CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

As we approach the final weeks of our school year, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible perseverance shown by our students, teachers, and parents. As Maya Angelou once said, "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it."

Your continued support and partnership in your child's education has been instrumental in their growth and achievement this year. Together, we're nurturing resilient, curious minds ready to overcome any challenge.

Weekly Schedule Information

Please ensure your child follows their A-Week/Week 1 schedule for Creative Arts (CARTS) classes this week.

Testing Updates

We are getting closer to the end of the school year, and our assessment period is well underway:

• Our 4th-grade classes have successfully completed their MCAP testing!

• 5th Grade MCAP Testing: May 12, 13, 14, and 15

• Students will complete two sessions each testing day

• Tests begin promptly at 8:30 AM and will conclude by noon

• Kindergarten and 1st grade students have begun taking the DiBels assessment

Testing Day Preparation

To help your child perform their best during testing, please ensure they:

• Arrive at school on time

• Get plenty of rest the night before testing

• Eat a nutritious breakfast

• Come prepared with a positive attitude

• Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated

Uniform Update

We are transitioning to our new school logo. Please note:

• All new incoming students must purchase uniforms with the new logo

• Current students may continue wearing uniforms with the old logo

• If purchasing new uniforms for next school year, please select items with the new logo

As we look ahead to the final weeks of school, 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. Every day brings new opportunities for growth and your partnership in education makes a profound difference in our students' success. 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, May 12, 2025!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

Grade Level blurb:

The permission slips and payment for the next field trip to the Natural History Museum is due by May 16th. Kindergarten students will continue to participate in the Countdown to Summer. Every Wednesday will be a different theme for students to participate in. Please check the link below for the calendar.

2025 Wacky Wednesday Countdown to Summer

This week continues Dibels testing and the Embroidery projects for Kindergarten. Please sign up to volunteer in your scholar’s class for the embroidery project if you can. This project will engage students in the world around them through nature and the use of their fine motor skills. This in school project will last a couple of weeks so there will be multiple changes for signing up.

In Spring, many students have their allergies reawakened and sometimes it can be severe; if your scholar is one of those students and needs medication please remember to fill out a doctor’s form for medication to go to the nurse. Also 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 tie their shoes independently. Students should have a school approved sweater or jacket to wear in the classroom, in case they get chilly.

Dates to Remember:

May 5: DIBELS Testing starts, look at Class Dojo for the specific dates for each class.

May 9: Videos for Promotion Due

May 16: Last day to pay for field trip

May 16: 3 hour early dismissal

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

May 30: Career Day

June 6: Save the Date: Field Day

June 12: Kindergarten Promotion

Reading Updates:

UNIT 4- Week 3: Grandma’s Phone

Essential Question: What can we learn from the past? How do we learn about the past?

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

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics:Vowel sounds - short e (/e/) and long u (/e_e/)

• High-frequency words: black, brown, white

• Story Vocabulary: farm, visit, pumpkin

• Unit Vocabulary: time, discover, change, tradition

Learning Goals:

• Learn about the past

• Visualize details from a story

• Syllables and compound words

• Find details in a text

• Main idea and details

• Capitalization for the beginning of a sentence

• Types of Punctuation, go with different types of sentences

• Prepositions, adjectives, and articles

• Organize the story element: character, setting, plot

Math Updates:

Topic 11: Count Numbers to 100

Essential Understanding: How can the number 11-19 be made up of?

• Show numbers in many way

• Count and write numbers up to 100 by counting by 10

• Represent groups of objects with a number to 20

• Practice counting on from any number within 100

Vocabulary: tens, ones, fifty, thirty, patterns

Science Updates:

TOPIC 5 LESSON 1: Needs of Plants

Essential Question: What do plants need to survive?

• Learn how the relationship between the plants and their environments

• Discover how plants fulfill their needs

Vocabulary: survive, pattern

Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 4 : Geography of the Neighborhood

Essential Question- How are the world and neighborhood alike?

• Understand different places and areas that are around us

• Look into the into a map as a tool

• What is absolute location

• The parts of a map

• Analyze how we get around in our neighborhoods

Vocabulary: street, address,absolute location, neighborhood, transportation

Health Updates:

May Topic: Keeping Clean and Healthy

• Describe what it means to be healthy, sick and why is it is important to stay well

• Discover daily routines that people do to stay healthy

• Encourage confidence in knowing how to show concern for others that might be sick

• Demonstrate respect for our bodies and encourage others to practice proper hygiene.

• Explain what is it means for the community to be clean and healthy

Vocabulary: scrub, clean, yard, clothes, hands, community

Grade Level blurb:

Thank you for your continued support! We have several field trips approaching please ensure that you are paying through the specific My School Bucks links.

Reading Updates:

We will be reading the final story of our Making A Difference units The story of the week will be an Informational Text.

Math Updates:

Scholars will begin to learn about numbers within 1000.

Social Studies Updates:

We are continuing to learn about what makes a hero. Also scholars will learn about heros of the past.

Science Updates:

Scholars will continue to learn to learn about plants and animals.

Grade Level Updates:

We have wrapped up MCAP testing, and will be moving back into our routine this week!

