any outstanding balances for your child's lunch money in the cafeteria prior to returning from Winter Break.

Thank you for your continuous support and commitment to our CMIT SES community. Let's return from the break rejuvenated and ready to embrace new academic challenges in the new year!

Sincerely,

Ronald A. Miller, Jr

Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy South Elementary

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We are finalizing the 2024-2025 school year calendar and need your input! Review two draft options (links to both are in the survey) and take the survey by Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024.

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Hazel Health Services Coming to CMIT South Elementary

What is Hazel Health?

Hazel Health has partnered with Prince George's County Public Schools to provide access to quality healthcare services for all students, at no cost to families, this school year. Students can be referred by the school counselor or their parent/guardian. A designated person at the school or a parent/guardian can initiate a video visit with a Hazel health care provider while your child is at school or at home to provide either physical or mental health services. Therapy sessions with Hazel Health are a safe space and are private and confidential.

How can your child receive services?

Waitlists for mental health services for children are sometimes long or sometimes as parents it's tough to find the time to take our children to appointments which makes it difficult for them to receive the immediate support they need. Hazel Health is geared to bridge that gap. Students are able to receive these services free, virtually and while in school. If you have any questions please feel free to visit their website https://www.hazel.co/ or reach out to me.

Families,

Thank you for your relentless support and presence in the lives of your students. As we move into a new calendar year, please help students set GOALS for reading and writing. These two components are fundamental skills that will enable students to meet the requirements of all current and future learning. Over the break, please support students to read a little each day, and after reading have students complete a writing activity. Students who read and think critically will be able to identify main ideas, draw conclusions, find facts and opinions, put ideas in sequential order, make predictions, analyze character traits, identify story elements ( characters, setting plot,) ask and answer questions as they respond to literature and informational texts across genres.

We look forward to your continued support for student learning.

Reading Updates: Review of past skills. Students will also continue to read across genres.

Math Updates:

Fact Family A "fact family" consists of two additions and two subtractions that use the same three numbers. It's the same concept as NUMBER BONDS. For example, 2 + 6 = 8, 6 + 2 = 8, 8 − 2 = 6, and 8 − 6 = 2 make up a fact family (two addition facts plus two subtraction facts) Here is a video students may watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IhZDEffyTk

Science Updates:

Weather and Changes

A video may be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjkQ2d5Apu8

Social Studies Updates:

Review of past lessons.

Health Updates:

Parts of the Ear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2dqy7nCCGA

We have officially made it to winter break and more than halfway through second quarter!

Students have been working hard the last couple of weeks and this break is well deserved. Thank you again to every parent who donated to our class winter celebrations, the students had a great time. We appreciate your continued support and partnership! We’re excited to see what the new year will bring our students! Have a safe and happy holiday season!

1. Medicine, of any sort (including cough drops) should not be sent to school with students. ANY medicine needs to be given directly to the nurse with a medication form completed by your child's doctor.

2. Please continue to check SchoolMax for up-to-date grades. We are halfway through the second quarter!

Reading Updates:

When we return we will start Unit 3 focusing on “Our Traditions”. Students will dive into many different kinds of text like, folktales, fables and legends. You can begin reading some of these stories and talking about the elements of them over break.

The spelling pattern will focus on Long I spelled i, ie, i_e, igh and y

Math Updates:

All classes have started Topic 5- Subtracting within 100. Utilize our CANVAS site for additional resources and refreshers.

Science Updates:

We are working in Topic 3 - Earth's Land and Water. Please utilize our CANVAS site for review material as we dive into this topic.

STEM Fair is due Monday, January 17th. Consider taking time over break to work on the video component and mandatory STEM Fair board.

Social Studies Updates:

We are working in Topic 3 - Government. Please utilize our CANVAS site for review material as we dive into this topic.

Health Updates:

We will wrap up Healthy Heart when we return and move into our January magazine all about Fear and when you feel afraid.

