Dear CMIT South Elementary Families and Friends,

I hope this message finds you well as we enter this festive season! Your continued support and engagement in our school community have been tremendous, and I'm excited to share several important updates and upcoming events with you.

The holiday spirit is certainly in the air at CMIT South Elementary! Though December may be a short month, it's filled with wonderful opportunities for learning, giving, and celebrating together as we approach Winter Break in just 10 days.

Important Academic Updates:

• This is an A Week - please follow your child's A Week schedule for Creative Arts (CARTS) classes.

• CogAT Testing: December 10-12, 2024 for 4th-grade students. This assessment is used for Talented and Gifted (TAG) program admissions.

Community Service Initiatives:

1. Food Drive (December 6-18) We invite you to contribute to our food drive benefiting local homeless shelters and The Bowie Interfaith Pantry and Emergency Aid Fund. Please send canned items (with valid expiration dates) to school with your child. For questions, contact Ms. Hendy at ania.hendy@pgcps.org

2. SGA Toy Drive (December 2-20) In partnership with Clinton, Maryland Goodwill, we're collecting gently used toys for children in need this holiday season. Donations are accepted until December 20th at 2 PM. Direct questions to Mrs. Jones at leah2.young@pgcps.org

Special Events:

• December 11: Picture Day Retakes Students must wear school uniforms (white Oxford CMIT shirt recommended). If your child has PE that day, please send them in their uniform. If your scholar was absent on the original picture day or if you would like your scholar to retake their school picture, you must sign up via the link below:https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showRSVPSignUp/70A0D4BADAF2AA0FD0-53686284-pictureFor those who have purchased a picture package and are unhappy with the image, students may return their picture package to the Retake Day Photographer. If you’d like to volunteer and you have completed the PGCPS volunteer requirements, please sign up via the link below:https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/70A0D4BADAF2AA0FD0-53679808-picture

• December 13: Holiday Pajama Day

• December 19: Holly Jolly Hat/Headband Day

• December 19, 8:30 AM: Winter Concert All K-5 scholars will perform under Mrs. Duncan's direction. They have been working really hard and you don’t want to miss out. Join us in person or via Zoom (the link will be shared the day of the event).

PTO Updates:

• December 18, 6:00 PM: Special PTO Meeting

• Featured Speaker: Mr. Ak, CLF Executive Director

• Location: School Cafeteria

• Childcare and refreshments provided

• Attendees receive student dress-down passes for December 20

• Submit questions in advance via the provided form: https://forms.gle/syezyfuod8hnupFB7

Uniform Donation Opportunity: The PTO is accepting tax-deductible donations of gently used, cleaned uniforms on December 18th from 4:00-5:30 PM. This is the only donation opportunity before year-end 2024. Complete the donation form in advance to expedite your receipt. Questions? Email pto@cmitsouthes.org.

As always, remember that the STEM Journey Begins Here at CMIT South Elementary! We're looking forward to a year filled 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. Thank you for your continued partnership in making CMIT South Elementary a vibrant and supportive learning community. Together, we're creating meaningful experiences for our scholars while fostering a spirit of giving during this holiday season. 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, December 9, 2024!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Acting Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

As part of our commitment to supporting the social and emotional growth of all our students, I am excited to announce the launch of our Emotional Regulation Groups. These groups will begin soon and are designed to help selected students develop strategies to better understand, express, and manage their emotions in positive ways.

What Are Emotional Regulation Groups?
Emotional regulation is an essential life skill that helps students navigate challenges, build healthy relationships, and succeed academically. In these small groups, students will:

• Learn techniques to identify and manage their emotions.

• Develop coping strategies for stress and frustration.

• Practice skills for effective communication and self-advocacy.

Who Will Participate?
Participation in these groups is by recommendation and based on individual needs identified through teacher observation and my own interactions with students.If you have any questions or concerns about the Emotional Regulation Groups or feel that your child might benefit from additional support, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.

Thank you for your partnership in fostering a positive and nurturing environment for our students to thrive.

