CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

First, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for all your warm wishes following my appointment as the new Principal of our PAWWW-Tastic CMIT South Elementary School. I am truly honored to serve this wonderful community and am committed to assisting, helping, and watching our scholars grow and learn each day. Together, let's continue on this exciting STEM Journey to Success!

As we continue through Women's History Month, I am reminded of astronaut Mae Jemison's powerful words: "It's your place in the world; it's your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live." I hope these words inspire our students to pursue their dreams with courage and determination, just as countless pioneering women have done throughout history.

Important Information

Weekly Schedule Reminder
This is an A-Week/Week 1. Please ensure your child follows their A-Week/Week 1 schedule for Creative Arts (CARTS) classes.

School Uniform Update
We are transitioning to our new school logo. Please note the following guidelines:

• All new incoming students must purchase uniforms with the new logo

• Current students may continue wearing uniforms with the old logo

• If purchasing new uniforms for the next school year, please select items with the new logo

We Need Your Partnership!

Your support at home reinforces what we teach at school. Please help us by:

1. Reviewing your expectations for your child's academic and social behavior

2. Praising our scholars for their excellent behavior at school

3. Reminding students to respect personal space and keep hands to themselves

4. Establishing consistent study time at home

5. Encouraging healthy outdoor activities after school

6. Maintaining open communication with teachers to identify solutions together

Upcoming Events

5th Grade Maryland School Climate Survey

On Wednesday, March 25th, our 5th-grade students will participate in the Maryland School Climate Survey. This important survey helps the Maryland State Department of Education gather valuable data about students' perceptions of school safety, relationships with teachers and peers, and the overall learning environment.

The anonymous survey takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and will be administered during regular class time. Results help us identify strengths and areas for improvement in our school climate. No personal identifying information is collected, ensuring student privacy is maintained. We value this feedback as it helps us create the best possible learning environment for our students.

Parent University: Math Night - Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Mark your calendars for March 26th when we will host Parent University Math Night from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. (in-person). We encourage all families to attend this valuable session where you'll learn effective math strategies to help your child and receive useful resources to support their learning at home.

Safety Alert for Morning Drop-Off

IMPORTANT SAFETY CONCERN: Parents and guardians, please keep your children in your vehicle during morning drop-off until a staff member is visibly present outside. Students should not be left unattended outside the building, as this creates a significant safety risk.

Please note:

• Staff supervision begins at 7:25 a.m.

• Students must remain in vehicles until staff are present

• This policy is in place to ensure the safety and security of all students

• Unsupervised students are vulnerable to various safety hazards

Your cooperation is essential in maintaining a safe environment for our school community. Thank you for helping us protect our students.

Women's History Month Contest

We're excited to announce that CLF is hosting a Women's History Month Contest from March 3rd-28th with the theme: "Shattering the Glass Ceiling".

Students may choose from two project options:

• Project Choice #1: Breaking Barriers

• Project Choice #2: Collage of Barriers and Progress

For complete contest criteria and the rubric, please visit: Women's History Month Contest Guidelines

Let's put CMIT South Elementary School on the map by having the highest participation rate! I encourage all students to showcase their creativity and understanding of women's contributions throughout history.

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, March 24, 2025!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Acting Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

Supporting Positive Classroom Behavior

I have been providing guidance lessons to students about classroom behavior—what makes a good classmate and what can be challenging for peers and teachers. We will discuss the importance of being respectful, listening to others, following directions, and handling frustration in a positive way.

I encourage you to continue this conversation at home! Ask your child what they learned, what good classroom behavior looks like, and how they can practice respect and kindness every day. Your support reinforces these important lessons and helps create a positive learning environment for everyone!

Grade Level Blurb:

Hello Kinder Families,

Although the kindergarten scholars came up with really great Leprechaun traps, we didn’t get to catch the Leprechaun. However, students had a great time trying.

The Kindergarten Team wanted to give a website that has some ideas about ways to practice phonemic awareness at home.

https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents/your-kindergartener/phonological-and-phonemic-awareness

As we are entering warmer weather please remember that Kindergarten's recess is early in the morning and students will still need coats. Also families, please have your scholar’s shoes tied when they come to school and continue to assist your scholar in their efforts of learning to tying their shoes independently. Students should have a school approved sweater or jacket to wear in the classroom, in case they get chilly.

Exciting news please save the date for our next planned out of school field trip. The next field trip should take place on May 23, 2025 and will have students learn and explore the National History Museum in DC.