Grade level blurb:

We have officially made it to winter break and more than halfway through second quarter! 🥳

Students have been working hard the last couple of weeks and this break is well deserved. Thank you again to every parent who donated to our class winter celebrations, the students had a great time. If you are looking for enrichment opportunities for your child over break, IXL is available as well as the winter enrichment packets that can be found on the PGCPS website. The Department of Curriculum and Instruction has developed winter enrichment packets (Grades K-12) as part of its program to support outstanding academic achievement for students. Student enrichment packets and answer keys are posted as a resource on the PGCPS website and will remain posted all year. While we encourage parents to have their students complete the packets for additional practice in the content areas for their grade level, the county does not require teachers to provide feedback on the completion of these activities or to provide extra credit for work done. To access the winter enrichment packets for all grade levels, please visit the following website- Winter Enrichment Packets (pgcps.org)

We’re excited to see what the new year will bring our students and hope they put their best foot forward. Happy Holidays! ❄️

Reading Updates:

Fleet/Lewis: This week we continued talking about the main idea while reading “Patterns in Nature.” We were able to annotate and analyze details and discuss how it support the main idea and topic. We also continued studying common and proper nouns. We ended the week by making vision boards. While doing that we were able to create goals and take ownership of and accountability of our learning. These goals included math and reading goals, better science test scores, and better relationships with our classmates.

Mathews/Madison: The class took a quiz on the information from the informational text, "Patterns in Nature'. We began the next unit where we will be analyzing text structure using the informational text Weird Friends. We read through the story for the first read. After the break, In Reading and Social Studies we'll be continuing both lessons. In Reading we will read the informational text a second time for a close read.

Math Updates:

Fleet/Lewis: Wrapped up topic 5. We will begin Topic 6 when we return from winter break. Topic 6 covers connecting area to multiplication and addition. Please make sure to have students practice their multiplication and division facts within 10 at home. This will help them master their fact fluency quizzes as well as do well in these lessons.

Madison/Mathews: We are continuing to use multiplication and addition to find the area.

Science Updates:

Fleet/Lewis: We have started Topic 4 which studies climate. There are 3 lessons for this topic so be prepared for this topic to wrap up soon after winter break.

Madison/ Mathews: Students will continue to explore Weather. They will learn about weather patterns, and come up with solutions to reduce the impact of severe weather.

Social Studies Updates:

Mathews/Madison: In Social Studies, the class began reading Chapter 2- Goods and Services. After the break: In Reading and Social Studies we'll be continuing both lessons. In Reading we will read the informational text a second time for a close read.

Health Updates:

The health theme for January is “I Like Your Attitude.” Students will discuss attitudes, values, and goals, personal choices and responsibilities, and refusal skills for risky situations.

The fourth-grade team would like to wish everyone a festival and a joyous holiday season. We hope that everyone enjoys this time with their loved ones. We will see everyone back to school on Wednesday, January 3, 2023. Please make sure to replenish your scholar’s school supplies over the break. Our scholars need pencils, sticky notes, index cards, and water bottles. As a grade level, we could use donations of tissues, hand sanitizer, and pencils.

We have finished our sensational sixteenth week of school and have finished our last week of 2023! We are so very proud of all of our scholars who earned the Honor Roll for the first quarter. We thank everyone who donated treats for our Winter Party. Our scholars had a great time and we had more than enough treats to enjoy.

Scholars should come to school each day with a fully charged Chromebook. As a STEM school technology is utilized in all classes and students are completing assignments digitally. It is difficult to charge Chromebooks during class.

Scholars must have a reusable water bottle. We do not have water bottles to provide to students nor do we have cups to provide water. Water bottles must have a resealable cap to prevent spillage if dropped or knocked over! Scholars can refill their water bottles at one of the filtered water fountains that are provided around the school.

Please check Schoolmax weekly to see the scholar’s updated grades. Canvas is a Learning Management System that scholars utilize to complete assignments and get access to materials. The grades provided in Schoolmax are those that will be used to calculate progress reports and report cards.

Finally please check your scholar’s browser and YouTube history every week. Please ensure that your scholar is not watching videos or going to sites you deem inappropriate. Our county filer does block most videos but some videos sneak through the filter.

Reading Updates:

This week: Students received support for the STEM research papers and we also used this week to conduct some winter-themed activities. Finally, teachers began conferring with students to update them on their most recent MAP scores. We will continue to update students relating to their scores and send home all updated scores after the New Year.

After the New Year: Students will begin reading a realistic fiction called “Minn of the Mississippi.” In this story, students will read about how a snapping turtle adapts to their environment on the Mississippi River. In this text we will work on the skills of inner conversations, identifying elements of the plot, and context clues. Spelling words for this week will be irregular plurals.