Grade Level Blurb:

Thank you again to our chaperones from the last field trip. Please save the tentative date of February 7 as the next field trip. Winter celebrations and the winter concert will be held on December 19. The winter concert will be from 8:30-9:30, parents can attend in person or through zoom. Your scholar’s teacher will have more about each class celebration. Please check the music part of the newsletter for more details about the concert.

Important Dates:

December 13:Homework and Vision Board project Due

December 19: Winter concert and winter class celebration

December 2-20: Toy Drive

Dec 23-Jan 3: Winter Break

January: STEM Fair Career Project

Reading Updates:

UNIT 2- Week 4: Open Wide

Essential Question: How do some living things make what they need?

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

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics: Consonant blends and Letter Gg

• High-frequency words: four five here

• Spelling words found in weekly readings: shark, eagle, turtle, hummingbird

• Unit Vocabulary: grow, need, share, depend

Learning Goals:

• Identify the parts of an informational text

• Find Text Features

• Make and confirm predictions

• Learn what animals need

• Making a place to live

• Adjectives andVerbs

• Rhyming Sort

Math Updates:

Topic 6: Understanding Addition

Essential Understanding: What types of situations involve addition?

• Show numbers in many way

• Express smaller parts of a bigger number with actions

• Represent addition as putting to or more numbers together

• Practice using an addition equation

Vocabulary: plus, addition, equal sign, altogether, in all, patterns

Science Updates:

TOPIC 3 LESSON 1: The Sun

Essential Question: How can I describe the sun?

• Learn how the sun moves in the sky

• Describe how the sun keeps things/people warm

• Designing structure to keep animals cool and protected

• Observe the sun

Vocabulary: star

Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 2 Lesson 4: American Heroes

Essential Question- What does it mean to be an American?

• How to be a hero

• What is an inventor

• How an inventor is a hero

Vocabulary: inventor, hero

Health Updates:

DECEMBER TOPIC: The Family Team

• All families are different

• Families take care of one another

• Healthy communities

• Families changes but still are a team

Vocabulary: community, rules, special, team, family

I hope you all had a wonderful break. Thank you for sending your scholars back to school ready to learn. Stem Fair due date is fastly approaching. Please ensure that you are keeping up with deadlines. Also the second grade will be having a winter party. Stay tuned for all the details.

Reading Updates:

We are entering week three of this second unit. Scholars will be reading Realistic Fiction. They will learn how to understand the setting and the plot of a story.

Math Updates:

Students will be fluent within 100. THey will learn to do so by solving math problems by finding partial sums.

Social Studies Updates:

The current lesson is Social Studies is Earth’s land and water.

Health Updates:

Scholars will learn about health food as well as the different types of food groups.

Grade Level Updates:

We are close to Thanksgiving Break! In the meantime, it is getting cooler outside. Please make sure your child has at least one outdoor coat for recess and dismissal. Thank you for your understanding! Additionally, our coat drive is continuing next week, so please feel free to contribute!

Reading Updates:

We have started Unit 2, Week 1! This unit addresses fiction and nonfiction text that discusses plants and animals, and this week’s lesson focuses on texts addressing patterns in nature. We also worked on V/CV and VC/V words, and we reviewed concepts from the last week of Unit 1!

Math Updates:

Students have been working on problem solving division with the numbers 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10! Additionally, they have been working on using the properties of multiplication (associative, commutative, and distributive) to problem solve with the numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8!

Science Updates:

Students have been learning about electricity and magnetism! They are learning about how electricity and magnetism are related, as well as the cause and effect relationship between the two!

Social Studies Updates:

Ms. Madison and Mrs. Flores’s classes just finished Chapter 1! Ms. Howard and Ms. Hendy’s classes have started Chapter 2 (economics)!

Health Updates:

Students have been introduced to our unit on the food we eat! Specifically, all classes learned about how food gives us energy, and what counts as healthy eating.

Grade Level Blurb

Greetings Tiger Family,

I hope this message finds you well and that you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. It was lovely to see everyone back in class this week, looking refreshed and ready to learn.

As we move closer to the winter break, we have been focusing on maintaining momentum in our lessons while also enjoying some festive activities to celebrate the season. Please keep an eye out for any updates regarding upcoming events and important dates.

Thank you for your continued support and involvement in your scholar’s education.

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.

