

CMIT South Elementary School
Week of November 27, 2022

Friday, January 20, 2023
Principal's Desk
Greetings Tiger Family,
We are about to end the 2nd quarter and start the 3rd quarter. On Wednesday, January 25, 2023 Students will have a Virtual Asynchronous day with a 2-hour early dismissal. This means there will be no live instruction and students will remain at home to complete assignments until 12:25 pm. When students return to the building on Thursday, January 26, 2023, we will be focusing on having strong attendance during the 3rd quarter as we complete testing and prepare for our site visit for charter renewal and upcoming state testing. We will continue maximizing our instructional time through our Perfect Attendance No Tardies (P.A.N.Ts) attendance initiative. Students who during the 3rd quarter from January 26th - March 30th with 1 or fewer absences and/or 3 or fewer tardies will be able to participate in our Spring Extravaganza. We will celebrate their consistency with a fun afternoon of surprises prior to Spring Break. Families, please do your part to make sure your child does not miss out on this opportunity.
We still have limited seats available for Saturday Academy if you would like your 3rd-5th grade student to participate Saturdays from 9 am-11 am please reach out to Mrs. Caple via email at kcaple@cmitsouth.org. Our school thrives from parent support with our intervention programs to boost our student achievement and we need you.
Reminder if you are interested in our Charter Advocacy day please let me know as we need 10 families to represent CMIT South Elementary. More information will be provided but please save the date for February 1, 2023, in Annapolis. If you have any questions please refer to the Advocacy Day FAQ provided at this link below;
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VinkRqvHsS5OKhXhBgp9SoCC8hiVCwiFg3UQ0_uWZ2g/edit?usp=sharing
Sincerely,
Mr. Ronald A. Miller, Jr.
Principal
Chesapeake Math & IT Academy South Elementary
Prince George’s County Public Schools
Weekly Updates
CMIT South Elementary January Themes
Character Theme: Confidence
STEM Theme: Engineering Design Process
“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”―Theodore Roosevelt
Please take note of these January -February calendar reminders:
- Wednesday, Jan. 18th - Feb. 8 Dibels Testing (K-3rd)
- Tuesday, Jan. 24th is the end of the second quarter.
- Wednesday, Jan. 25th is a half-day of asynchronous virtual learning from home for students and a professional day for teachers. Learn more about virtual learning days this school year.
- Friday, February 3, 2023 - College/Greek Day
- Monday, February 6 - Friday, February 10, 2023 -National School Counseling Week
- Tuesday, February 7, 2023 - 100th day of school celebration
- Wednesday, February 8, 2023 - PTO General Meeting - (In-person & Zoom)
- Thursday, February 9, 2023 - Honor Roll Assembly (2nd-3rd grades: 8:30 a.m. and 4th -5th grades: 9:35 a.m.)
- Monday, February 20, 2023 - School Closed Presidents’ Day
- Tuesday, February 21, 2023 - Parent-Teacher Conferences - 2hr delayed opening (10 a.m.)for students
- 2022-2023 SY Calendar
- January 2023 School Lunch Menu
The William S. Schmidt Center is sponsoring a challenge for students to create an original 2-dimensional piece of art that showcases their understanding of and intended action to combat climate change. This year’s challenge theme is: If not you, who? If not now, when? Entry deadline is Friday, Jan. 30!
One winner will be chosen in each division for all three county regions (North, Central and South) for a total of 15 winners:
Division 1: Pre-K - Grade 2
Division 2: Grades 3-5
Division 3: Grades 6-8
Division 4: Grades 9-10
Division 5: Grades 11-12
Entries will be judged on their environmental message, visual presentation and creativity/craftsmanship.
The Sierra Club of Maryland will also award a grand prize for winners in each division, and all winning pieces will be exhibited throughout Prince George’s County during the 2023-2024 school year.
100 Days SMARTER!
To celebrate our 100th day of school on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, we would love to have all of our scholars and staff dress up like they were 100 years old. Below you will find a list of ideas to help you and your scholar start planning for our fun-filled day. Be CREATIVE!
Girls:
- Printed skirt
- Eyeglasses
- gray wig or gray hairspray
- pearls
- curlers
- sweater
- Knee-high stockings
- large purse
- scarf
Boys:
- Button down shirt
- gray hair
- mustache and/or beard
- suspenders
- eyeglasses
- tie or bowtie
- flannel shirt
Remember: masks remain a tool to reduce the spread of illness and vaccinations continue to be the best defense against COVID-19. When children are sick, please keep them home.
Want to send a Shout Out to a Teacher/Staff Member?
Do you want to say thank you or SHOUT-OUT a teacher or staff member for their great job? Complete and submit the SHOUT-OUT Google Form link and it will be shared with the faculty at an upcoming meeting and/or morning announcements.
