CMIT South Elementary School
Week of November 27, 2022
CMIT South Elementary December Themes
Character Theme: Generosity
"Money is but one venue for generosity. Kindness is an even more valuable currency." — Alan Cohen
STEM Theme: Robotics/Virtual Reality
Hands-on experience is the best way to learn about all the interdisciplinary aspects of robotics. -Rodney Brooks
Dear CMIT South Elementary School Community,
I hope this message finds you well and rejuvenated after the Thanksgiving break! As we dive back into our routines, I'd like to take a moment to highlight some important events and initiatives happening in the coming weeks.
Return of Successful Thanksgiving Break
We've had a fantastic return from our break, and I want to extend my gratitude to all the students, parents, and staff for making it smooth and enjoyable. Each grade level had the valuable opportunity to review the Prince George's County Public Schools Students' Rights and Responsibilities. It's crucial for our students to understand their rights and responsibilities, shaping them into responsible scholars. Please ensure the acknowledgment forms are returned no later than Tuesday, December 5, 2023, to their respective classroom teachers.
Winter Testing
This week marks the commencement of our Winter Testing phase for the NWEA MAP for Reading, Math, and Science. This assessment helps us gauge our student's progress and tailor our support to their individual needs. Your encouragement and support during this time are incredibly appreciated. Communication has been posted in Class Dojo as well
OLSAT TAG Identification
Additionally, next week will see 4th graders taking the OLSAT TAG identification process for students. This evaluation aims to identify and support students with exceptional abilities and talents who may not have been identified in 1st grade in PGCPS. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding as we undertake this important process.
Student Conduct and Respect
A gentle reminder to all students: it's vital to keep our hands to ourselves. If a situation arises where a student feels uncomfortable or is touched inappropriately, please encourage them to seek the nearest adult for assistance. We aim to foster an environment where everyone feels safe, respected, and supported.
Thank you for your continuous support and dedication to our school community. Together, we make CMIT South Elementary a nurturing and thriving place for our students to learn and grow.
Sincerely,
Ronald A. Miller, Jr
Principal
Chesapeake Math & IT Academy South Elementary
Please take a look at these November calendar reminders:
12/01-07/23 - Parent 1st Qtr Grade Appeal Window
12/02/23 - Special Education Appreciation Day
12/13/23 - PTO Meeting 6:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m.
12/15/23 - Glow Party (K-2 students Only)
12/16/23 - Open House - 6:30 p.m. -8:00 p.m.
12/25-29/23 - Winter Break & Christmas – Schools and Offices Closed
Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation (CLF) is offering CMIT South ES scholars at-home Math tutoring by Carnegie Learning. This resource will help students excel in their math studies for students in grades 2-5. Scholars will access tutoring by logging into their PGCPS Clever, choosing the Littera Education tutoring app, and clicking Join Session at their chosen start time. Tutoring commenced in October 2023 and will continue until January 2024, spanning a total of 10 weeks.
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.
The “Lost and Found” collection bin is located in the cafeteria. Any found articles (coats, hats, gloves, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc.) are placed in the bin. Found small items (keys, glasses, jewelry) are stored in the Main Office. Students may check the “Lost and Found” for lost items before or after school, or during lunch. All items left unclaimed at the end of each academic quarter are donated to charities or are discarded. Parents are strongly encouraged to label all belongings with first and last names.
In November 2020, PGCPS launched an online volunteer application and approval process. Click here for more information on becoming a volunteer and to access the application.
Birthdays are so much fun to celebrate with classmates. However, during the school day, the health and safety of each student are important, especially students with food allergies. Students are ONLY permitted to bring in NON-FOOD items to distribute to classmates at the end of the school day. Birthday invitations will not be distributed.
Attendance in school each day is important. Let’s stay in school.
In order for an absence to be considered excused, a written note must accompany the student no later than three (3) days after return to school. The note should include:
- date(s) of absence
- scholar’s name
- Reason for absence
Late or make-up work will not be accepted unless the absence is an excused absence. Please review Administrative Procedure 5113 AP 5113 - Student Attendance, Absence and Truancy for further information.
Students who are absent for ten consecutive days will be withdrawn on the 11th day and will need to re-enroll.
Lawful Absences
Students enrolled in public schools are considered lawfully absent from school for any portion of the day, only under the following conditions:
- Death of a family member
- Illness of the student
- Court appearance
- Work approved or sponsored by a school
- Observance of a religious holiday
- State of emergency
- Suspension from school
- Mental Health (Students may receive as an excused absence one (1) day of absence
- in each semester of each school year for a student’s mental health needs.
