Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." These words from Booker T. Washington perfectly capture the spirit I see in our scholars every day. Your children's dedication to overcoming challenges and achieving new heights continues to inspire us. Their persistence in the face of obstacles, whether mastering a difficult math concept or completing a challenging science project, demonstrates the truth of Washington's wisdom. Your partnership in their education journey makes a meaningful difference in their growth and success.

Schedule Information: This is B-Week (Week 2), so please ensure your child follows their B-Week schedule for creative arts (CARTS) classes. On Monday, January 27, 2025, we will have a 3-hour early dismissal at 11:25 a.m. for Teacher Grading Day.

Staffing Updates: Please join me in welcoming Mr. Morton as our new technology teacher. Mrs. Gilbert will be serving as our first-grade substitute while we complete our search for a permanent teacher. Additionally, we've assembled a dedicated team from our staff to strengthen our special education department, focusing on accommodations and Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) to better serve our students.

Assessment Schedule: Our testing season continues with DIBELS assessments for 2nd and 3rd grades from January 27-30, and NWEA MAP Growth Assessments for Kindergarten and 1st grades on January 28-29. Your support in ensuring your children are well-rested and prepared for these assessments is greatly appreciated.

Our second annual coat drive runs through Friday, January 31st. We welcome donations of new and gently used coats. The distribution will take place on Saturday, February 1, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the cafeteria. Please share this information with anyone who might benefit from this community initiative.

We're thrilled to showcase our students' innovative spirit at the STEM Fair on Saturday, February 1, 2025, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the gymnasium. Join us to explore fascinating experiments and discover various STEM careers through the work of our talented K-5 students. This event demonstrates our commitment to fostering scientific curiosity and critical thinking skills.

As always, remember that the STEM Journey Begins Here at CMIT South Elementary! Let's continue to fill this school year with exciting learning opportunities, personal growth, and impressive achievements for all our scholars. Your partnership in education makes a profound difference in our students' success and we thank you for making CMIT South Elementary a vibrant and supportive learning community. Together, we're creating meaningful experiences for our scholars! Remember, we can't continue this STEM journey without you!

Let's make this year a roaring success! 🦁📚

Wishing you all a 🐾 PawwRific 🐾 day and see you all Monday, January 27, 2025!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Acting Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

3rd Grade Emotional Regulation Group: Building Self-Esteem

This week, our 3rd-grade emotional regulation group focused on the important topic of self-esteem. During our session, we introduced the meaning of self-esteem and how it influences our thoughts, feelings, and actions. We will continue this topic in our next session.

Student 🔆SPOTLIGHT🔆: Carson Miller – A Safety Patrol Superstar

This week, we shine the spotlight on Carson Miller, a dedicated member of our school’s Safety Patrol team! Carson goes above and beyond to assist our younger students, ensuring they feel safe and supported during the dismissal process. Whether it’s helping them cross down the lanes or assisting with their backpacks, Carson is always ready to lend a helping hand.

His efforts have not gone unnoticed! Parents have reached out with heartfelt emails and compliments, praising Carson for his outstanding work. They’ve shared how much they appreciate his patience, attentiveness, and willingness to ensure their children feel cared for and safe. Thank you, Carson, for being a role model to your peers and a true champion of kindness and safety. Keep up the fantastic work!🌟

Grade Level Blurb:

Students started testing this week on Dibels this week. Next Week is MAP testing on Tuesday and Wednesday. Please have students come to school on time after having a good night's rest and a fulfilling breakfast. As a reminder please have your scholar utilize the online resource of Clever. Through Clever you can access other resources such as IXL, Lexia and i-Ready to help your scholar further their understanding of topics taught in class. Such as numbers 1-10, addition up to 10, shapes, sight words, and short vowel cvc, consonant vowel consonant, words.

Important Dates:

January 27: 3hr early Dismissal

January 28-29: MAP Testing

February 7: MD Science Center Field trip

February 14: Make up snow day: School Open

Reading Updates:

UNIT 2- Week 5: Run, Jump and Swim

Essential Question: How do some living things make what they need?

