CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary Community,

As we approach the final stretch of the year, it's with immense pleasure that I share the fantastic news of our school's continued success and achievements.

This past week has been one of celebration and pride as we received the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) state report card and star ranking. I'm thrilled to announce that we've maintained our prestigious four-star ranking! Not only have we sustained this remarkable achievement, but we've also shown incremental improvement in our overall points. It's a testament to the hard work and dedication of our incredible students, supportive families, and our outstanding faculty and staff.

Last year, our students showcased remarkable accomplishments, and I couldn't be prouder of their achievements. The dedication they displayed throughout the 2022-2023 academic year reflects their commitment to excellence. As we look forward to the upcoming Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP) this spring in 2024, I'm confident that our students will continue to shine and exceed expectations.

This week was especially exciting as we welcomed Mr. Ak, our esteemed CEO at CLF, who visited our school. His presence was inspiring, and his encouragement reaffirmed our commitment to providing the best education for our students. We're honored to have such visionary leadership guiding our educational endeavors.

Our success is a result of a collective effort, and I extend my heartfelt appreciation to our dedicated educators for their unwavering support and commitment to our student's growth. Let's continue that dedication to hard work and constant improvement by utilizing two free programs for students by registering at the links below. We have less than 50 spaces remaining for online math Tutoring and several spaces remaining for in-person Saturday tutoring.

Saturday Academy for 3-5 grade students - Link

Carnegie Learning Math Tutoring for 2-5 grade students - Link

As we head into the holiday season, let's carry this spirit of achievement and enthusiasm forward. Together, let's continue to inspire and empower our students to reach new heights of success.

Sincerely,

Ronald A. Miller, Jr

Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy South Elementary

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.

Reading Updates: Learning goals will include: rhythm, repetition, and alliteration in a variety of poems. Reading with fluency will continue. Using text evidence to support an appropriate response. Essential Question: How do living things grow and change?

HFW: all, goes, her, make, too. Spelling: Words with digraphs /sh/ /th/

Please use the additional resources below to support student learning.

Reminder: Work on the STEM projects over the break.

Thursday, December 21, 1st Grade will celebrate a Winter party. Teachers will share information. For more information please see the H/W packet.

Math Updates: Counting back to subtract/using the number line. Other math skills are ongoing. Please provide time for scholars to practice math skills at home.

Science Updates: Students will describe the sun, the moon, and the stars. (Star, sun, students read and create gravity

Social Studies Updates: Using maps to locate and identify places. (Maps, direction, absolute location, and cardinal location).

Health Updates: Differentiate between things a person should and should not do when ill (Medicine).

Hello Second Grade Families! We are SO CLOSE to Winter Break! Let’s finish this week strong!

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1. We will celebrate our hard work with a Winter Party on Thursday, December 21st. Students should come in their CMIT Uniform. They will rotate through different activities in each second-grade class. Please reach out to your scholar’s teacher to see how you can help, be sure to submit permission slips for participation, and consider donating through our Amazon Wishlist!

Parent Letter

Amazon List

1. Medicine, of any sort (including cough drops) should not be sent to school with students. ANY medicine needs to be given directly to the nurse with a medication form completed by your child's doctor.

2. Please continue to check SchoolMax for up-to-date grades. We are halfway through the second quarter!

Reading Updates:

This week we will wrap up Unit 2 and complete our unit test. We will begin Unit 3, after break, which focuses on our traditions.

This week, we will finish working with compound words. There will not be a new spelling packet this week.

Math Updates:

We are beginning Topic 5 in Math– Subtracting within 100. Please be sure to check Canvas daily for additional resources to practice.

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. After the break, we will be implementing math homework differently. Please stay tuned for an update, regarding homework, from your scholar’s teacher.

Science Updates:

We are working on Topic 3 - Earth's Land and Water. Please utilize our CANVAS site for review material as we dive into this topic.

STEM Fair is due Monday, January 17th. Consider taking time over break to work on the video component and mandatory STEM Fair board.

Social Studies Updates:

We are working on Topic 3 - Government. Please utilize our CANVAS site for review material as we dive into this topic.

Health Updates:

The focus for December is a Healthy Heart. Students will read all about how to keep their hearts healthy!

Mrs. Mathew's RELA/Social Studies classes are progressing through the curriculum at a steady pace in her absence. This week's focus revolves around informational text, specifically emphasizing the Main Idea and supporting details. The featured story for this week is "Patterns in Nature," and students actively engaged in assessing their comprehension through a check for understanding. Additionally, they were required to extract three key details from the story and discuss them with the whole group.

To enhance language skills, spelling words were distributed to students on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, either in their agenda book or reading journal (for those without their agenda book). A spelling test is scheduled for Wednesday, December 20, 2023. The spelling words are:

1. total

2. digit

3. human

4. minus

5. defend

6. finish

7. equal

8. salad

9. famous

10. talent

Bonus challenge word - library

In Social Studies students are focusing on Chapter 2; Economics emphasizing Goods and Services and Types of Resources. The essential statement students are focusing on I will know how goods and services have changed over time and where goods are produced.