- Other emergencies
- Deployment-related absences
Unlawful Absences
Unlawful absence – any time a student does not attend school that does not qualify as the above-listed reasons for a lawful absence.
Tardy
Scholars will be officially tardy if they are not in the building at 8:10 a.m.
If your scholar enters the building after the 8:05 a.m. bell, a parent must escort them into the building and electronically sign them in the late arrival portal. Scholars will be given an orange tardy slip to be permitted to class.
Parents of students who have 10 or more tardies in a semester will be required to meet with the principal/designee to discuss the reasons for the tardies and to develop a plan for improvement.
Health Forms
Please be sure to submit all required health forms! Please note that ALL medications, cough drops included, cannot be administered or consumed without appropriate documentation.
You can access all health forms here for the 2023-2024 school year.
School Meals
2023-24 School Year Meal Prices
Elementary (Pre-K through Grade 5)
Breakfast: $1.60/day
Lunch: $2.75/day
How to Pay
MySchoolBucks, owned and operated by Heartland Payment Systems, is an online payment service that provides parents the ability to securely pay for meals, monitor student cafeteria purchases, make tuition payments for Before and After School Extended Learning programs, and receive email notifications for low-account balances. With MySchoolBucks, payments can be made 24/7 using a Visa, MasterCard, Discover, credit or debit card, and mobile app.
Principal Lunch Account
ALL breakfast,lunch, and Principal lunch payments should be made via www.myschoolbucks.com.
All money comes/goes to 1 account (child's). All that is needed to set up account (if not done) is
students lunch pin or student id.
Free and Reduced-Price Meals
We encourage all families to consider applying for free and reduced-price meals! Visit www.myschoolapps.com/Home/PickDistrict to apply online today!
To apply, you will need:
- The name, school, and grade of your school-age children
- The name of all adults living in the home
- Income information for all adults living in the home
- Student ID Numbers for your school-age children
Applications will also be sent home with students the first week of school. Applications are available at all PGCPS schools and can be submitted at any time.
Grade Level Updates
Thank you families for supporting your child with the Family Tree project. It was such a pleasure to see all of your beautiful family members. The projects were so creative and they did a wonderful job presenting information about their relatives. Our December project will be a vision board for the new year. All information will be given with the new homework packet on Monday 12/4.
WINTER CELEBRATION: Our team is working on details to share soon regarding our winter celebration and activities. Next week, we will be sending home information about dates, possible donations items, and details about our festivities. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions.
MAP TESTING:
During the week of December 4, your child will take a Winter MAP® Growth™ test from NWEA® on a computer. MAP Growth scores help teachers check student performance by measuring achievement and growth. Teachers use results to tailor classroom lessons and set goals for students.
MAP Growth tests are unique and adapt to your child’s responses to measure your child’s knowledge. If your child answers a question correctly, the next question is more challenging. If they answer incorrectly, the next one is easier. These results will provide a more complete picture of where your child is on their learning journey— regardless of whether they are on, above, or below their grade level.
Since MAP Growth tests provide immediate and accurate information about your child’s learning, it’s easy for teachers to identify students with similar scores in similar skills and topics and then plan instruction accordingly.
MAP Growth reports also provide typical growth data for students in the same grade and subject with the same starting performance level.
For more information about MAP Growth, visit NWEA.org/familytoolkit.
MAP Growth
Mathematics: Kindergarteners on Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Reading: Kindergarteners on Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Please make sure students come to school with fully charged devices. If they have the headsets please make sure that they come to the school with the headsets as well.
We know our students will do their best! Should you have any questions, please contact the homeroom teacher or the school testing coordinator at fmetin@cmitsouthes.org.
Grade Level Updates
Hello families, Please note the content for next week. Help build background knowledge by supporting learning at home. It’s getting colder-please label jackets and scarves and mittens.
MAP Testing next week: Please send students to school every day.
Thank you for partnering with CMIT Elementary Charter School.
Reading Updates:
Students are learning to demonstrate mastery in:
Understanding the characteristics and structures of informational texts. Fluency, and using text evidence to support responses.
