The Tiger Times

Dear TigerTastic CMIT South ES Families and Community,

What an incredible season of growth and celebration we're experiencing together! I am continuously amazed by your dedication, engagement, and the genuine care you show for our entire Tiger community. Your children are thriving because of the strong partnership we've built, and I'm honored to work alongside such committed families who believe in the power of education, kindness, and community support.

As we celebrate the spirit of giving and community engagement, I'm inspired by the beautiful words of Audrey Hepburn: "As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands—one for helping yourself, the other for helping others." This week, we've witnessed this truth come alive through your generosity with our Coat Drive, your participation in Trunk or Treat, and your commitment to understanding your child's academic progress. When we use our hands to help others, we create a community where everyone can thrive.

🏥 Important Health Update - Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease

Community Health Alert: Cases of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) have increased across Prince George's County. While we do have some cases at our school, we have not reached outbreak status. Your awareness and cooperation are essential in keeping our Tiger community healthy.

Our Prevention Efforts: Our custodial staff has been diligently disinfecting and sanitizing all classrooms every night to minimize the spread of germs and maintain a healthy learning environment.

How You Can Help Stop the Spread: HFMD is common among young children, but it is preventable! Here's how we can work together:

• Wash hands frequently - Teach children proper handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds

• Keep sick children home - If your child shows symptoms (fever, sores in mouth, rash on hands/feet), please keep them home until cleared by a healthcare provider

• Practice good hygiene - Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth; cover coughs and sneezes

• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home

A few simple steps = a healthier Tiger community! Thank you for doing your part to protect all our students and staff.

📊 Thank You for Joining Parent University: Data Night!

Thank you, parents, for your outstanding participation in Parent University: Data Night on Wednesday, October 22, 2025! Your engagement in understanding student data and learning strategies to support your Tigers at home demonstrates your commitment to their academic success.

Missed the session? No worries, you can access the complete presentation here: Data Night Presentation

🎯 Our School Improvement Goals for 2025-2026

We're excited to share our school improvement goals for the 2025–2026 school year, focused on strengthening student achievement in both Math and English Language Arts (ELA), with special attention to supporting students with disabilities. Our efforts are guided by clear, measurable targets and thoughtful strategies designed to support all learners.

📊 Our Ambitious Goals:

Math Achievement: During the 2025-26 school year, the percentage of students in grades 3-5 who score at or above proficient on the annual MCAP Math Assessment will increase by 10%, moving from 26.57% to 36.57% proficient.

Reading Achievement: During the 2025-26 school year, the percentage of students in grades 3-5 who score at or above proficient on the annual MCAP Reading Assessment will increase by 10%, moving from 49% to 59% proficient.

Students with Disabilities: During the 2025-26 school year, the percentage of students with disabilities in grades 3-5 who score at or above proficient on the annual MCAP Reading Assessment will increase by 5%, moving from 6.90% to 11.9% proficient.

🛠️ Our Action Steps to Reach These Goals:

In Mathematics:

• Real-World Problem Solving: Implementing hands-on, inquiry-based mathematics and science instruction that connects concepts to projects, engineering challenges, and authentic problem-solving scenarios

• Strategic Thinking: Modeling alternative approaches to encourage flexible problem-solving strategies

In English Language Arts:

• Cross-Curricular Writing: Integrating daily writing opportunities across all subject areas using academic vocabulary and consistent school-wide writing rubrics to increase writing proficiency

• Explicit Vocabulary Instruction: Providing scaffolded vocabulary instruction through resources like SAVVAS curriculum and iReady RELA lessons to build language skills and comprehension

We are absolutely committed to creating a learning environment where every child can thrive and reach their fullest potential. Thank you for your continued support and partnership in helping our students succeed!

🧥 Coat Drive & Trunk or Treat Success - Thank You!

What an incredible display of community kindness and generosity! Thank you to everyone who came out and participated in our Coat Drive & Giveaway and Trunk or Treat events!

Coat Drive Impact: We collected 200 coats and distributed more than 65 coats to families in need! This is what helping hands look like in action—thank you for warming hearts and bodies this season.

Special Thanks:

• Bee's Babies Essential for their wonderful partnership with the Coat Drive and Giveaway

• CMIT South PTO for your incredible commitment to organizing an amazing Trunk or Treat experience

It was absolutely heartwarming to see the smiles on our students' faces as they enjoyed the festivities and received support from our caring Tiger community. You've demonstrated what it truly means to use both hands—one for yourself, one for helping others.