Parents/Guardians,
It is the weekend.
Thanks for your hard work in ensuring all scholars read, complete homework and study.
The weekend is:-
A great opportunity to extend learning, if only for a little bit.
Begin to plan for and support a study period that extends to the weekend.
30 minutes of practicing skills (IXL) and or reading.
You may even consider the following:-
-having students write about the movies they see
-talk/write about their cartoon characters etc.
-create a menu of weekend dishes
-draw/write about a place that was visited
-write/send thank you cards to members of the family for gifts and favors they received.
Afterward, let the fun begins.
Thank you for supporting student learning and a love of learning to read and write.
Many of you are already doing this and much more so please continue.
New learning is always a GAIN.
Ms. Watkis
Grade Level Updates
Kindergarten
We are very excited for next Friday’s field trip to the National Aquarium! Please let your child’s teacher know if they will need a bagged lunch from the cafeteria staff by Monday. This will help Ms. Voss and her team prepare said meals! If you are not a chaperone and would like to attend, you may meet us at the Aquarium and will need to pay a parking and entrance fee. Additionally, you will still need to pick up your child from our building. Thank you for your understanding!
Reading Updates
This week in reading students will...
- Recognize the difference between a letter and a printed word.
- Use illustrations and texts to learn and clarify word meaning
- Discuss how authors use words to help readers visualize
- Use letter-sound relationships to decode VC, CVC, CCVC, and CVCC words
- Identify and read high-frequency words by sight.
Math Updates
In math we will be...
- Strengthening addition skills by using a variety of strategies to add.
- Working on solving math word problems using multiple addition strategies.
Science Updates
In science, students will be...
- Identifying weather patterns and comparing observations.
- Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.
Social Studies
This week we will...
- Look at jobs/work from long ago. Comparing and contrasting it with jobs from today.
- Recognize that tools make some jobs faster, as well as how tools have changed over time.
Health
1st Grade
First grade is in the midst of planning its next field trip. If you are interested in chaperoning and have not completed the requirements yet, follow the steps below. We look forward to your support.
STEP ONE (Annual Requirement): All volunteers must complete an online volunteer application. All school volunteers must renew their volunteer application every school year. Once approved, your eligibility as an approved volunteer will expire on June 30th of each academic year.
STEP TWO (One-Time Requirement): To ensure safe schools for our students, PGCPS requires a fingerprint background check and Child Protective Services (CPS) clearance for each person who will provide volunteer services more than once each school year. If you are a returning volunteer who has completed both the fingerprint background check and CPS clearance, you are not required to complete this step again.
STEP THREE (Annual Requirement): Once you have completed your online volunteer application, you will receive an email with your unique Volunteer Identification Number (VIN). You will receive an email with a link to log in and complete the required (mandatory) training modules via the SafeSchools platform.
Please click or copy/paste the link below to our school district's website in your website's browser to start the process of becoming a volunteer:
https://offices.pgcps.org/volunteer/cards/Become-a-Volunteer/
Reading Updates
Students will know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
Students will, with guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
Students will use text evidence to support an appropriate response.
Essential Question: How do living things grow and change?
High Frequency Words: into, don’t, know, many, after
Spelling/Phonics: words with long i sound (CVCe)
Genre: Drama
Vocabulary Words: nature, notice, reason, pattern
Math Updates
Students will find the missing number in an equation to make it true.
Vocabulary: equation, true, false
Science Updates
Students will explain why days have different lengths during different seasons
Vocabulary: season
Social Studies Updates
Students will locate and identify continents and oceans on maps and globes.
Vocabulary: plain, ocean, continent
Health
Students will identify personal safety rules for various situations.
Vocabulary: private
2nd Grade
Hello Second Grade Families! Our team has just a few updates and reminders for the coming week.
Quarter two ends Tuesday, January 24th. Please be sure to check SchoolMax for up-to-date grades and information.
Students will have a ½ day asynchronous learning day on Wednesday, January 25th. Students will be provided a work packet, which will also be posted on CANVAS.
Aside from make-up testing, we are officially through the testing season!
Students are invited to bring in valentines to exchange with their friends on Valentine’s Day. We will dedicate a short amount of time at the end of our day to exchanging valentines. To help this process go smoothly, please have your student write only their names on the valentine. Do not write individual student names.
Reading Updates
This week in reading we are continuing to explore traditional tales. We will focus predominantly on legends. We will be working to make personal, textual, and societal connections to the author's purpose. Our phonics focus will be on comparative endings (example: big, bigger, biggest).
Math Updates
In math we are beginning to subtract within 100. Students will learn a variety of strategies to help them do this. Consider practicing at home. Please also check CANVAS for additional practice opportunities and consider completing the optional homework packet sent.