High-Frequency Words: blue from think, use
Spelling/Phonics: Consonant blends (final)
Genre: Informational text
Oral Vocabulary: nature, notice, reason, pattern
Math Updates:
Using different types of strategies to strategies to solve subtraction problems within 20.Vocabulary: open number line, doubles, plus facts
Science Updates:
Describe the sun, moon, and stars
Vocabulary: star, sun, gravity
Social Studies Updates:
Choosing Leaders
Vocabulary: vote, democracy, ballot
Health Updates:
Prepare a variety of healthy meals using food groups
Vocabulary: fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, dairy
Grade Level Updates
We are continuing to push through 2nd grade. Just a heads up that students will be taking the winter administration of MAP testing for math, reading, and science next week. Please make sure students are on time to school daily with the appropriate materials. They will need a fully charged Chromebook and headphones to complete these tests.
Please consider donating to your homeroom teacher classroom using our 2nd grade Amazon Wishlist https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2SDBVI8DYV9EC?ref_=wl_share
Reading Updates:
We are currently in Unit 2 Week 5 focusing on Informational Text. We will be diving into the story Amazing Migration Butterflies, Bats and Birds looking for text features and key ideas. When reading at home please start identifying text features and key details with your scholar.
Math Updates:
Many classes are in Topic 4- Fluently adding within 100. Please utilize the optional homework packet and your homeroom teacher's CANVAS site for additional support in excelling in this topic. Refer to your child’s homeroom teacher and class dojo site for a testing date.
Boddle assignments are due every Friday. Students should be answering 10 questions nightly for a total of 40 by Friday. Boddle participation will be graded. Please check to ensure your scholar is completing their work.
Science Updates:
Many classes are wrapping up Topic 2 - Changing Matter and will be moving on to Topic 3 - Earth's Land and Water
Social Studies Updates:
Many classes are wrapping up Topic 2 - People, Places and Nature and will be moving on to Topic 3 - Government
Health Updates:
The focus for December is a healthy heart. Students will read all about how to keep their heart healthy!
Grade Level Updates
Another week is in the books! Just a heads up that students will be taking the winter administration of MAP testing for math, reading, and science next week Tuesday, December 5th-Thursday, December 7th. Please make sure students are on time to school daily with the appropriate materials. They will need a fully charged Chromebook and headphones to complete these tests.
Reading Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: We also finished talking about Myths and was able to read "The Golden Flower." While we read we were able to analyze and identify how the author uses Descriptive Language. Next week we will continue you talk about Descriptive Language and how it adds to a story and start applying this knowledge to build out our first draft for our narratives.
Mathews/Madison:
Unit 1 Week 5
Genre: Myth
Story: The Golden Flower
3.4 Spelling List
Parts of Speech
Visualizing
Next week in Reading: Unit 1 Week 5 Review and Quiz
Continue with Parts of speech focus on Proper and Common Nouns
Prepare for the Unit 1 assessment
Writing Workshop: Revising and Editing
Math Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: We have officially started Topic 5 which focuses on fluently multiplying and dividing within 100. There will not be a Pick-a-Project for this topic. But 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.
Mathews/Madison:
Science Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: We are nearing the end of Topic 3 studying Weather. I am going to push back the Topic 3 assessment back to Tuesday, December 12th. Please be on the lookout for the Topic 3 study guide next week and use that to study next week for homework.
Mathews/Madison:
STEM Fair: Students should have submitted their questions, hypotheses, materials, procedures, and variables at this point. Please be on the lookout for feedback on these components from your child’s teacher. Students should also begin working on their research papers. A reminder that research paper drafts are due November 29th. The final paper is due December 13th. Final projects are due on January 17th. Happy experimenting!
Social Studies Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: This Week In Social Studies we wrapped up Chapter 2 with a Chapter review to be returned next week to study for the upcoming Social Studies assessment. The assessment will be the study guide so please make sure we are studying exactly what is on the study guide.
Mathews/Madison:
Chapter 1 Lesson 4 How people affect the environment
Next week:
Lesson 4 Review and Quiz Synthesizing and Using Primary Sources Begin preparing for Chapter 1 Assessment
Health Updates:
The focus for December is community health. Students will describe the community, and helpful behaviors that impact your community, and identify how environmental problems can hurt a community.
Grade Level Updates
We have finished our tremendous thirteenth week of school! We hope you all had a restful and thankful Thanksgiving. The fourth-grade team appreciates all the support that our families have shown this year. Next week we will have our Winter Administration of MAP diagnostic testing. This testing is to see standards that are the areas of growth and areas of concern for our students. As always please ensure that your scholar is present and on time to school with a charged device because the diagnostic is computer-based. Testing will happen Monday- Wednesday with the homeroom teacher. Please check your scholar’s agenda book nightly for updates on homework and notes from the teachers. Finally please label all of your scholar’s belongings in case something is misplaced throughout the day.
