Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

Your dedication to our students' success continues to inspire us, and we're seeing remarkable growth in our young learners every day. This November, we're focusing on GRATITUDE as our character trait, and we've planned several meaningful initiatives to strengthen our school community. Students, staff, and parents are invited to submit "thank you shout outs" to recognize staff and friends, which we'll share during morning announcements, fostering a culture of appreciation. Please use the following form to submit your thank you shout - https://forms.gle/REd1AndyzGid9rmR6.

We're also excited to host a Parent University session on Reading (Phonics) tomorrow, Monday, November 18, from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. This hands-on, in-person workshop will provide valuable strategies to support your child's reading journey. Our annual Coat Drive (November 7-21) is underway, and your generosity will help keep local families warm this winter. New or gently used coats for infants through 9-year-olds can be sent to school with your students, or monetary donations can be made at beesbabiesessentials.org/donate. Coat distribution will take place on November 23, from 10 AM to 2 PM.

Regarding academic updates, 1st Quarter Report Cards will be available online on November 18, with printed copies distributed on November 26. The grade appeal window is open from December 2-6, 2024. If needed, please submit the Grade Appeal Form to both the teacher and principal with supporting evidence during this window.

As always, remember that the STEM Journey Begins Here at CMIT South Elementary! We're looking forward to a year filled 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. Thank you for your continued support and engagement in our school community. Together, we're creating an environment where every child can thrive and reach their full potential. 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, November 18, 2024!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Acting Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

Classroom Guidance Lessons

I will continue teaching personal safety lessons with our 2nd-grade students. These lessons are designed to help children understand important safety rules, including those related to appropriate and safe touch.

Attitude of Gratitude

Our November character trait is GRATITUDE—embracing thankfulness and showing appreciation. We’re excited to celebrate by offering students the chance to give "thank you shoutouts" to staff or friends, which will be shared during the morning announcements! Complete the form below to participate.

Please keep your response to a maximum of 1-2 sentences.

Attitude for Gratitude

Grade Level Blurb:

We are so excited about our upcoming field trip to the National Aquarium. A huge thank you in advance to everyone who will be chaperoning our trip to make it a success. We will be eating lunch on the bus, so lunches from home should be sent in a disposable bag, with no glass containers/bottles, and no food that needs to be heated up. All students should wear their gym uniform, including a gray T-shirt and navy blue bottoms. Chaperones should come to the school cafeteria by 8:30 am.

We look forward to a great trip. Thank you for your assistance!

IMPORTANT KINDERGARTEN DATES-

NOVEMBER 17: Parent University: Phonics

NOVEMBER 21: Homework and Family Tree Project due

NOVEMBER 22: Field Trip: Baltimore Aquarium

NOVEMBER 27-29: Fall Break

Reading Updates:

UNIT 2- Week 3: Do We Need This?

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: Consonants Hh and Ll

• High-frequency words: one, two, three

• Spelling words found in weekly readings: food, water, shelter

• Unit Vocabulary: grow, need, share, depend

Learning Goals:

• Identify the main idea to understand informational text

• Find the Main Idea and Supporting Details

• Ask and answer questions about text structure

• Learn what animals need

• Making a place to live

• Adjectives and Articles

• Rhyming Sort

Math Updates:

TOPIC 4- Comparing Numbers 0 to 10

Essential Understanding: Two groups can be compared by counting the number of objects in each group and telling which group has more objects or fewer objects.

• Finding the position of each number within the counting sequence helps to compare

• The number that tells more is greater than the other; the number that tells fewer is less than the other.

• The use of matching, drawing, ten frames, and counting to compare numbers

Science Updates:

TOPIC 2 LESSON 3-Solid, Liquid, and Gas

Essential Question: What are the three states of matter?

• Identify how objects are alike and how they are different

• Describe and sort objects

• Observe how the state of objects can change

Vocabulary: matter, change, shape, solid, liquid, gas

Social Studies Updates:

CHAPTER 2 LESSON 3- Symbols of our State

Essential Question- What are the important symbols of America?

• Recognize the American Flag, what it looks like, and what it represents

• Identify important national symbols that represent the U.S.

• Recognize different songs important to our nation

Vocabulary: pledge, landmark, flag, capital

Health Updates:

NOVEMBER TOPIC: Healthy Foods

Lesson 4: Before We Eat- Food Handling

• Explain the routines and reasons for proper food handling

• Demonstrates rules for safe food handling

• Identify goals for healthful eating routines and food preparation.

• Compare and contrast the routines

Vocabulary: alive, not living, healthy, routine, manners, meal

Grade Level Updates:

Hello Tiger Family. We are approaching our Thanksgiving Break. Please be mindful of the change in weather. Let's make sure our scholars are dressed for the weather. A few reminders please keep up with the STEM Fair Timeline in the Handbook. Also, we are asking for donations of gently used coats for our coat drive. We still have time to donate.

Reading Updates:

This week we will be reading an Informational Text. Students will use text features and graphics to increase their understanding of the text. Phonics will consist of long “A” words and vowel teams.

Math Updates:

Students will further their understanding of addition strategies. They will be learning how to solve one and two step problems.

Science Updates:

Students are continuing to learn the Scientific Method to help as they begin to work on their Stem Fair Projects.

Social Studies Updates:

Students are learning how to locate places using a Map.