Dates to Remember:

March 24: Spring Picture Day- No uniform required

March 27: Talent Show auditions 3 - 5:30pm

March 31: No School

April 3: End of 3rd Quarter

April 4: 3hr early dismissal

April 7-8: MAP Testing

April 14-21: Spring Break

April 25: 4th Annual CMIT: Vocabulary Parade

April 25: Save the Date: In school Field trip- Science Show

May 23: Save the Date: Field Trip to the DC National History Museum

Reading Updates:

UNIT 3- Week 4: The Best Story

Essential Question: Why do we like certain kinds of stories?

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

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics:Vowel sounds - short a (/a/) and long a (/a_e/)

• High-frequency words: away, give, little

• Story Vocabulary: castle, pretend, explorer, adventure

• Unit Vocabulary: choose, explain, meaning, character

Learning Goals:

• Learn about different types of stories

• Visualize details from a story

• Syllables and compound words

• Find details in a text

• Capitalization for the beginning of a sentence

• Possessive pronouns

• Prepositions, adjectives, and articles

• Organize the story element: character, setting, plot

Math Updates:

Topic 7: Understanding Subtraction

Essential Understanding: What types of situations involve subtraction?

• Show numbers in many way

• Express smaller parts of a bigger number with actions

• Represent subtraction as taking away from numbers up to 10

• Practice using an subtraction equation

• Show subtraction using number lines, ten frames and pictures

• Vocabulary:

Vocabulary: minus, take away, equal sign, take apart, left over, patterns

Science Updates:

TOPIC 4 LESSON 2: Weather Patterns

Essential Question: How do different weathers affect Earth?

• Learn how the relationship between the temperature and the type weather that happens

• Discover different how weather can be different in different locations

• Describe how the weather affects what people weather

• Observe the relationship between the weather and the sky

Vocabulary:pattern

Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 3 lesson 4: Jobs then vs now

Essential Question- How have jobs changed over time?

• Understand how people worked long ago vs today

• Look into the different tools that are used to for jobs today vs long ago

• Analyze how those jobs help the community

Vocabulary: tool, tablet, smith

Health Updates:

March Topic: No Drugs, No Way!

• Describe what a drug is, and what other dangerous substances might be found in the home.

• Encourage confidence in saying no to drugs and other dangerous substances

• Demonstrate respect for our bodies and encourage others to make healthful choices.

• Explain why medicine is a drug and why it is important to be responsible with medicine

Vocabulary: drugs, medicine, permission, poisonous, directions, and unsafe

Grade Level Blurb:

I hope you all enjoyed the the K - 2 dance Friday.

Please take note of the following important dates:

Monday March 24, 2025- Spring Pictures

March 31, 2025- Schools Closed

Reading Updates:

Grade Level Blurb:

We are beginning our test prep for MCAP! Between now and the end of April, we will continue our curriculum while also introducing students to testing strategies and practice tests for all reading and mathematics sections of the MCAP. In order to do so successfully, students should try to be in their classrooms no later than 8:15am!

Reading Updates:

We are continuing to focus on historical fiction, as well as how it can be connected to the present day! We are also reviewing prefixes and working on suffixes.

Math Updates:

Students are working on addition and subtraction within 1,000, with a focus on word problems and regrouping!

Social Studies Updates:

We have started to introduce Unit 3, which focuses on the history of The Americas/The United States of America! Specifically, we focused on the Indigenous Peoples/Native American nations and tribes who arrived here between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago!

Grade Level Blurb:

Happy Spring 4th Grade Family,

I hope this message finds you warmly. We are now down to the last two weeks of the 3rd Quarter. We ask that you continue to talk with your student nightly about glows and grows from their day at school. We are helping students to be more reflective about their days and ways they can make improvements and strive for excellence. Students have been given their Vocabulary Parade packets. Please see messages on ClassDojo regarding your scholar’s classes participation in the parade. As we bring a close to the third quarter, please ensure that you are viewing all updates from the school through ClassDojo.

The character trait of the month of March is Courage. Students will have lessons in class around having the courage to take chances and do things you wouldn't normally do. Ways you can help is to share with your scholar times when you had to show courage or even take chances to try new things. 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

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Monday March 31, 2025- School Closed Eid al-Fitr

• Friday April 4, 2025- 3 Hour Early Dismissal

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:

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.

Absences:

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.

Reading Updates:

All texts that are being read in the classroom are also available for students to reread at home in their Vol. 2 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: This week we concluded the autobiography of “Trombone Shorty.” In this text we learned about the real life of jazz musician Troy Andrews and how he grew to love music. Students have been making connections to the story. We answered the question of how music brings us together. Students also had an opportunity to create an original song.

Next Week: Next week we are going to be reading two texts “Weslandia” found on pages 123- 135 & “The Circuit” pages 137-145. Both of these stories are realistic fiction. In Weslandia students will read about a boy named Wesley and how he grows a garden. In “The Circuit” we will read about a migrant family that work and live on farms. This week students will seek to answer how do new places influence us? Students will work on the skill of point of view and being able to compare and contrast the point of view of the characters.