Greetings Fourth Grade Family,

I hope this message finds you well. Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother and mother figures that show up and show out for our children. We appreciate you so much. We also want to thank all the families that helped to make Teacher Appreciation Week amazing. We always say that we have the best parents in not just the school but all of Prince George’s County!

Fourth Grade students have concluded their MCAP Testing for this school year. Any student that might have missed a section will have their test made up at a later date. We are at the halfway point of the Fourth Quarter and plenty of activities are planned as we close out the year. Please make sure you have returned the Field Day permission slip. Although we are only going to the Middle/ High School, all scholars need a permission slip to leave the campus.

Ms. Felton is looking for Sugar Cubes and small jar Donations.Please reach out to Ms. Felton to ask how you are able to support.

Field Trip: We are excited to announce our second field trip of the year to the Smithsonian Natural Museum of History. During our visit students will explore how living things have adapted to survive in their environments. Permission slips were sent home this Friday and are due back by Friday May 16, 2025. Money is no longer being collected at school for field trips please use the Myschoolbucks QR Code on the permission slip or given here to pay for the trip: https://www.myschoolbucks.com/ver2/prdembd?ref=ZZHVZTLU9O052WP_ZZ66R6AGAHFMW6T

We ask that you continue to talk with your student nightly about “glows and grows” from their day at school. We are helping students to be more reflective about their days and ways they can make improvements. This is the last quarter of Fourth Grade and our scholars have made great progress and are beginning their preparations to become the building leaders next year.

The character trait of the month of May is Perseverance. At times a task can be difficult but we think of ways we can persevere or find a way through. Students will have lessons in class around perseverance and how to overcome challenges we might face. Ways you can help is to share with your scholar times when you have shown perseverance in the face of adversity.. 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:

• 4th Grade Field Trip Thursday May 22, 2025

• Memorial Day Monday May 26, 2025- No School

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: Students completed MCAP testing which took up most of the day. STudents did spend some time doing Social Emotional Lessons and discussing managing stress during testing.

Next Week: Students will begin exploring mythology and exploring shared themes that can be found across similar texts.Students will close out the school year by having a Novel Study. When students are reading passages in our textbook they are only given a portion of the story. This leads students to have questions about what happened before or after reading this portion of text.

A Novel Study allows students:

• A chance to read an entire story

• Stories in our textbooks are parts of a whole story

• See how characters grow and change

• See how what characters do and say affects story events

• See how the events of the story grow

The novel students will read is called “The Hero Two Doors Down,” by Sharon Robinson. This is a realistic fiction story written by the daughter of Jackie Robinson. This story talks about the friendship between Jackie Robinson and a Jewish family after Jackie begins playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Math Updates:

This week we will focus on Topic 7, Factors and Multiples; 4.OA.B.4 and 4.NBT.B.5).Our Essential Question for this topic is; “How can you use arrays for multiplication to find the factors of a number? How can you identify prime and Composite numbers? How can you find multiples of a number?”

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.

Science Updates:

This week we will close Topic 4 Earth’s Features with a Topic quiz and then transition into our next Topic, Topic 5, Natural Hazards. In Topic 4, Earth’s Features we discussed the causes of Earth's physical features and how to distinguish the difference between landforms. In this next topic, we will take the learning from our previous topic and apply that to Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and other recurring natural hazards. The objectives for this topic are to; describe the impacts natural hazards have on the lives of people, describe how hazardous weather can affect humans and solutions to reduce the impact of natural hazards.We will be focusing on the skills, observation, weather island erosion, and on analyzing and interpreting data. Key vocabulary from this topic for lesson one; fault, earthquake, tsunami, volcano, and eruption.

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

Social Studies Updates:

This Week: Students completed their MCAP testing this week. We worked on test taking strategies and ways to manage stress.

Next Week: We will resume using our Social Studies Textbooks in “Economy of the United States.” We will explore how global trade affects our lives. Students will explore importing and exporting and identify places around the world from which we get our goods.

Grade Level Blurb:

5th Grade Gearing Up for MCAP!

MCAP testing is next week, Monday through Thursday. Please help your child prepare by making sure they get plenty of rest, eat a good breakfast, and arrive on time. Encourage them to stay positive and try their best. Let’s finish strong!

Reading Updates:

Students are practicing for MCAP by focusing on writing to a rubric and applying comprehension strategies to strengthen their understanding of texts.

Math Updates:

• Ms. Jenkins’ Class: Students are preparing for MCAP and practicing how to analyze and interpret data using line plots.

• Ms. Lewis’ Class: Students are reviewing for MCAP and building their skills in dividing fractions.

Science Updates:

Students are exploring energy in food and learning how plants make their own food through the process of photosynthesis, using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.

Social Studies Updates:

We are continuing our study of The War of 1812 in Chapter 7, Lesson 4. Students are learning about the causes of the war, key figures involved, and the lasting impact this historical conflict had on the growth and development of the United States.

Health Updates:

In health, students are having meaningful conversations about growing up and maturing, including understanding physical, emotional, and social changes they may experience.

General CARTS Message:

Please continue to check your students’ work/grades on both Canvas and Synergy for CARTS classes!

PE: This week on PE students explored kicking skills through soccer-based activities. They learned how to kick the ball safely using the inside of their food for accuracy, and for those ready, the instep (laces) for more powerful shots. Great job to all on their teamwork and control!

Art: Here are a couple of highlights from the littles this week!

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