CMIT South Elementary School

Greetings Tiger Family,

As 2023 is off to a roaring start we want to finish the 2nd quarter off strong. The end of the quarter will be January 25, 2023, which is our Asynchronous day with a 2-hour early dismissal for all students as they are home virtually. The 3rd quarter will begin Thursday and start our P.A.N.Ts attendance initiative. We want students in school on time each day. Students can only have 1 absence and only 3 tardies to qualify to attend our Spring Extravaganza at the end of the 3rd quarter. Families, we encourage you to be diligent in your routine, having your students arrive before our 8:00 am start time each day. We will be monitoring late arrivals and late pick-ups closely for the second semester as we will maximize our instructional time as we have entered our Winter testing sessions through to our Spring testing sessions.

Thank you for all of your support and involvement as we have over 100 volunteers who have completed the process through PGCPS to volunteer at CMIT South Elementary, Middle, or High. If you have been approved please work with the classroom teacher to verify when your assistance is needed in the classroom. If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to me or Assistant Principals, Mrs. Watkis, or Ms. Lewis.

Saturday Academy has begun in person at CMIT South Elementary. Our scholars will engage with Reading and Math Common Core Standards each Saturday from 9-11 am. Please drop off/pick up your child on the back side of the school (same side as drop-off/pick-up). They will enter through the cafeteria doors. Reminder, drop off time is at 9:00 am and pick up time is at 11:00 am.

The dates of our Saturday Academy are as follow unless you are notified of any last-minute changes If you would like your 3-5 grade student to participate please contact Mrs. Kaisha Caple at Kcaple@cmitsouth.org:

January 7, 14, 21, 28

February 4, 11, 18, 25

March 4, 11, 18, 25

April 15, 29

May 6,13, 20

We look forward to the incredible learning experience our instructors and scholars will have.

Sincerely,

Ronald A. Miller, Jr

Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy South Elementary

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 calendar reminders:

• Monday, Jan 2nd - Friday, Jan. 20th - Joe Corbi Pizza Fundraiser

• Monday, Jan. 16th - Schools and offices are closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

• Tuesday, Jan. 17th - iReady Assessment (K-5th)

• 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.

• 2022-2023 SY Calendar

• January 2023 School Lunch Menu

Family Information Sessions: Supporting Your Scholar at Home with i-Ready-These sessions are designed to help families engage with i-Ready to support students at home. Families will learn more about i-Ready and it is core components: how it works, how students will use it, and resources to support students.

Register online for one of the eight sessions below by clicking on the time link. Select either Jan. 17 or Jan. 18 on the registration form. Families will receive a confirmation email with details on how to join their session.

Jan. 17th or Jan. 18th

12 p.m. Session

3 p.m. Session

6 p.m. Session

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.

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,

Home is an extension of student learning. Please schedule students’ participation in online learning at home. There are different platforms such as IXL. The IXL platform supports learning across all content areas. The chart above shows students’ participation so far.

Thanks for your consistency in supporting our scholars’ academic performance.

Respectfully,

Ms. Watkis

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.

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.

Students will identify personal safety rules for various situations.

Vocabulary: private

This week is a little whacky with a short week and DIBELS testing. In RELA, we have decided to continue Unit 3 Week 1. Students will continue to read traditional tales, specifically fables. They will explore the elements of fables and determine the central message, or lesson to be learned. In phonics, students will continue to practice with long vowel /i/ spelled ie, igh, i_e, and y.

Students are wrapping up topic four and beginning topic five. In this topic, students will learn strategies for subtracting within 100. To practice and support classroom efforts, please consider completing optional homework pages sent, reviewing daily review worksheets sent home, and setting time aside for related IXL and DreamBox lessons.

This week in science, we are finishing up changes in matter. In topic 3, students will be exploring Earth’s water and land. They will learn to describe Earth’s surface, the water on Earth, and how to map land and water.

Students are wrapping up topic three in social studies. They have been learning about rules and laws. They have explored the components of government and about important documents such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

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.

This upcoming week, students will be continuing on in Unit 2 about interactions 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 recent story for reading comprehension was “Patterns in Nature,” and we are moving 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.

Students will be continuing on in math on multiplication properties. A test on this unit will come in the next few weeks!

Great job to those who turned in all components of their STEM Fair projects this past week! You did it! Students will receive grades on their projects in the coming weeks. Students will also be working on forces in motion in the next week.

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.

Happy New Year Tiger Parents,

We have wrapped up week 19 and Week 20 is here! This week scholars were given the Winter MAP Math and Reading assessment. Teachers will be providing reports for families to review current scores and measure their child’s growth. Be on the lookout for that distribution from your student’s content teacher. 2nd Quarter closes on January 24, 2023. This means we are nearly halfway through the 20-23 school year. We thank you for your continued support and dedication to your child’s success by remaining abreast of deadlines and assignments, as well as communicating with us educators. Just a reminder that schools are closed on Monday, January 16th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Reading: This week we brought a close to our story “Animal Mimics” by writing about the text features given in the text. We also created an informational slideshow to show our learning from the text. In the story, we learned how creatures use mimicry in order to survive. Next week we will begin to read a new story called “Minn of the Mississippi.” In this story, we will learn about how a turtle survives living on the Mississippi River. We will work 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 “How do adaptations help animals survive?”