🎃 Book Character Parade & Early Dismissal - October 31, 2025

Get ready for a PaWWW-tacular Friday filled with literacy fun!

Early Dismissal Schedule - Friday, October 31, 2025:

• Regular Students Dismissal: 11:25 AM

• Afternoon Enrichment - Star Students: 1:00 PM

• Afternoon Enrichment - Scholars Students: 3:00 PM

Important: Please make arrangements to have your child picked up on time if they are not enrolled in afternoon enrichment.

🎭 Book Character Parade - Friday, October 31, 2025: Students may come dressed in their favorite book character costumes! Don't forget to bring your book so you can share which character you're representing. This is a wonderful celebration of literacy that combines the fun of Halloween with our love of reading.

Costume Guidelines:

• Dress as a character from a book

• Bring the book that features your character

• Keep costumes school-appropriate and safe for learning activities

• No weapons of any kind

We can't wait to see which beloved characters fill our hallways on Friday!

🌟 Using Both Hands to Build Our Community

As Audrey Hepburn beautifully reminds us, we all have two hands—one for helping ourselves grow and learn, and one for helping others do the same. This week, our Tiger community has exemplified this perfectly through academic engagement, charitable giving, joyful celebrations, and health vigilance.

Thank you for consistently using your hands to lift others, support your children's education, and strengthen our school community. Every coat donated, every data night attended, every costume prepared with love, and every proper handwashing—these are all acts of kindness that create lasting impact.

Remember: We are Leveling Up the STEMTastic Way! Let's continue supporting one another, celebrating learning, and creating a community where every Tiger feels valued, supported, and empowered to succeed.

With Tiger Pride and Endless Gratitude,

📱 Cell Phone Monitoring & Healthy Habits

As students become more connected through technology, it’s important for families to stay involved in their child’s digital world. Regularly monitoring cell phone use helps protect children from unsafe online interactions, exposure to inappropriate content, and distractions that can impact learning and sleep.

Tips for Parents:

• Set clear expectations for when and where phones can be used (no phones at bedtime or during homework).
  

• Encourage open conversations about online behavior and safety.
  

• Review apps, messages, and social media activity together regularly.
  

• Model healthy screen habits as a family.
  
  

Healthy monitoring isn’t about invading privacy — it’s about teaching responsibility, safety, and balance in a digital world.

📚 Book Character Parade – Friday, October 31, 2025!

We’re excited to celebrate our annual Book Character Parade on Friday, October 31, 2025! Students are invited to come to school dressed as their favorite book character and bring the book that inspired their costume to share with their classmates.

Please remember that costumes must be based on a book, and students must bring the matching book with them to participate. We also ask that costumes be school-appropriate — nothing too scary, please.

This is a 3-hour early dismissal day, so our parade will take place earlier in the day. More details will be shared soon!

We can’t wait to see all the creative costumes and celebrate our love for reading together! 🎉📖

Grade Level Blurb:

Hello Tiger Families!

It has come to our attention that some students are having difficulty accessing IXL, we are currently working on this and will inform families when the issue has been resolved.

Please make sure that students are dressed for the weather as it changes and have school approved jackets and sweaters as the thermostat is typically kept at 70 but controls all four Kindergarten classrooms, so the temperature may vary from class to class.

The Kindergarten team would like to thank all families for participating in the Candy Wars and give a big Tiger ROAR to Ms. Windsor’s Class for coming in 2nd place.

Tentatively save Dec. 5th as the date for a field trip to the Baltimore Aquarium. Chaperone sign up and more information will be announced at a later date.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!!!! Please visit Volunteer with PGCPS in order to register. Please follow all of the required steps and contact your scholar’s teacher with any questions. Thank you for your assistance!

Students are losing their personal belongings. Please label all items, sweaters and jackets especially, so that students will know what belongs to them. Please use simple reminders to help students learn to become and stay responsible for their own items. Also please continue to practice tying shoes and turning sleeves of jackets from inside out to the correct way with your scholars. When your child has been absent please communicate to the teacher and complete the online document submission form, because we are not taking paper notes: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1lp2fJsfDLjWNINllvX10OKjiGDn443yAB8Hq8BMBa-E/viewform

IMPORTANT KINDERGARTEN DATES-

OCTOBER 28- Picture Day, Kindergarten is typically the first to take pictures please be sure to have your scholar at school on time.