Science Update
Students will begin learning about Earth’s water and land.
Social Studies
Students will begin chapter 4. In this chapter, students will learn about the people who provide our goods and services.
Health
In health, students are focusing on nutrition. They are learning to distinguish healthful and less healthful foods. They are learning to take care of their bodies with the foods they eat.
3rd Grade
Hi everyone!
A reminder that this upcoming week, we have an asynchronous day on Wednesday! Teachers will post assignments for students to complete that morning. It is a half day on an asynchronous day so students will have work to complete in that 8:00-12:25 timeframe. Please make sure students are completing the required assignments.
We had a very busy week this week continuing testing! We took the winter term of the IReady test and we are working on completing the DIBELS test for reading as well!
Also, you should have received your child’s MAP Reading and Math scores at this point so if you did not, please contact your teacher. We are proud of how hard our students have tried on the recent tests! Please keep an eye out on Class Dojo for IReady and DIBELS scores getting sent out soon!
Please make sure students have the supplies they need for school each day (pencils, scissors, colors, etc.)! Also, make sure you are sending students to school with proper jackets for the cold weather. If it is above 32 degrees, there is always a chance that we will go outside for recess.
We closed out Q2 this week, so report cards will be coming out very shortly! Let’s go into Q3 strong by up with our assignments!
Reading Updates
We have been busy taking 3 different standardized tests recently! (MAP R, IReady, and DIBELS) This upcoming week, students will be continuing Unit 2 about interactions and discussing informational texts! Students will also be working on their spelling words for the section we are on. We are practicing how to use synonyms and antonyms as well as r-controlled vowels. Our last story for reading comprehension was “Patterns in Nature,” and we are into our next story “Weird Friends.” These stories focus on the essential question of how living things interact and support each other in their environments.
Math Updates
We took the MAP M recently for math. This upcoming week, students will be continuing on in math on multiplication properties. A test on this unit will come in the next few weeks!
Science Update
Students should be receiving grades on their STEM Fair projects in the coming weeks. Students will also be working on forces in motion in the next week.
Social Studies Update
Students will be continuing on in Social Studies in Chapter 2 talking about types of resources and economic choices while knowing the difference between wants and needs. We are coming close to the end of Chapter 2 so we will start reviewing for a chapter test in the coming weeks. Study guides will be provided on Canvas for students to use. We also took some time this past week to learn about MLK following the holiday last Monday!
Health
We are working on positive attitudes!
4th Grade
Happy Friday Tiger Parents,
We have wrapped up week 20 and we have gotten so much accomplished. MAP Math & Reading has ended and scholars have completed iReady Reading Diagnostic this week as well. 2nd Quarter is coming to an end on January 24, 2023. Please refer to SchoolMax to remain informed with up-to-date scholar performance.
Sections 41 & 42 Update
Sections 41 & 42:
Reading: This week the students completed the Winter i-Ready diagnostic. We also began reading our new story called “Minn of the Mississippi.” In this story, we will learn about how a turtle survives living on the Mississippi River. We worked on the skills of close reading, monitoring our inner conversations, and elements of a narrative. This story will help us gather more information to answer our guiding question of “H” Next week we will continue to read our story closely. We will work on context clues, story elements, and character traits. Students will take their Spelling Quiz on Friday, January 27, 2023, and their Minn of the Mississippi Assessment on Thursday, January 26, 2023.
Scholastic Book Club Flyers have been sent home, if you would like to purchase books for your children please use the link below to order. Remember with a $ 25 order, you can pick a FREE $ Book (use code: READS).
Class Order Due Date: 02/03/23
Shop Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/MF27J
Math: This week’s instruction was dedicated to a continued review of our first few lessons of Topic 4 and reviewing test-taking strategies. Next week, we will complete our Topic 4 Assessment on Monday, January 23, 2023. Topic 1-4 Benchmark will be given on Friday, January 27, 2023. We will also begin Topic 5: Use Strategies & Properties to Divide by 1-Digit Numbers. Home Connection letters have been sent home.
Science: This week, scholars moved on to our final lesson in our Topic 2: Human Uses for Energy. We will discuss the environmental impacts of energy use. Scholars described how the use of different natural energy resources affects the local and global environments, and evaluate how technology can improve environmental effects. The Topic 2 Assessment will be given on Monday, January 23, 2023. Topic 3 will begin next week and we will be discussing Waves and Information, involving light and sound waves as well as wave travel and frequencies.
Social Studies: This week we will begin Chapter 3 which will explore the government in the United States. Students explored the founding documents “The Declaration of Independence” and the “Bill of Rights.” Students identified how these documents affect their lives and how their lives would be different without these documents. Next week students will explore the three branches of government and the responsibilities of each branch. They will also identify the titles of the people in each branch.