Grade Level Updates:

We are close to Thanksgiving Break! In the meantime, it is getting cooler outside. Please make sure your child has at least one outdoor coat for recess and dismissal. Thank you for your understanding! Additionally, our coat drive is continuing next week, so please feel free to contribute!

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 Updates:

Greetings Tiger Family,

We hope that all those that served enjoyed their Veterans Day. We thank you all for your service. Now that we are in the second quarter it is even more important that students arrive at school on time and stay the entire day. Students that arrive late to school or leave early and it is not excused will not be able to make up work that they missed. We are a uniform school and students must be in uniform even in class. Students will not be permitted to wear hoodies and jackets that do not have the CMIT logo on them or are navy blue.

Fourth graders are also earning ROAR Bucks in order to make purchases from the school store and for in class passes. Students earn ROAR Bucks by following school and class expectations. Students will lose ROAR Bucks if they are not following the expectations of the classroom and school. Please discuss with your scholar what they can earn from the teachers by having the right amount of Bucks.

Parent Teacher Conferences:

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

Scholastic Book Club:

This year your scholar will be able to order books directly from Scholastic. If you would like to order books for your scholar or any other child in your life please read the information below.

All orders are due by Monday November 18, 2024 so that final approval can be sent to Scholastic. Please use the links below to order, please do not send your scholar to school with money.

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.

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Parent University Reading Night- Monday November 18, 2024

• Thanksgiving Break- November 27- 29, 2024

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.

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.

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.

If your scholar is absent, please share a note with the homeroom teacher 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.

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: Students brought a close to the informational text “Feathers: Not Just for Flying,” by completing an informative writing. Students wrote an essay that explained how different birds use their feathers and why this is important. Students had to plan and revise their writing before submitting it. This week, students sought to answer: What different purposes do animal adaptations serve?

Next Week: We will begin reading the text story in our unit Adaptations, called Animal Mimics. In this text students will explore animals that use the adaptations of mimicry to protect themselves in the environment. Mimicry is being able to copy another animal's looks or even their behaviors. Students will monitor their inner conversations why they are reading the text. We will also identify the main idea and text structure of the text.

Math Updates:

This week we will continue with Topic 2:Fluently Add and Subtract Whole Numbers. Our focus strategies for this week is to continue with ; partial sums and differences, and using the number line to count up and down when solving equations. We will also be taking our Second Quarter IXL Diagnostic.

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

Science Updates:

This week we began Lesson 3 Energy Transfers and learned how heat and other energy forms transfer and transform.

*STEM FAIR REMINDER* Parent University Night 11/11

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

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students learned and explained how the United States grew out of the English colonies. They will learn the key events and factors that led to the colonies' decision to declare independence, including issues like unfair taxation, lack of representation, and the desire for self-government. Students will also be able to explain how the American Revolution and the signing of the Declaration of Independence ultimately led to the creation of the United States as an independent nation.

Next week: Students will analyze and explain the growing political, social, and economic divisions in the United States during the 19th century, identifying the key events, issues, and ideologies that contributed to the deepening divisions between the North and South, ultimately leading to the Civil War.

Health Updates:

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

Grade Level Updates:

We are making great progress in 5th grade and are excited to share what we’ve been up to!

Reading Updates:

Unit 2 Week 3 Question: How can careful Observation help a person survive?

Learning about Realistic Fiction aligned with the story “from Hatchet” by Gary Paulson

Anchor Chart of What Elements make a story Realistic Fiction

Unit 2 Week 3: Continuation of the Story: from Hatchet

Started Choice Board Journal entries

IXL and I-Ready which is all accessible through Clever.com

MyView Literacy 5.1 reading book

Learning more about observations by understanding point of view in realistic fiction.

Spelling words with r-Controlled vowels

Armada, Conserve, Guitar, Proportion, Internal, Category, Vertical, Partition, Conform, Guardian, External, Cardinal, Excursions, Injury, Majority, Turbulent, Quarter, Harmony, Vertex, Minority

IXL and I-Ready which is all accesseble through Clever.com

MyView Literacy 5.1 reading book

Chapter 3: Lessons 1 through 4 Review: Settling in the Americas in preparation for the Chapter 3 Assessment Wednesday, November 20, 2022

Chapter 4: Life in the Colonies

Big question?: What does it take to build a new Colony?

Lesson 1: New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies

My World Social Studies Book, IXL

Students will learn about the way people lived in Colonial America.

IXL which can be accessed through Clever.com

Lego:

This week in Legos and Robotics, the students used critical thinking skills to debate on various topics. All of the topics were real world issues, which required research to be supported.

Music:

Announcements

Mark Your Calendars for our Winter Concert, Thursday, Dec 19, 2024.

• Primary grades K - 2, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

• Intermediate grades 3 - 5, 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

• Attire TBD

It’s the Holiday Season!

The Kennedy Center and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra have several upcoming performances for you and your family to enjoy. Feel free to take and look and see which performances you may want to attend.

Click Here for Kennedy Center

Click Here for Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Maker’s Lab

For this week’s assignment, students were asked to design their own intervention by presenting it visually on a chart. They illustrated their invention and answered two key questions: What is your invention used for? and What does it do? By drawing their inventions, students were able to visualize their ideas more clearly, which helped them understand how each part of their design worked together.

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