CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

As we continue our journey through this academic year, I'm reminded of the words of Nelson Mandela: "The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall." This powerful message about perseverance reflects what we aim to instill in our students every day at CMIT South. May the 4th Be with YOU!

C-Week Reminder

This is C-Week/Week 3. Please ensure your child follows their C-Week/Week 3 schedule for Creative Arts (CARTS) classes.

Testing Schedule - MCAP

Our 3rd-grade students have completed their MCAP assessments. We now prepare for our remaining grade levels:

• 4th Grade: May 5, 6, 7, and 8

• 5th Grade: May 12, 13, 14, and 15

On each testing day, students will complete two sessions. Tests will begin promptly at 8:30 AM and will be completed by noon. To ensure your child performs their best, please:

• Ensure they arrive at school on time

• Make sure they get plenty of rest the night before testing

• Provide a nutritious breakfast

• Help them come prepared with a positive attitude

• Send them with a water bottle to stay hydrated

Recent School Events

Talent Show Showcase

What a spectacular display of creativity we witnessed at our recent Talent Show! Our scholars delivered outstanding performances across various disciplines - from captivating vocal performances and hilarious comedy routines to elegant dance numbers and impressive drum and piano solos. Each participant demonstrated remarkable courage and skill on stage. A special thank you to Coach Jones for her exceptional leadership in organizing this wonderful event, and to all the teachers and parents who contributed to its success. Your dedication made this showcase truly memorable for our community.

Art Extravaganza

Our Art Extravaganza was nothing short of extraordinary! Ms. James, our dedicated Art teacher, alongside CMIT South Middle/High School, created an exceptional artistic experience featuring stunning visual art displays, musical performances by the band, and an engaging theatrical production. Our elementary students' artwork was particularly impressive, showcasing the remarkable talent and creativity within our school. Way to go, CMIT South!

Athletics Celebration

Congratulations to our basketball teams who are demonstrating exceptional skill and determination! Coach Young's team remains undefeated, while Coach Jenkins' team secured an impressive 29-7 victory in their first game last week. Let's give our athletes a great big PaWWW-Rific ROAR for their accomplishments!

Upcoming Special Events

Teacher Appreciation Week

Next week marks Teacher Appreciation Week, and I want to express my profound gratitude for the incredible dedication and hard work of our teaching staff. Their unwavering commitment to our students' well-being and academic growth is truly inspiring.

This week provides us all with a wonderful opportunity to show appreciation for the educators who make such a meaningful difference in our children's lives. Whether through a thoughtful note, a small gesture, or a heartfelt expression of thanks, your support significantly impacts our teachers' morale and motivation. Let's make this Teacher Appreciation Week truly special for them!

National School Nurse Day - May 7, 2025

We'll also celebrate National School Nurse Day on May 7. Please join me in showing appreciation for Nurse Aneke and all she does to keep our school community healthy and safe.

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 5, 2025!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Principal

Chesapeake Math & IT Academy Elementary South (CMIT)

Dear CMIT Families,

May 8th is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day, a vital reminder that emotional wellness is just as important as academic success. At CMIT, we are committed to nurturing the whole child, and that includes supporting students' mental and emotional well-being every day.

Why It Matters:
Mental health plays a critical role in how children think, feel, and act. It affects their ability to cope with stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Addressing mental health early builds strong foundations for lifelong resilience.

A Growing Concern:
Recently, we've seen an increase in negative self-talk among students. Phrases like "I'm not good enough" or "I can't do anything right" may seem small but can be powerful indicators of low self-esteem and anxiety.

How You Can Help at Home:
✅ Model positive language – Let your child hear you speak kindly to yourself.
✅ Reframe mistakes – Teach that mistakes are chances to learn, not failures.
✅ Encourage effort over outcome – Praise hard work and persistence, not just results.
✅ Practice affirmations – Help your child say things like “I can try my best” or “I am learning every day.”
✅ Check in often – A simple “How are you feeling today?” can open the door to deeper conversations.