• Phonological Awareness: Initial and Final Sounds; Segment and Blend Phonemes

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics: Short /e/ middle sound and Letters W and Y

• High-frequency words: go, from, yellow

• Spelling words found in weekly readings: swim, push, climb, and carry

• Unit Vocabulary: grow, need, share, depend

Learning Goals:

• Learn what a persuasive text is

• Understand Informational Text Structure

• Find details in a text

• Capitalization for the beginning of a sentence

• Adjectives preposition and Verbs

• Rhyming Sort

Math Updates:

Topic 6: Understanding Addition

Essential Understanding: What types of situations involve addition?

• Show numbers in many way

• Express smaller parts of a bigger number with actions

• Represent addition as putting to or more numbers together

• Practice using an addition equation

Vocabulary: plus, addition, equal sign, altogether, in all, patterns

Science Updates:

TOPIC 3 LESSON 1: The Sun

Essential Question: How can I describe the sun?

• Learn how the sun moves in the sky

• Describe how the sun keeps things/people warm

• Designing structure to keep animals cool and protected

• Observe the sun

Vocabulary: star

Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 3 lesson 1: Why People Work

Essential Question- How have jobs changed over time?

• Understand why people work

• Look into the difference between need and want

• Analyze cost and benefits

Vocabulary: work, job, need, want, cost, benefit

Health Updates:

January Topic: My Body is Special

• Demonstrate respect for different types of bodies

• Encourage self confidence by discovering one’s own special qualities and talents.

• Describe basic routines necessary to keep one’s “special” body healthy and safe.

• Explain why it is important to tell a trusted adult about situations involving personal safety.

Vocabulary: special, private, respect, trust, and daily habits

Grade Level Blurb:

Thank you again for sending your scholars to school on time and well rested. There will be make-up testing taking place if your scholar was absent. Please check class dojo to see what day your scholar will be taking their Dibels Assessment. This week will be a continuation of last week due to the shortened week.

Reading Updates:

We are entering week 5 of our second unit. This story will be an Informational Text.

Math Updates:

Scholars are finishing up Topic 4 and will be preparing to demonstrate their knowledge on their Topic Assessment.

Social Studies Updates:

Communities and resources will be the next topic covered

Science Updates:

Scholars will be learning about Earth's Surface

Grade Level Blurb:

This week, we have mostly focused on district testing! However, all classes have been reviewing academic concepts that were introduced prior to Winter Break. We will continue to do so while staying on pace with our curriculum. If you have any questions specifically for one of your child’s teachers, please let us know. Thank you for your time!

Reading Updates:

We have started Unit 2, Week 1! This unit addresses fiction and nonfiction text that discusses plants and animals, and this week’s lesson focuses on texts addressing patterns in nature. We also worked on V/CV and VC/V words, and we reviewed concepts from the last week of Unit 1!

Math Updates:

Students have been working on problem solving division with the numbers 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10! Additionally, they have been working on using the properties of multiplication (associative, commutative, and distributive) to problem solve with the numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8!

Science Updates:

Students have been learning about electricity and magnetism! They are learning about how electricity and magnetism are related, as well as the cause and effect relationship between the two!

Social Studies Updates:

Ms. Madison and Mrs. Flores’s classes just finished Chapter 1! Ms. Howard and Ms. Hendy’s classes have started Chapter 2 (economics)!

Health Updates:

Students have been introduced to our unit on the food we eat! Specifically, all classes learned about how food gives us energy, and what counts as healthy eating.

Grade Level Blurb:

Greetings Tiger Family,

The second quarter has officially come to an end. We only have two more quarters together in fourth grade. We have also concluded all midyear diagnostic testing with a few makeups left to complete. Teachers will be sharing updated scores with families in the upcoming week. This data helps to inform instruction for students and determines next steps to help them grow in their subjects.

The character trait of the month is confidence. We have been discussing with our students about the power of changing your mindset even when things get a little challenging. Please have your scholar practice creating positive affirmations that they can say to themselves. Please continue to read to get updates and important information from Fourth Grade.

Thank you for your continuing support and partnership.

Warm regards,

4th Grade Team

i-Ready:

i-Ready is a computer based math and reading program that is available for all of our scholars. Scholars have completed their diagnostics and are working on programs based on their areas of need. If scholars have access to a computer at home, we recommend that your scholar is getting at least 45 minutes of practice a week in both reading and math. Please encourage your child to complete lessons and ensure they complete the lessons independently to accurately improve their skills. i-Ready is accessed through clever.pgcps.org, and scholars will use their PGCPS logins to access the program.

