CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

As we continue through Women's History Month, I want to take a moment to encourage both our students and parents to embrace the spirit of determination that drives our school community forward. In the words of NASA aerospace engineer Aprille J. Ericsson-Jackson, "Don't be afraid to be ambitious about your goals. Hard work never stops. Neither should your dreams." Her courage and perseverance remind us that with dedication and support, our students can reach extraordinary heights.

Important Schedule Information

• This is a C-Week/Week 3, so please follow your child's C-Week/Week 3 schedule for Creative Arts (CARTS) classes.

• Monday, March 17th: Schools will be OPEN. This day has been converted from a Professional Development Day to an Inclement Weather Make-Up Day.

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.

Ramadan Acknowledgment

We are currently in the month of Ramadan, and we wish our Muslim families a peaceful Ramadan filled with joy, reflection, and growth. We are mindful of this important time for our Muslim staff, students, and families, and we're here to support you and your children during this period of reflection and observance.

Upcoming Event: Parent University Math Night

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.

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 17, 2025!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Acting Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Virtual Honor Roll Assembly on Friday! It was a wonderful celebration of our students’ hard work and achievements. We are so proud of their dedication and success!

If you missed the event or would like to watch it again, you can view the recording here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/65N3PpMsGEw?feature=shared

Congratulations again to all of our honor roll students! Your commitment to excellence is truly inspiring.

Hello Kinder Families,

It was really great to see all of the Leprechaun traps. We have hope that we will be able to catch the Leprechaun on Monday.

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. 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 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 17: School now open, make up snow day

March 21: Tutus and Bow Ties, K-2 Spring Night Dance, hosted by the PTO

March 24: Spring Picture Day

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

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

Reading Updates:

UNIT 3- Week 3: Poetry Collection

Essential Question: What can we learn from stories?

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

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics: Initial and final consonant sounds /z/ and /qu/

• High-frequency words: was, said, where

• Story Vocabulary: fast, soon, down, great, poetry, rhyme, rhythm

• Unit Vocabulary: choose, explain, meaning, character

Learning Goals:

• Learn about poems

• Visualize details from a story

• Syllables and compound words

• Find details in a text

• Capitalization for the beginning of a sentence

• Possessive pronouns

• Organize the story element: 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, directions, and unsafe

Grade Level Blurb:

A reminder that if your child is sick, please keep them home and take necessary precautions. Make sure they get plenty of rest to recover and help prevent the spread of illness.

Reading Updates:

Unit 3 week 5 will be a Realistic fiction story. Also it contains aspects of procedural text. Students will learn about traditional dishes.

Math Updates:

Students continue to learn different strategies to solve subtraction problems fluently within 100. These include partial difference, break apart and others.

Science Updates:

The students will be discussed is the different processes of Earth.

Social Studies Updates:

Students will continue discuss people who supply goods and services.

Grade Level Blurb:

Please see Class Dojo stories for your homeroom/partner teacher’s updates!

Reading Updates:

Students have finished reviewing concepts from Unit 2! We have started Unit 3 and historical fiction, and students are working on prefixes, suffixes, and abbreviation.

Math Updates:

All classes worked on addition and addition patterns within 1,000!

Science Updates:

We are continuing to learn about climate, and this week we focused on climate change.

Social Studies Updates:

Students are learning about the importance of education and human capital! Specifically, students are learning that human capital is the combination of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that students gain through education!

Health Updates:

Students learned about healthy minds and habits.

Greetings Fabulous Fourth Grade Families,

I hope this message finds you well. A special congratulations to all students that earned awards during our 2nd Quarter Honor Roll Assembly. We are so proud of the hard work and dedication being shown by our building leaders. 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:

• Friday March 17, 20, 2025- MakeUp School Day

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

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 begin our new story “Trombone Shorty.” In this autobiography story we read about the real life of trombone player Troy Andrews. Students will seek to answer: How does music bring us together? Students monitored their inner conversations as they read the text closely. Students made connections to the text and determined the author’s purpose for writing this story.

Next Week: Next week we revisit our text “Trombone Shorty.” During this week’s reading students will continue to make connections to the life of Troy Andrews. Students will also get a chance to create their own original song that utilizes elements of blues music. Students are still seeking to answer the question of how music brings us together.

Math Updates:

This week in math we closed Topic 4: Using Strategies and Properties to Multiply by 2-Digit Numbers. We will have our Topic 4 test next Friday. This week we will begin 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.

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

Science Updates:

This week students worked collaboratively to create Humans Impact Songs that centered around solving environmental issues. Next week we will be moving into Waves and Information. with the Environment. Our next unit will focus on Waves and Information. Our focuses for this topic are developing models and describing teh 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 read Chapter 3 Lesson 3: Our Rights and Responsibilities”, and understand that citizens in a democracy have both rights and responsibilities. They will explore the fundamental rights granted to individuals, such as freedom of speech and voting, and recognize the importance of fulfilling civic duties like obeying laws, voting, and participating in community activities. Through discussions and activities, students will be able to explain how these rights and responsibilities work together to maintain a functioning democracy.

Next week: Students will complete 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.

Health Updates:

In health we are learning about our Mouths and keeping our Teeth Healthy and clean.

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:

This week in Makers Lab, we completed the seatbelt activity with the classes that hadn't finished it yet. For the classes that did, we focused on the sea turtles activity. The sea turtle activity involved watching a video and completing a worksheet where students had to draw their own sea turtle using the information from the video.

Technology:

Art:

In 2nd grade we're learning about pixel art! And what better way to do it than to invent robots? This week students saw a video about some cool bots, designed their own, answering then began exploring https://www.piskelapp.com/

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