Fourth Grade Reminders:
As the weather changes, students must come to school prepared for outdoor recess or outdoor P.E. A suggestion would be to dress scholars in layers so they can remove outer layers as they get warmer.
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.
If your scholar is absent, please share a note with the homeroom teacher within 3 days of your scholar returning to school. For students to receive make-up work you must provide a note stating; the student’s name, the date of absence, and the reason for absence. Work is provided to students upon their return to school with an absence note.
Each week we suggest checking your scholar's browser history and YouTube history. This is to make sure that your scholar isn’t going to a site or watching videos that you would not approve of. Teachers are limited to only seeing activity on your scholar’s screen when they are in class. We utilize a system called Hapara that allows us to prevent access to certain sites. We are asking that you check your scholar's computer history weekly.
Reading Updates:
This week: Students closed out our first text in Unit 2 “Adaptations” by completing a quiz on the text. Students also created diagrams of bird feathers and determined the causes and effects of feathers. Finally, students completed an opinion essay that had them determine and explain the most important feather adaptations.
Next week: Students will begin the second text in Unit 2, “Animal Mimics.” In this text, students will read about how animals mimic or copy other animals or their environment to survive. Students will also identify the differences between mimicries. This week we will work on the skill of close reading, monitoring our inner conversations, text structure, and vocabulary.
Math Updates:
This week students began exploring Topic 3 “Using Strategies and Properties to Multiply by 1 Digit Number” Topic 3-1” Multiply by multiples of 10, 100, 1000” In this subtopic, students will learn to find the products of multiples of 10, 100, 1000 using mental math and place value strategies. Students Pick a Project assignments are due next week (Felton Monday, December 4, Holloway Friday, December 8). Please review the Topic 2 assessment with your student.
Please be sure to review assignments with students
(assessments, classwork, and independent assignments)
Please check Schoolmax and Canvas with your scholar to ensure completion of assignments.
Science Updates:
In Science this week and the following, students will explore how energy moves through Electric Circuits! We will continue exploring Electric Circuits as we wrap up Topic 1.
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. We got many, but not all. Be sure to have your scholar submit before the cut-off date.
STEM FAIR Video Presentations are due December 13, 2023. Final STEM FAIR Projects are due Wednesday, January 17, 2024.
Social Studies Updates:
This week: Students began reading Lesson 2: A New Nation and explained how the United States grew out of the English colonies and became an independent nation.
Next week: Students will begin reading Lesson 3:Growth and Civil War and describe how the growth of and changes in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century affected American Indians and forever changed the country.
Grade Level Updates
Hi everyone!
We are moving right along in quarter 2 in 5th grade! We are already almost at progress reports if you can believe it! 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 are starting a new month of December, and we are focusing on our new 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 are finishing our story which is an informational text called “A Place for Frogs.” We also have our spelling words on -ble, -sion, and -tion.
Math Updates:
Students are in the third unit of Math which is about multiplying multi-digit whole numbers. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!
Science Updates:
Students are finishing the first unit of Science, about the properties of matter. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!
Social Studies Updates:
We’re onto chapter 3 about settling the colonies in North America and we finished up section 2 this week about English colonies!
Health Updates:
Students are in the first unit of Health which is about first aid.
Updates from the Art Room!
Below you will find a photo of works in progress from all grade levels!
Kindergarten: Learning that everything can be drawn with shapes by creating a portrait using shapes.
First grade: Learning how to use oil pastels by creating buildings using shapes.
Second grade: Learning about mirror symmetry and organic and geometric shapes by creating name monsters.
Third grade: Learning about four color families by creating a piece of Pop Art.
Fourth grade: Learning about color families and how to make viewers of your art feel a certain emotion by creating a painting using specific colors.
Fifth grade: Learning about facial proportions and drawing people from observation by creating self-portraits.
Updates from Lego
Hello,
This week in Legos, the students continued with their Lego movie and they also started to build their beautiful Winter Wonderland!
CHESAPEAKE MATH AND IT SOUTH ELEMENTARY
• Hours: 8:00 a.m to 2:25 p.m
• Grades: K-5
• Uniform: Yes
• Before After School Enrichment: Yes
http://clfmd.org/enrichment-2/
• School Colors: Hunter Green, Navy Blue
• School Mascot: Tigers
• School Website: http://www.cmitsouthes.org
For more information
CMITs offer high tech, STEAM education to all our Prince George’s County students grades K-5!
In partnership with students, parents and the community, CMIT Elementary School will attain educational excellence by providing a rigorous and technology-integrated education for elementary school students with an emphasis on mathematics, science, and information technologies.