Together, we can help our children replace negative self-talk with confidence, compassion, and courage.

If you have concerns about your child’s emotional well-being, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our school counselor.

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, DIBELS testing starts and Kindergarten will also be starting its Embroidery projects. 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 2: Uncovering the Past

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 u (/u/) and long u (/u_e/)

• High-frequency words: all, now, pretty

• Story Vocabulary: past, shovels, brushes, scientists

• 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 10: Compose and Decompose Numbers 11 to 19

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

• Show numbers in many way

• Count and write numbers 11-20

• Represent groups of objects with a number to 20

• Practice counting on from any number within 20

• Show different numbers as a group of ten and some more

Vocabulary: eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, patterns

Science Updates:

TOPIC 4 LESSON 4: Severe Weather

Essential Question: How do different weathers affect Earth?

• Learn how the relationship between the temperature and season

• Types of severe weather

• Discover how to prepare for severe weather

• Describe how severe weather can affects people and the environment

Vocabulary:thunderstorm, hurricane, blizzard, tornado

Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 4 : Geography of the Neighborhood

Essential Question- What is the world like?

• Understand different places and areas that are around us

• Look into the into a map as a tool

• What is a globe?

• The parts of a map

• Analyze how we interact with jobs that help the community and the location of places

Vocabulary: street, community, neighbors, map, neighborhood, globe, legend

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

Grade Level Blurb:

Thank you for your continued support! As the weather is changing, please make sure your children are dressed appropriately for the day. We sent home permission slips for field day as well as ECO Adventures.

Reading Updates:

This week is Unit 4 Week 4. Throughout the week we will read a narrative nonfiction story.

Math Updates:

Scholars are finishing up Topic 8 preparing to test.

Science Updates:

Scholars are continuing to learn about animals and plant life cycles

Social Studies Updates:

Scholars are learning about what makes someone a hero.

Grade Level Updates:

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

Grade Level Blurb:

Salutations Fourth Grade Family,

I hope this message finds you well. It is that time of year again. Fourth grade will begin MCAP testing on Monday May 5, 2025 lasting to Thursday May 8, 2025. Students will take two sessions each day beginning promptly by 8:30. It is imperative that your scholar is present and on time for school all four days. Students must take the assessment in order and missing a section will result in them having to make up that section at a later time or date. Scholars that arrive once testing has begun are not able to enter the testing room. Their makeup will happen at a later time or date.

*Instruction in all subjects will differ next week as MCAP is the priority and there will be adjustments made to the schedule so that our scholars are not missing CARTS.*

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.

MCAP Practice Tests

https://support.mdassessments.com/practice-tests/english/

https://support.mdassessments.com/practice-tests/math/

Please sit with your child and review the MCAP with them. Ask your child to discuss what they are seeing and different tools they can use for testing.

Thank you for your continuing support and partnership.

Warm regards,

4th Grade Team

Important Upcoming Dates:

• 4th Grade MCAP May 5- 8, 2025

• 4th Grade Field Trip Thursday May 22, 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 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 had in class activities in preparation for MCAP. Students this week read paired texts about animal adaptations. Students used the standard RI.4.9 which focuses on integrating information from across multiple texts to form new thoughts. This standard combines most of the skills given for fourth graders such as main idea, compare and contrast, author’s purpose, referring to details in the text, and finally reading a text closely.

Next Week: Students will take MCAP which will take up most of the day. We will spend next week working on Social Emotional Lessons and different test taking strategies. After we have concluded MCAP testing we hope to begin a novel study to close out the school year.

Math Updates:

This week we will focus on Test Prep for our upcoming testing schedule as we close “Topic 5: Using Strategies and Properties to Divide by 1-Digit Numbers”;(4.OA.A.3 and 4.NBT.B.6). Students will be given a weekly MCAP homework assignment to complete at home. This assignment will be due on Thursday so that we can review the assignment as a class on Fridays.