Math Updates:

This week we begun Topic 5: Use Strategies and Properties to Divide by 1-Digit Numbers;(4.OA.A.3 and 4.NBT.B.6). Our essential questions for this topic are, How can mental math be used to divide? How can quotients be estimated? How can the steps for dividing be explained?

This topic focuses on solving multi-step word problems using division strategies. Some of the core vocabulary terms for this topic are: quotient, dividend, divisor and remainder. At home, please continue practicing with basic math facts focused on multiplication and division to support math fluency and the computation strategies for this topic.

Reminder, we have an IXL Action Plan challenge going on for the month of March! Please encourage your child to practice their IXL skill plans at home before the end of the month of March to receive their Scholarship reward.

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

Test Prep: Preparing for MCAP Testing

Parents and Guardians,

As we prepare for state testing and continue building strong math skills, we wanted to recommend two great resources that can support your child’s learning at home:

Math Tool Kit (Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/jlwZJbI)

4th Grade Common Core Math Quick Study Guide (Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/0Gy4Igw)

Both are fantastic tools that break down key math concepts, reinforce skills, and align with what we are learning in class. These resources can help students review and practice at home while also preparing for the MCAP.

If you’re looking for an easy way to boost your child’s confidence in math, these are great options! Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued support!

Science Updates:

This week we began Topic 3: Waves and Information.. Our focuses for this topic are developing models and describing the patterns of waves, and to be able to describe that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen. The core vocabulary terms for this topic are: wavelength, amplitude, crest, traverse, reflect, transfer and frequency.

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

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students completed their quest by writing a persuasive letter to a local official, effectively presenting and advocating for a community issue, and convincing the official to take action to address the concern.

Next week: Students will read the text "What is the Economy?" and explain how economies exist to satisfy people's needs and wants, demonstrating an understanding of how resources are allocated to meet these demands.

Fifth Grade News: Mission MISA Complete—On to the Next Challenge!

Dear Families,

We have officially finished MISA testing! A huge congratulations to all of our students for their hard work, focus, and perseverance during testing. We are so proud of them! Now, it’s time to shift our attention to MAP Growth and MCAP, which are coming up next month.

How Can Students Prepare?

To ensure success, students should continue practicing key skills at home. Here’s how they can strengthen their learning:

✅ IXL & i-Ready Lessons – Students should complete lessons on skills we may not have fully covered in class to fill any gaps and reinforce their understanding.

✅ Reading Fluency & Comprehension – Encourage students to read daily and practice making inferences about characters, events, and themes. Discussing what they read will help strengthen their critical thinking skills.

✅ Multiplication Fluency – Mastering multiplication facts is crucial as we move into multiplying fractions. Quick recall will help students tackle more complex math problems with confidence.

What We’re Learning This Week:

📖 Reading Updates:

Realistic Fiction & Making Inferences

Students will explore realistic fiction stories, focusing on making inferences. They will learn to use context clues and background knowledge to “read between the lines” and understand deeper meanings in the text.

🗺️ Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 6, Lesson 3: The Bill of Rights

We will dive into the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution, discussing why they were created and how they protect citizens’ rights today. Students will analyze real-life scenarios and connect these rights to their daily lives.

➗ Math Updates:

Transitioning from Adding Fractions to Multiplying Fractions

We are wrapping up our unit on adding fractions and moving into multiplication. Students will begin by exploring multiplication with whole numbers and fractions before progressing to multiplying fractions by fractions.

🔬 Science Updates:

MISA Testing Completed!

Our students have worked hard to show what they know on the MISA test. While testing is behind us, we will continue engaging in hands-on science activities and discussions to deepen our understanding of scientific concepts.

Thank you for your ongoing support! Let’s keep up the great work as we prepare for the next round of assessments.

Best,

The Fifth Grade Team

General CARTS Message:

Please remember to check your student's Canvas assignments and Synergy grades regularly. As they do complete work for grades in CARTS classes on Canvas.

Makers Lab:

We had an exciting in-class scavenger hunt where students searched for various STEM-related items. It was a fun and interactive way to engage them in exploring the tools and materials used in science, technology, engineering, and math. The students worked together, sharpened their problem-solving skills, and learned about different STEM concepts while having a great time!

Art:

We demonstrated knowledge of shape, color, and space (overlapping) in K & 1 and of pattern and repetition in grades 2-5. These skills come in handy for pattern recognition in everyday life (a high IQ skill), learning how to present and critique with proper vocabulary, and video game creation!

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