In the upcoming week- Mrs. Mathews' classes will continue to learn about Informational text with a focus on the Main Idea and supporting details. Don't forget the Spelling Test on Wednesday, December 20, 2023 In Social studies students will continue to explore Economics.

Math Updates: This week in math we…

Fleet/Lewis: 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: Students will continue with Topic 6 for math on Monday (Connecting Area to Multiplication and Addition).

Science Updates: This week in science we…

Mathews/Madison: Students will continue learning about topic 3 (Weather)

Health Updates:

The focus for December is community health. Students will describe community, and helpful behaviors that impact your community, and identify how environmental problems can hurt a community.

We have finished our fantastic fifteenth week of school! We have concluded our CogAt testing which was only for fourth graders. We still have a few makeups to do and those will occur this upcoming week. Progress report grades have also been published and are available for viewing through Schoolmax. Friday, December 22, 2023, will be a dress-down day for all students. Scholars are not permitted to wear Crocs and are still expected to follow the county dress code for students on any dress-down days.

On Thursday, December 21, 2023, the Fourth Grade will have a winter party! We thank you to all those who have volunteered to donate treats to our class for the party. Please know that if you were unable to sign up for a slot you can still donate towards the party. If you would like to donate to the party please reach out to your scholar’s homeroom teacher. We ask that all donations for the party arrive at school on Thursday, December 21, 2023, as we do not have the space to hold materials for longer than 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. In order 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 brought a close to our second story of Unit 2 “Adaptations.” In the text “Animal Mimics” students explored different ways that animals survive in their environment by using something called mimicry. Students were able to identify different creatures that use mimicry and the differences between them. Students completed a text quiz and spelling quiz to close out the week.

Next week: Students will receive support for their STEM research papers. Reading teachers will be conferencing with students and providing feedback on rough drafts that have been submitted. Time will also be spent helping students begin their projects. We will also discuss how to conduct research and how to determine if the source is credible. Over the Winter Break students will have a reading activity to complete. All students who complete

Math Updates:

This week students explored multiplying whole numbers using a variety of strategies. Using subsections 3-3, 3-4 and 3-5 students learned about multiplying 2 digit by 1 digit and 3 digit by 1 digit whole numbers using standard algorithm, array model, and the area model. Next week we will continue to practice these strategies in preparation for the Topic 3 test after returning from Winter break.

Please check Schoolmax and Canvas with your scholar to ensure completion of assignments.

Science Updates:

In Science this week we will be taking the Topic 1 Test covering the Energy and Motion topic.

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 (Felton and Crusoe). We got many, but not all. Be sure to have your scholar submit before the cut-off date.

Final STEM FAIR Projects are due Wednesday January 17, 2024.

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students explained how Thomas Jefferson made important contributions to the early history of the United States, analyzed the history of Maryland, and described one event that happened during the late 1700s or early 1800s that changed America.

Next week: Students will begin reading Growth and Civil War and describe how the growth of the United States had deep divisions that led to the Civil War.

Health Updates:

In health we are wrapping Let’s Talk about Teeth with our Unit Quiz before we move into our next unit. I hope you’ve been brushing!

Hi everyone!

We are moving right along in quarter 2 in 5th grade! Progress reports are here! 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

A 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 will be having our small celebration in class next Thursday, December 21st to celebrate the holidays/winter break before everyone leaves for a break! We can only have celebrations in the afternoons AFTER lunch, so we will be starting around 12:30 pm! We are asking for any food/drink donations for the celebration that can easily be passed out to students (i.e. cookies, individually wrapped items, cupcakes, etc.) We have 25-27 students in each class so snacks should be able to serve the whole class. You do not have to send in anything at all, but we appreciate all donations! Please be sure to check and make sure you do not send anything with NUTS as we have students with allergies. Things with nuts in the ingredients will not be passed out. Please check the class dojo to let us know what you'd like to bring so we can try to make sure we have a variety of items. Send us a message if you have any questions, and thanks so much; we can't wait to celebrate!

We are in December, and we are focusing on our 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 a realistic fiction called “From Hatchet.” We also have our spelling words on r-controlled vowels.

Math Updates:

Students are in the fifth unit of Math which is about division. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!

Science Updates:

Students are working on the third unit of Science, about the biosphere and geosphere. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!

Social Studies Updates:

We’re finishing up chapter 3 about settling the colonies in North America and we are taking our chapter 3 assessment next week!

Health Updates:

Students are in the second unit of Health.

Lego:

This week in Legos, the students continued with their movies, they worked on editing stop, and still motion. They also continued to build the Winter Wonderland display. We discussed the characteristics of a community.

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