*On Wednesday, January 18, 2023, students will be taking their i-Ready Diagnostic in their reading class. This is another diagnostic assessment to see students' gains in reading during the first two quarters. Please ensure that students come to school rested, with a fully charged Chromebook. *

Math: This week’s instruction was dedicated to reviewing our first few lessons of Topic 4 and reviewing test-taking strategies. Next week, we will wrap up the final lesson of the unit and review for the Topic 4 Assessment, which is scheduled for Friday, January 20, 2023. Please review all of Topic 4's Lesson Notes and Lesson Resources posted in Canvas in preparation for the test.

(How to Find: Math Canvas --> Modules --> Topic 4)

Science: Great job to those who submitted their STEM Fair Presentations and Videos this week. I have seen a great deal of creativity and hard work. Grades will be entered for all presentations and videos by Friday, January 20, 2023. This week, scholars will move to our final lesson in our Topic 2: Human Uses for Energy. We will discuss the environmental impacts of energy use. Scholars will describe 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 is projected to be administered on Friday January 20, 2023. Please review all of Topic 2 Lesson Notes and Lesson Resources posted in Canvas in preparation for the test.

(How to Find: Science Canvas --> Modules --> Topic 2)

Social Studies: This week we closed out our Chapter 2 unit by researching and presenting to kindergarten and first-grade students a person who influenced American history. Students presented in the form of a museum and were able to share the information discovered with others. I am so very proud of the hard work and effort showed by our scholars. Next week we will begin Chapter 3 which will explore the government in the United States. Students will explore the founding documents and the three branches of government.

Reading: This week in the 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 began working on Topic 3-5 More use of the Area Model and Partial Products to multiply. Students will be learning to Use place value and partial products to multiply 3- and 4-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers as well as Use place value and partial products to multiply 3- and 4-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers.

***UPDATE*** “Topic 3” Pick A Project is DUE January 19, 2023

Please remember to check and sign your student's agenda book nightly.

Science: This week students focused on presenting their long-awaited and highly anticipated STEM FAIR Projects.

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.

This upcoming week, we have i-ready testing happening on Thursday, January 19, 2023. Please make sure students come to school with a fully charged Chromebook and headphones so that testing goes smoothly. It is also important to get a good night’s sleep as well as a good breakfast.

In RELA this upcoming week, students will be getting our second volume of the MyView Reading books and introducing the new unit. We will have 1 list of words this week for spelling/vocabulary that will touch on previously visited spelling patterns. This unit’s big question is, “How do the experiences of others reflect our own?” We will be setting our individual goals for this unit and surveying the texts that we will be covering. Just a reminder that when we get to quarter 3, spelling lists will no longer be 10 words, but instead be 15 words with 5 bonus words (meaning spelling tests will be out of 15, but students can earn up to a 20 out of 15 or 133%).

List 1

demonstrate

perspective

recall

appeal

confide

demonstration

suspect

revision

applicable

confidence

In math, students will either be working on double digit multiplication or multiplying with decimals, depending on what small group they are in. Please check Class Dojo for upcoming assessment dates as they will differ for Sections 51/52 (McCargo/Thomas) and 53/54 (Rowland/Jenkins).

In science, students will be continuing with water cycles and how the water cycle works to support an environment and its ecosystem. Please check Class Dojo for upcoming assessment dates as they will differ for Sections 51/52 (McCargo/Thomas) and 53/54 (Rowland/Jenkins).

In social studies, students will be taking their Chapter 3 assessment on Wednesday this upcoming week. Scores will be returned Wednesday before school ends and the retake will be provided 2 days later on Friday. Students will have access to a review game that includes all content covered on the test over the weekend and all of next week to prepare for the test/retest.

Our health topic this month is the cardio-vascular system and how we can keep our hearts healthy.

Greetings & Happy New Year,

Starting next week the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will be learning how to play the recorder in Music Class. I am asking that all parents purchase their kids recorder no later than January 20th so that they can participate in this unit. Recorders typically range between $6-$10 and can be found online or in stores (Music Arts, Guitar Center,etc). . Below you will find an amazon link with the suggested Recorder. Note: Any Soprano, German Style recorder is fine. If you have any questions please feel free to let me know. Thanks.

https://www.amazon.com/Eastrock-Recorder-Instrument-Beginners-Fingering/dp/B0921W59N5/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=35RZCP8YS2FJL&keywords=recorders%2Bfor%2Belementary%2Bmusic&qid=1672708220&sprefix=recorders%2Bfor%2Bel%2Caps%2C1008&sr=8-1-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzN1lWVUhTMjVPUzNQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDc2MDcwSUFNR1FNWE1SRlFXJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4MTU0NjIxRDE3S1NGQjBTQVVaJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YRS-23Y-Soprano-Recorder-Natural/dp/B0014ZG676/ref=sr_1_6?crid=36F2PV4XLACZ8&keywords=recorder%2Bfor%2Belementary&qid=1673375537&sprefix=recorder%2Bfor%2Belementary%2Caps%2C314&sr=8-6&th=1

Mr. Weldon

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.

Sibling Preference Information

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

https://cmitsouthes.org/faq/