OCTOBER 29- PTO Meeting

OCTOBER 31- 3 Hour Early Dismissal and Book Character Parade Day; End of 1st Quarter

NOVEMBER 11- Parent- Teacher Conferences

DECEMBER 5 (tentatively)- National Baltimore Aquarium

Reading Updates:

Unit 1 Assessment

Reviewing middle sounds /a/ and /i/; constant sounds //; as well as sight words and listening comprehension

UNIT 2: Living Together

Week 1: Animals on the Move

Essential Question: Why do some animals move from place to place?

• UNIT 1 ASSESSMENT

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

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics: Consonants Dd and Kk

• High-Frequency Words: of, are, that

• Vocabulary words found in weekly readings: butterflies, geese, whales

• Unit Vocabulary: grow, need, share, depend

Learning Goals:

• Identify the main idea to understand informational text

• Find the Main Idea and Supporting Details

• Make Inferences About Main Ideas

• Words that Name Different Animals

• Adjectives and Articles

• Rhyming Sort

Math Updates:

Review and assess

TOPIC 3- Numbers 6 to 10

Essential Understanding: Good math thinkers use math they know to show and solve problems

• There is more than one way to show a number

• Counting tells how many are in a set or a group, no matter which order the objects are counted

• The last number said when counting a group is the total number

• Understand ways to make numbers 5-10

• Use objects, drawings, and numbers to compare numbers

Vocabulary: six, seven, eight, nine, ten

TOPIC 4- Comparing Numbers 0-10

Essential Understanding: Two groups can be compared by counting the number of objects in each group and telling which group has more objects or fewer objects.

• Finding the position of each number within the counting sequence helps to compare

• The number that tells more is greater than the other; the number that tells fewer is less than the other.

• The use of matching, drawing, ten frames, and counting to compare numbers

Vocabulary: zero, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, compare, ten frame

Science Updates:

TOPIC 3: Needs of Living Things

Experience 3: Where Plants and Animals Live

• Review living vs non-living things

• Inquiry about the relationship between plants and animals and where they live.

• Demonstrate the relationship between the needs of plants and animals and the places they live, which together make up a system.

• Describe habitat relationships using relational language and simple adjectives.

Vocabulary: environment, system, model

Social Studies Updates:

Review and assess CHAPTER 1

Laws, rules and how to be a good citizen.

Start CHAPTER 2 LESSON 1- Our Country and State

Essential Question- What does it mean to be American?

• I will know about America

• There are 50 states in our nation

• Discuss the people who live in our country

Vocabulary: nation

Health Updates:

OCTOBER TOPIC- The Five Senses

Essential Question- What are the five senses and how do they keep us safe?

Assessment reviewing

• Identify the five senses and the body parts they are associated with

• Respect what your senses can do for you

• Practice routines for healthful care of sense organs

• How glasses and other items can help your senses to keep you safe.

Vocabulary: hear, touch, sight, smell, taste, senses, hand, tongue, eyes, ears, skin

Grade Level Blurb:

Thank you for another wonderful week of partnership! We’re so grateful for your continued support in helping our scholars learn, grow, and thrive each day.

As we near the end of the first quarter, please take a few moments to log into Synergy to review your child’s grades and progress. Staying informed helps us work together to ensure every scholar’s success.

With cooler weather on the way, please be sure your child comes to school dressed for the season—jackets, sweaters, and long sleeves will help keep everyone cozy and ready to learn.

We appreciate all that you do and look forward to another fantastic week of learning and discovery ahead!

Reading Updates:
This week, we will be reading informational texts and learning how to identify and use text features to better understand what we read. Our focus this week will be on words with the long a sound.

Math Updates:

This week in Math, we’re continuing our work with standard units of measurement! Students will practice measuring length using inches and centimeters while comparing and estimating different objects around them.

Science Updates:

This week in Science, we’re diving into the properties of matter! Students will learn how to observe, describe, and compare different materials based on traits like color, texture, and shape. We’re excited for lots of hands-on exploring!

Social Studies Updates:

This week in Social Studies, we’re starting an exciting lesson on maps! Students will learn how to locate different places and use map features like the compass rose, symbols, and keys.

Health Updates:

This we are continuing our topic on the brain and its functions. Scholars are learning about how different parts of the brain work together to help us think, feel, and move!