Math Updates:

This week students explored multiplying whole numbers using a variety of strategies. Using subsections 3-3, 3-4 and 3-5 students learned about multiplying 2 digit by 1 digit and 3 digit by 1 digit whole numbers using standard algorithm, array model, and the area model. Next week we will continue to practice these strategies in preparation for the Topic 3 test after returning from Winter break.

Please check Schoolmax and Canvas with your scholar to ensure completion of assignments.

Science Updates:

In Science we will be beginning our next topic, Topic 2: Human Use of Energy. Students will learn about the connections between natural resources and energy. “How do humans convert natural resources into energy?” is a great thinking question to get scholars thinking and ready to jump fully into our new topic.

STEM Fair Reminder:

All students were given a hard copy of the STEM FAIR Packet, and a downloadable copy was also added to Canvas. STEM FAIR Research paper drafts were due Wednesday, November 29th, 2023 (Felton and Crusoe). We got many, but not all. Be sure to have your scholar submit before the cut-off date. Felton/Crusoe only, STEM Fair Reports are due January 5th.

Final STEM FAIR Projects are due Wednesday, January 17, 2024.

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students explained how Thomas Jefferson made important contributions to the early history of the United States, analyzed the history of Maryland, and described one event that happened during the late 1700s or early 1800s that changed America.

Next week: Students will begin reading Growth and Civil War and describe how the growth of the United States had deep divisions that led to the Civil War.

Health Updates:

In health we are wrapping Let’s Talk about Teeth with our Unit Quiz before we move into our next unit. I hope you’ve been brushing!

Hi everyone!

We are moving right along in quarter 2 in 5th grade! We had a great time celebrating those students who made the honor roll and won awards and we want to keep pushing through and encouraging students to keep trying their best! Please check the assignment calendar on our Google site to see what upcoming assignments students may have. We have been having tests, quizzes, and homework, so we want to make sure students are keeping up with their work. Students should click on their homeroom teacher’s name to see their assignments. Here is the link to the 5th-grade website for those who need it: https://sites.google.com/pgcps.org/5thgradeclasssite/home

Reminder that we are happy to have volunteers come in to assist us with different things throughout the year, so if you are interested, please make sure your volunteer requirements are completed. We would love it if people wanted to come in and volunteer during lunch times for students, so let us know if you are interested.

We had our holiday celebration in class this week to celebrate the holidays/winter break before everyone left for a break! Thank you to everyone who sent in treats for our classes to enjoy! We appreciate all of you and couldn’t do it without you!

We are in December, and we are focusing on our character trait, generosity! We want to show generosity in any way we can!

The temperature is dropping, and students MUST have a winter coat to be allowed outside for recess. The CMIT fleeces are no longer warm enough for recess. If the temperature drops below 32 degrees, we will have indoor recess!

Reading Updates:

We are moving along into unit 2 which is about observations. We finished our story which is a realistic fiction called “From Hatchet.” We also had our spelling test on r-controlled vowels. We will be working on the next section of unit 2 when we come back from break!

Math Updates:

Students are in the fifth unit of Math which is about division. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!

Science Updates:

Students are working on the third unit of Science, about the biosphere and geosphere. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!

Social Studies Updates:

We finished up chapter 3 about settling the colonies in North America and we took our chapter 3 assessment this week! We will be starting chapter 4 when we come back from break!

Lego:

This week in Legos and Robotics, we continued with the Lego movies and the Winter Wonderland. The movies are coming along. The Winter Wonderland is getting huge. We have grocery stores, airports, skating rinks, schools, fire stations, police stations, salons, barber shops, 7’11s, pet stores, Home Depot, Walmart, DTLR, McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, malls, AMC, Sunoco, Exxon, Panda Express, braiding shops, carry outs, Subway, Gucci store, Marc Jacobs, colleges, and much more! Have a wonderful break!

Updates from the Art Room!

Second grade created snowflakes as a part of origami artmaking. Since December’s character trait is all about generosity, I give them the opportunity to send a snowflake to my friend in the ever sunny Florida to give her a blizzard for the holidays! Fifth grade is joining in on the fun as well this year! Below are some pictures of the process.

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