Sections 43 & 44 Update
Sections 43 & 44
Reading: This week in reading workshop we read “Animal Mimics”. In this story, students learned how animals use mimicry to adapt to their environment from predators. This week we worked on cause/effect, main idea and supporting details, and vocabulary in the text. Friday we had our quiz on text, vocabulary, and spelling.
Math: This week we completed working on Topics 3-5 More use of Area Model and Partial Products to multiply and began working in sections 3-6 Mental Math Strategies for multiplication.
By the end of this section, students will be able to use mental strategies based on place value and properties of operations to multiply.
Please remember to check and sign your students' agenda books as well as review Savvas and Canvas with your student.
Science: This week students continued presenting their long-awaited and highly anticipated STEM FAIR Projects. Next week we will begin Lesson 4 Environmental Impacts on Energy Use. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe how the use of different natural energy resources affects the local and global environment.,
Social Studies: In social studies this week, we focused on finishing Chapter 2 Lesson 5. We talked about the transcontinental railroad and other transportation systems in the growth of the United States. We talked about immigrants and their impact on the United States. We ended the week talking about the causes and effects of World War I and World War II. Next week, we will begin our Chapter 2 project on an American that had a great influence on our history. Students will select a person and gather information about that person. They will compose a speech for their person for a presentation to the class.
5th Grade
This week, we will be working on reviewing classroom routines since we will be condensing them down into 3 sections. Going forward, Mr. Rowland will be the 5th-grade RELA teacher, Ms. Thomas will be the Mathematics teacher, and Ms. Jenkins will be the Science/Social Studies/Health teacher. If your student didn’t opt into virtual last year, the schedule will be very similar to the 3-class rotation they had in 4th grade. On Monday, we will review classroom rules and routines, figure out seating arrangements, and ensure that each student feels at home in their new classroom. On Wednesday, January 25, 2023, we will be asynchronous. Students will have a short assignment to complete online. We will be holding a “Back 2 School pt. 2” Zoom for parents from 8a-9a where we will reintroduce the whole team and give a rundown of how the schedule is broken up and how the student day will look going forward. This will be a great opportunity for parents to ask any questions that they may have going forward. Look for the zoom link on Dojo Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning. On Thursday and Friday, we will be going back to more typical instructional days for students. They will receive instruction from all 3 teachers and rotate through their classes.
Reading Update
This week, in reading, we will not be doing a spelling test because of the odd schedule and where we are in the unit. We will be getting Unit 3, Reflections, kicked off and survey the unit before we start with Week 1. Students will be reflecting on their own experiences and making connections to the experiences that the characters we meet during this unit go through. Mr. Rowland will be conferencing with each student 1-on-1 to review MAP-R and iReady midyear diagnostic scores to motivate students toward achieving their potential on the end of year assessments as well as MCAP testing. Students will be creating a data wall within the classroom to reflect their growth and achievement and we will be talking about what the trends in each class’ data means we need to be focusing on as a class, but also as individuals.
Math Update
This upcoming week in Math, we will be working on a review of Topics 1-4. This will include the following skills; place value system, comparing decimals to thousandths, using place value to round decimals to any place, multiplying and dividing multi-digit whole numbers with decimals to the hundredths, and fluently multiplying multi-digit numbers using the standard algorithm.
Science Update
This week in Science, we will be continuing on with the water cycle.
Social Studies Update
In Social Studies, we will be moving onto Chapter 4. This week will be an introduction of the chapter and we will be completing Lesson 1.
Health
Our monthly focus this month is having healthy hearts! Find ways at home that you can keep your heart healthy by exercising, eating healthy, and taking time to destress at the end of a long day!
CARTS
A message from PE!
This week, each grade was doing a lesson on nutrition. The focus for each grade level is listed below.
K = focused on recognizing that food provides energy for physical activity.
1st = focused on knowing the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods.
2nd = focused on recognizing the good healthy balance of nutrition and physical activity.
3rd = focused on foods that are beneficial before and after physical activity.
4th = focused on the importance of hydration as it pertains to physical activity.
5th = focused on the impact food choices have on you pertaining to physical activity, sports, and general health.
Mr. Parham
PGCPS SCHOOL LOTTERY
CHARTER SCHOOL LOTTERY OPEN NOV 1 - FEB 10
The PGCPS lottery for specialty programs and charter schools is now open until February 10th. Siblings receive preference BUT must still apply to the lottery.
FAQ
CHESAPEAKE MATH AND IT SOUTH ELEMENTARY
• Hours: 8:00am to 2:15pm
• 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.