Important Upcoming Dates:

• CogAT Testing

• Tuesday December 10, 2024

• Wednesday December 11, 2024

• Thursday December 12, 2024

• Friday December 20, 2024- 3 Hour Early Dismissal

• Monday December 23- January 3, 2025- Winter Break

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:

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. 1 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: We began reading a story about how a snapping turtle adapts to their environment called “Minn of the Mississippi.” This story is a realistic fiction story that tells how a turtle grows and changes along the Mississippi River. This week students are working with identify the elements of a story, especially plot and character traits. Students

Next Week: Students will continue to read closely the story “Minn of the Mississippi,” by writing a response that explores how the character of Minn changed throughout the story. We will also begin reading our next collection of texts (). These series of texts are poems that talk about how different animals adapt to their environments. Students will explore elements of poetry and determine the sensory details given in the poems.

Math Updates:

This week we will complete the remaining lessons for Topic 2:Fluently Add and Subtract Whole Numbers. Our focus strategy for this week is subtracting across zero Second Quarter IXL Diagnostic.

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

Science Updates:

This week we be wrapping up the final lesson of Topic 1.

*STEM FAIR REMINDER* Begin working on STEM Research Papers. Research Papers due December 18th. Speak with Reading and Language Arts Teachers and Research Paper Rubric for more guidance on Research Papers.

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

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students analyzed and explained how the United States emerged as one of the world's most powerful nations following the Civil War, focusing on key factors such as economic growth, industrialization, political changes, and the expansion of American influence both domestically and internationally.

Next week: Students will read about the continuity and changes that the United States faces in the 21st century, and be able to explain the key factors contributing to these changes while identifying aspects of continuity that persist in various aspects of American society, politics, and economy.

Health Updates:

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

Grade Level Blurb

Happy December, Families!

We’re excited to celebrate the holiday season with fun learning experiences and a special celebration for our students. Here’s what’s happening:

Fifth Grade Holiday Party

The fifth-grade holiday party will be celebrated in two sections:

• Sections 51 and 52 will have their party together.

• Sections 53 and 54 will have their party together.

Each teacher has created a plan for their party, so please check your child’s teacher’s page for details on how you can volunteer to help or contribute. Your involvement will help make this event a success!

Reading Updates:

Required materials and resources

Reading book: MyView literacy 5.1 and IXL and I-Ready accessed through Clever.com

Key concepts being covered

Learning more about observations by understanding point of view in realistic fiction.

Spelling words with r-Controlled vowels

Spelling Words

Armada, Conserve, Guitar, Proportion, Internal, Category, Vertical, Partition, Conform, Guardian, External, Cardinal, Excursions, Injury, Majority, Turbulent, Quarter, Harmony, Vertex, Minority

Support materials

IXL and I-Ready accessed through Clever.com

Math Updates:

This month, students are learning and practicing different strategies for division. Please encourage your child to practice these skills at home and to complete assignments independently. These habits help build their confidence and critical thinking.

Science Updates:

In science, we are learning about Earth’s water systems and some fascinating facts. For instance, did you know that 97.5% of Earth’s water is saltwater, leaving only 2.5% as fresh water? Students are exploring the importance of Earth’s water and how it shapes our daily lives.

Chapter 3 Lesson reviews: Lessons 1- Lesson 4

Chapter 3 Assessment

Chapter 4: Life in the colonies

Lesson opener, What role does Geography (location) play in where you choose to live?

Social Studies book, IXL through Clever.com

What does it take to build a new society?

IXL and I-Ready

Music:

Mark Your Calendars for our Winter Concert, Thursday, Dec 19, 2024!

Primary grades K - 2, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Intermediate grades 3 - 5, 9:45 AM - 10:45 AM

Attire TBD

Parents are invited to attend.

Technology:

This week we are progressing in understanding technology through various activities.

Updates from the Art Room:

This week we did some teamwork! Kindergarten told me what to put in a landscape, then they watched and discussed with each other an episode of The Joy of Painting. The fourth graders worked together on a Kahoot! to review their color schemes and families. The fifth graders critiqued the self-portraits of last year’s fifth graders so they can understand what to expect from their own!

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