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.

Reminder: IXL Action Plan Challenge is now over, however continue to have your scholars practice their IXL skill plans at home before the end of the month of March to receive their Scholarship reward. Please check Synergy ParentVue and Canvas with your scholar to ensure the completion of assignments.

Test Prep: Preparing for MCAP Testing

Parents and Guardians,

As we prepare for state testing and continue building strong math skills, we wanted to recommend two great resources that can support your child’s learning at home:

Math Tool Kit (Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/jlwZJbI)

4th Grade Common Core Math Quick Study Guide (Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/0Gy4Igw)

Both are fantastic tools that break down key math concepts, reinforce skills, and align with what we are learning in class. These resources can help students review and practice at home while also preparing for the MCAP.

If you’re looking for an easy way to boost your child’s confidence in math, these are great options! Let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued support!

Science Updates:

This week we will begin our next topic, Topic 4 Earth’s Features. The focus for this topic is to analyze the patterns and features of planet Earth. We will be focusing on the skills, observation, weather island erosion, and on analyzing and interpreting data. Key vocabulary for this topic is; canyon, butte, fault, trench, pattern and feature.

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

Social Studies Updates:

This week: Students prepared for the MCAP assessment by reviewing key reading comprehension strategies, analyzing practice passages, and engaging in activities focused on improving their writing and language skills.

• Please have your student get on iReady and IXL every night to practice reading skills.

• A practice assessment will be sent home next week. Encourage your student to complete it for extra practice.

Grade Level Blurb:

Fifth Grade Focus

Three end-of-year field trip permission slips have been sent home. Please review, sign, and return them as soon as possible. We’re looking forward to some exciting experiences to close out the year!

MCAP Countdown:

We are officially one week away from MCAP testing! Please encourage your child to get plenty of rest and continue practicing at home.

Reading Updates:

Students are writing speeches and practicing how to ask thoughtful questions using the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, and Why) to strengthen their ideas and communication.

Social Studies Updates:

We are reviewing Chapter 7, Lessons 1–2, focusing on the early development of the U.S. government and the Constitution.

Math:

• Ms. Jenkins’ class has started Topic 10: Line Plots, exploring how to organize and analyze data.
  

• Ms. Lewis’ class is continuing with Topic 9: Dividing Decimals, working on precision and place value understanding.
  
  

Science Updates:

We are wrapping up our Patterns in Space unit! Students created brochures that showcased how space patterns like moon phases and daylight hours appear in different parts of the world.

Health Updates:

This week’s topic is growing up and maturing, with age-appropriate discussions on physical and emotional development.

General CARTS Message:

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

Music:

Updates for our music week!

5th - Starting 12 bar blues compositions

4th - Starting instrument classifications

3rd - 4 voices and instruments by genre

2nd - instruments of the orchestra

1st - Learning Solfege

K - Finishing orchestra instruments, starting echo songs and rhythms

Technology:

In Technology class, our 4th and 5th grade students are currently focused on learning and applying MLA formatting. This includes understanding the structure of formal writing, using proper citations, and developing foundational skills for academic research and typed assignments. These lessons are designed to strengthen their writing organization and digital literacy.

Meanwhile, students in grades K-3 are continuing to build essential technology skills. They are working on tasks such as computer navigation, basic keyboarding, and responsible digital behavior. Additionally, they are completing activities for our “Ask Me Anything April” initiative, which encourages curiosity, critical thinking, and active classroom engagement with technology-related questions.

P.E.:

This week students are working on dribbling/ball control with feet using soccer balls.

Lego:

Hello All,

This week in Legos and Robotics, the students will employ various strategies to solve critical thinking questions and scenarios. They will work in groups and will need to explain their answers with a descriptive paragraph. Manipulatives many be used if needed.

Art:

This past week held the Fine Arts Extravaganza at the Middle/High school! I am so proud of my art students both past and present and can’t wait to see what the future holds! Here are some pictures of the fun.

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