Grade Level Blurb:

Team Third Grade had a busy week of learning. Our quarter ends this coming Friday, October 31. We also have an early dismissal and a book character parade on Friday. Students are allowed to dress as a character from a book. The student should have the book with them. Time is just flying by!

Reading Updates:

This week, our 3rd graders began their Writing Process and launched the “A Moment That Mattered” personal narrative project. In ELA, we reviewed adjectives (including comparative and superlative forms) and practiced identifying text features while reading our new nonfiction story, “Living in Deserts.” Students also began applying close reading strategies to better understand informational texts.

Additionally, students have been working on reading informational text! This includes understanding text features such as glossaries, indexes, captions, headings, etc.

Social Studies Updates:

In Social Studies, we kicked off our new Weather and Climate chapter! Students learned about different types of weather and even created their own weather reports to share with the class.

Also, students are learning how humans interact with different environments by adapting to them or changing them!

Math Updates:

This week in math, students began our exciting “Teaching Through Song” project! They worked together to brainstorm ideas and started writing creative lyrics to help teach math concepts in a fun and musical way. It’s been wonderful to see their imagination and teamwork shine as they connect music and math!

Students have also been conjuring up all of their brain power to solve subtraction with regrouping problems. Please continue to practice.

Science Updates:

During the week, we continued to study magnetism. We explored magnets and how distance will change the strength of that magnetic force. We explored this phenomenon through exploration and hands-on activities.

Health Updates:

In health, we continued learning about eye safety—exploring different ways to protect our eyes both at school and at home. Students discussed healthy habits, such as taking breaks from screens and wearing protective eyewear when needed.

It’s been an engaging week of creativity, learning, and exploration!

Grade Level Blurb:

Greetings Team 4Ward,

We are entering our final week of the first quarter of fourth grade. Our scholars continue to work hard and grow to their greatest abilities. In Fourth Grade, we strive to create a positive, respectful, and supportive learning environment for all students. We encourage punctuality, preparedness, and active participation in class. These expectations help ensure that every student can reach their full potential.

Please ensure that your scholar arrives to school on time with a charged computer. Students require at least eight hours of sleep each night and breakfast every morning to help keep them engaged. As your scholar grows older this is now the time to start setting routines for child to follow independently. A suggestion could be a checklist of tasks your scholar must do before bed or when they wake up in the morning. Create incentives and other rewards for your scholar when they are able to complete their independently or without reminders.

In our classrooms, we will be working on a variety of assignments and projects designed to challenge and inspire them. I encourage you to check in regularly with your scholar about what they are learning.Your support at home is greatly appreciated and makes a significant difference in their academic success.

Field Trip:

We are excited to announce our first field trip to the National Aquarium on Thursday October 30, 2025. At this time we have collected all permission slips and payments for this trip. Students must arrive at school on time the day of the trip as we are leaving at the conclusion of morning student arrival. Students will need to pack a disposable lunch for the trip. This means all contains of their lunch must be able to be thrown away.

Finally speak with your scholar each night about what went well today and something that they can improve. Also please be sure to monitor your scholar's YouTube and cellphones. As our students grow older and gain more independence it is imperative that our expectations match the changing world.

Educationally Yours,

4th Grade Team

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Field Trip to The National Aquarium- Thursday October 30, 2025

• Book Character Parade- Friday October 31, 2025

• Early Dismissal for Students- Friday October 31, 2025

• Parent Teacher Conferences -Tuesday November 11, 2025

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 Information:

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. This program will be available all summer for students to continue to utilize in both reading and math. Please help your child complete at least 45 minutes of math and reading to grow their abilities.

IXL:

IXL is a computer based math and reading program that is available for all of our scholars. This program helps students to practice various math and reading skills on their instructional level. Grade level letter is F but if students are struggling with a skill they are able to practice that same skill but on another letter level.

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 complete the CMIT South ES Absence Google Form within 3 days of your scholar returning back to school. https://forms.gle/euXzCpDvNGbLwb8U6 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. For Parent Teacher Conferences Day on November 11, 2025 teachers will reach out personally to meet with families of scholars that are failing, performance below grade level, or there is a behavior concern.

Reading Updates:

At the conclusion of last year, students were given the textbook for this year to take home. Please allow your scholar to reread the text of the week at home to support their understanding and discover things that were missed in previous readings.