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Monday January 27, 2025- 3 Hour Early Dismissal

• Friday February 14, 2025- School is Open!

Uniforms:

We are a uniform school. Students must be in the proper uniform each and every day. Students are expected to have mostly black shoes. They may wear a navy blue or school logo jacket or pullover during class. Students will be asked to remove any jacket or sweater that is not following the uniform policy.

Fourth Grade Reminders:

This is a friendly reminder that late work is only accepted if a student has an excused absence! If a scholar is absent and does not bring a note they will earn a 0 on the assignment that was missed. Please read the reminders to ensure that you are partnering with your scholars to make them successful for school. If a scholar leaves early or arrives late to school and it is not excused they will earn a 0 for all work that is not completed.

If your scholar is absent, please share a note with the homeroom teacher and attendance managers within 3 days of your scholar returning back to school. In order for students to receive make-up work you must provide a note stating; the student’s name, the date of absence, and reason for absence. Work is provided to students upon their return to school with an absence note.

Communications:

Students must bring their agenda book each day. Teachers will note the agenda book and it should be signed nightly by the adult at home.

Please allow up to 48 business hours for all responses to emails and Classdojo messages. Teachers are not actively monitoring their emails during the day because we are engaged in instruction. Emails are not monitored over the weekend or in the evening hours when teachers have gone home. If the message sent relates to dismissal changes please call the school directly to leave a message with the front office.

Grading:

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

Parent Teacher Conferences:

Conferences with teachers are available with families as needed. Please reach out to the homeroom teacher about scheduling a parent teacher conference.

Scholastic Book Club:

This year, our class is reading with Scholastic Book Clubs! You’ll have access to expertly curated, affordable books that help boost your child’s reading skills, build your home library, and maybe even create moments of quality time you can share together.

Plus place an order of $25 or more and you can pick a FREE $5 book (use code READS at checkout).

Family Order Due Date: 01/27/2025

Shop Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/MF27J

Shop Flyers: https://clubs.scholastic.com/all-flyers

Invite relatives and friends to help your child discover the joy of reading when you share our class page link. Every order benefits our classroom, helping me earn FREE books and resources that every child can enjoy.

Reading Updates:

All texts that are being read in the classroom are also available for students to reread at home in their Vol. 1 textbooks. Please have students continue to read and discuss with you information that they find in the text. Students should always read a portion of the text and share any thoughts or questions they had while reading. Students should also note the text underlining, circling, and highlighting parts of the story that were important to know. Homework continues to be sent home on a weekly basis on the first day of the week.

This Week: We are reading the last text Unit 2 “Adaptations” The Weird and Wonderful Echidna” and “The Peculiar Platypus.” In these texts students are reading about two animals from Australia and their strange adaptations. Students are working on the skilly of synthesize. Synthesizing is where we combine information that was learned from two different texts to support one main idea. As students are reading the text we will work on the skill determining the main idea across two different texts. Students will also take the information gained from the two texts to compare and contrast.

Next Week: We will go back to Australia to continue to read the texts closely about the strange adaptations of the echidna and the platypus. Students are sill integrating or combining the information that is given to speak knowledgeably about animals that have strange adaptations. Students will also complete an informational writing in which they will combine information from both texts.

Math Updates:

This week we will completed the Winter MAP testing. We also continued our journey through Topic 3, by focusing 3-1 Multiplying by multiples of 10, 100, 1,000 and 3-2 Estimating Products.

Please check Synergy ParentVue and Canvas with your scholar to ensure the completion of assignments.

Science Updates:

This week, students took the Winter MAP Science test. Students began presenting their STEM FAIR presentations as well as peer reviewing classmates projects using a scoring rubric.

Please check Synergy ParentVue and Canvas with your scholar to ensure completion of assignments

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students analyzed and explained how the United States emerged as one of the world's most powerful nations following the Civil War, focusing on key factors such as economic growth, industrialization, political changes, and the expansion of American influence both domestically and internationally.

Next week: Students will read about the continuity and changes that the United States faces in the 21st century, and be able to explain the key factors contributing to these changes while identifying aspects of continuity that persist in various aspects of American society, politics, and economy.

Health Updates:

In health we are learning about our Mouths and keeping our Teeth Healthy and clean.