This Week:

We finished the text “Life at the Top.” In this informational text students learned about the benefits of training in high altitudes. Students this week wrote an essay that explain how these changes in the human body are beneficial. Students also complete a word study assessment on vowel teams and digraphs.

Next Week:

The story of the week is called “Barbed Wire Baseball.” In this informational text students will read about people who were sent to a Japanese internment camp and how they adapted to their surroundings. Students will read the text to monitor their inner conversations while reading the text closely. Students will work with text structure and determine how the text is organized. This week we will begin working with prefixes during word study.

Math Updates:

In Math, our scholars are continuing their work in Topic 2: Fluently Add and Subtract Multi-Digit Numbers. This unit focuses on applying mental math, regrouping across zeros, and using addition properties to check accuracy. Many students are developing confidence in their computational fluency, but still benefit from extra practice.

How families can help at home:

• Encourage your scholar to practice basic addition and subtraction facts for 10–15 minutes each evening.

• Have them explain their thinking aloud when solving problems. This helps strengthen reasoning skills.

• Use IXL (Skill Code D9R) or short daily drills to practice subtraction with regrouping and properties of addition.

• Invite your scholar to help with real-life math tasks, such as totaling a grocery bill, counting change, or estimating sums. These real-world applications make learning stick!

Science Updates:

In Science, we are continuing Experience 2: Motion, Speed, and Collisions, and expanding our exploration of energy transfer and transformation through electrical circuits. Students are learning how energy moves from one object to another, powering systems and creating observable effects.

How families can help at home:

• Discuss examples of energy transfer around the house, like a toaster heating bread or a fan converting electrical energy to motion.

• Try simple at-home experiments, such as using a flashlight to show how light energy travels or exploring static electricity with a balloon.

• Encourage your scholar to revisit Topic Readers and BrainPop lessons in Canvas to reinforce vocabulary and concepts like collision, energy transfer, sound, and electricity.

Social Studies Updates:

This week, students completed Quest 1 and created an informational brochure about a U.S. region. They researched and described the region’s key characteristics, including its natural features, climate, natural resources, and recreational activities.The Chapter 1 Quest Activity is an in class project that will go in the gradebook as an assessment grade. This project is not eligible for a reassessment.

Grade Level Blurb:

We’ve had a productive week filled with new lessons, collaboration, and hands-on learning! Students are continuing to strengthen their reading comprehension, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills across all subjects. Please encourage your scholar to review notes daily and complete all homework on time to stay prepared for upcoming quizzes and activities.

Reading & ELA Updates:

•Focus: Unit 1, Week 5
•Skills: Understanding text structure and analyzing informational texts
•Grammar Review: Proper nouns and common nouns
•Writing Focus: Crafting engaging narratives using strong details and transitions

Encourage your scholar to read for at least 20 minutes each night to build fluency and comprehension!

Social Studies Updates:

Topic: Chapter 3, Lesson 1 – Spanish Colonies in the Americas

Students are learning how early explorers and settlers established colonies, and how these shaped cultures and communities in the New World.

Science Updates:

Topic 6, Experience 2: Organisms and Energy

Students are exploring how energy flows through ecosystems and how living things depend on one another for survival.

Health Updates:

Students are creating pie charts to represent follow-up statistics and learn how data can be used to make healthy, informed choices.

General CARTS Message:

Please remember to check your student's Canvas assignments and Synergy grades regularly!

P.E.:

We did the PACER Test this week! This test measures how well your heart works.

Media:

This week we worked on dictation and grades 4 and 5 were solving a mystery!

Music:

Greetings everyone!

Winter concert rehearsals are in full swing. Teachers, parents, and students alike are so excited about the upcoming program. Our winter concert is on December 18th at 8:30 AM. There is only 1 show! We will have a private YouTube link for those who can not be her with us in person. Don’t worry, we have a brand new sound system and the YouTube page so there should be no problems or glitches with our livestream.

This year one of our goals is to start our Booster Club. The Booster Club would be responsible for helping us raise funds for additional equipment, supplies, uniforms, etc. We desperately need choir stand risers large enough to hold each grade level. That’s approximately 100 students at a time. Risers will stagger the height of our students allowing everyone to be visible at the same time. What an enhancement to our performance! Stay tuned for links and details for how you can help.

Art:

We took a brain break in first grade art this week! Sometimes I like to let their imagination take over without a completely structured project.

2025-2026 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

Student Absence Form