Grade Level Blurb:

Happy third quarter! We are off to an exciting start, and we focused on testing and mapping growth for your student’s progress. In the coming weeks, we will be sending home data sheets to share your child’s achievements and areas of focus. We are thrilled with the progress we’ve seen and are excited to dive back into our regular routines next week for the third quarter.

As we continue into the third quarter, we kindly ask for your support in reminding students to complete all assignments and put their best effort into their work. Developing good habits now will help set them up for success as the year progresses.

Students reviewed basic literary terms and started preparing for our StudentTreasure Book publishing project, titled Our Life in 15 Years.

Unit 3 Week 1: Realistic Fiction and Listening Comprehension

Love, Amalia: Develop Vocabulary, Check for Understanding and Word Study

Reading book: MyView Literacy 5.2, IXL, I-Ready, SavvasRealized accessed through Clever.com

Carefully listening to stories or information while understanding and remembering important details.

Reading fictional stories where the characters, settings, and events feel real.

Spelling words with Latin Roots

Subjective, Terrarium, Conjecture, Dejected, Prediction, Transportation, Terrace, Reporter, Contradiction, Unpredictable, Portage, Reject, Dictator, Injection, Supportive, Contradict, Projectile, Indictment, Subterranean, Objective

IXL and I-Ready accessed through Clever.com

Math Updates:

Next week in math, we will begin Chapter 6: Dividing Decimals. Our first lesson, 6-1, will focus on dividing decimals using powers of ten. This concept is foundational for understanding decimal operations, so please encourage your child to practice at home and ask questions if they need extra support.

Science Updates:

As we gear up for the MISA (Maryland Integrated Science Assessment), we’ll focus on MCAP science preparation. In class, we are currently exploring the human impact on Earth. Students in Ms. Lewis class are learning about the water on Earth,

Social Studies Updates:

What I learned this week:

Students reviewed key concepts to prepare for their 13 Colony Assessment that will be held Monday, January 27, 2025 (Lewis & Price- Watson)

Chapter 4 Lesson 3: Slavery in the Colonies

Lesson Check and Close Readings

Social Studies book, IXL through Clever.com

Summarize/describe the lives of slaves while in the colonies.

Discuss how enslaved Africans resisted slavery.

IXL

PE:

This week in PE, we played a fun and active game of 4 Corners! Each corner of the gym had a different physical activity, and students took turns rotating through all four stations. Activities included jumping jacks, hula hooping, running sprints, and a balancing challenge. The kids had a blast staying active, challenging themselves, and cheering each other on as they moved from one station to the next. It was a great way to keep everyone engaged and energized while working on different skills!

Maker’s Lab:

Hello All, Due to the shortened week caused by weather, we adapted our Makers Lab lesson to focus on weather and weather advisories. The students watched an informative video that explored different types of weather conditions and how weather advisories help keep us safe. This was a great opportunity for the students to learn more about the world around them and how we can stay informed during changing weather patterns. We look forward to getting back to our regular activities next week!

Media/Library: This week in Library class, we introduced the students to next week's project, where they will be learning how to find clues in a book. We discussed the importance of paying attention to details in the text and how clues can help us understand the story better. The students practiced identifying key information, such as descriptive words or phrases, that give hints about the plot, characters, and setting. This was a fun and interactive session to help them develop stronger reading comprehension skills, and they are excited to dive deeper into their project next week!

Technology:

This week in Technology class, since it was a testing week, we focused on helping students develop techniques to approach their tests with confidence. We discussed strategies for staying organized, managing time effectively, and reading instructions carefully. I also emphasized the importance of taking deep breaths and staying calm during the test. The students practiced some simple techniques to help them focus, like reviewing questions before answering and breaking down more challenging problems into smaller steps. It was a productive session aimed at giving them the tools to succeed during testing and beyond!

Art:

Last Friday was the opening reception for the Nature Quest Art Show at Harmony Hall. Here are pictures of Makayla A. and Isla P. with their winning work!

2024-2025 School Calendar

School Meals

School Violence Resources and Support

PGCPS TV

CMIT South ES Enrichment Program

Vendor Managed Child Care

Parent Handbook

Students’ Rights and Responsibilities Handbook.

Synergy ParentVUE Support for Parents and Guardians