CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary School Community,

Thank you Tiger family for an exciting week full of events, learning, and collaboration. I'm delighted to share some of the highlights with you for this past week and look forward to some upcoming events.

Parent-Teacher Conferences - A Resounding Success

I'm thrilled to report that our Parent-Teacher Conferences were exceptionally well-attended. It was a joy to see so many parents actively engaging in discussions about their child's progress and educational journey. These conferences are a testament to the incredible partnership between our school and our dedicated parents. Thank you for your commitment to your child's education. Special shout out to Assistant Principal, Mrs. Watkis, Kindergarten Teacher, Dr. Hughes, and Paraprofessional, Mrs. Gilbert for hosting all of Dr. Hughes's class for a meet and greet to welcome her officially to the Tiger family. Thank you families for your patience and staff for your support.

PTO Meeting this Wednesday Night

Thank you families and staff for attending our first PTO meeting of the year. This past Wednesday night we were able to host in a hybrid format in the cafeteria and online not out of necessity but flexibility for families. We encourage all parents and guardians to join the PTO to stay in the know regarding upcoming events, fundraising initiatives, and ways we can further enhance our students' educational experience. Your involvement is key to our school's success. If you missed Mr. Miller's Principal’s Corner Presentation feel free to view it here.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xrxww7N8nB8sBqLai9IzaUx_AGWRwI896lPjT3lu0hE/edit?usp=sharing

Clubs Off to a Fantastic Start

Our after-school clubs have launched with enthusiasm and excitement. We have over 300 students in 20 clubs. Students are engaging in various extracurricular activities, fostering their interests and passions. These clubs are a vital component of our holistic STEM approach to education, and we are proud of the opportunities they offer for our students to grow and explore new horizons. Unfortunately, not all students can be accommodated and we appreciate our families' understanding.

Meeting the Goal for Carnegie Learning Math Tutoring

I am delighted to announce that we have successfully met our goal for students enrolled in Carnegie Learning Math tutoring. This initiative provided free of charge by our charter operator Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation (CLF) is instrumental in providing our students with additional support and resources to excel in mathematics. Our CEO of CLF, Mr. Yilmaz Ak is committed to continuously improving the quality of educational opportunities we provide to our school community.

Outstanding Hispanic Heritage Celebration

Our Hispanic Heritage Celebration was a resounding success. The Maru Maru Dance Company graced us with a spectacular performance for the second year in a row that left us all in awe. It was a beautiful celebration of culture and diversity, and I want to thank our students, parents, and staff for making it such a memorable event. Our K-2 students got to learn about the Mexican Hat Dance and our 3rd-5th grade students tried their hand at the Macarena. All classes came in the colors of the country of the class with flags, hats, and posters to celebrate their learning of the culture of their country.

Help Us Name Our Tiger Mascot!

We are excited to announce that we're in the process of selecting a name for our beloved Tiger mascot. We invite you to be a part of this decision by suggesting your ideas. We look forward to hearing your creative and fun suggestions By Friday, October 20, 2023.

Please complete the following form with your suggestions:

Name Our Tiger Mascot Form - https://forms.gle/MGrALKBV3AVyabtc8

Remember that on Friday, October 20, 2023, there is no school for students as staff will be participating in the Maryland State Educators Association convention and professional development.

Thank you for your continued support and dedication to CMIT South Elementary. Together, we create a vibrant and nurturing environment where every child can flourish and succeed.

There are numerous upcoming events scheduled for October. In my capacity as your Professional School Counselor, I will be disseminating information throughout the month and conducting guidance lessons for our scholar.

We are so excited to announce that we are almost finished with testing in all Kinder classes. Students have worked hard and deserve a time of relaxation. We will have a pajama and popcorn party in all of our classes next Thursday, October 19th, to celebrate their testing accomplishment. Donations of bagged popcorn and juice pouches are welcomed.

Independent activities (homework) will be issued to all scholars on Monday, October 16th. Packets are given bi-weekly and will include all work that should be completed and a list of supplemental websites that students can explore at home. Please support students in completing the activities. To make the transition easy for students and staff, please bookmark Lexia Core5, iXL, and CLEVER on your child’s Chromebook and assist students with understanding how to log on to the programs. Friendly reminder that CLEVER can be found on the PGCPS website. Within CLEVER, you can search for both Lexia and iXL to access the sites. Please label the inside of your child’s Chromebook and the password to help students and teachers log onto their devices.

FIELD TRIP UPDATE!!

We have our first field trip to the Maryland Science Center, tentatively set for Thursday, November 9th. Please visit Volunteer with PGCPS to register. Please follow the required steps and contact your scholar’s teacher with any questions.

Since the beginning of the term, they have been doing assessments, and we are almost over with these screenings. But, they are also doing math and reading. Today we celebrated Hispanic Heritage Day. Students enjoyed dancing along with our invited guests (see pictures).

Please use the homework packet that students take home as an opportunity to teach/review skills. Motivate and support not just work completion, but check for accuracy. Extend conversations to what you are learning in school. Make the connection to what they see as they go places with you. These will help to motivate students to think and respond.

As always, thank you for supporting our school.

Hello Tiger Family!

We are moving right along 2nd grade! We are wrapping up the first unit of many subjects.

Our team has been experimenting with math homework since DreamBox is no longer available. Many of the classes are trying out Boddle. Please contact your homeroom teacher for any questions about Boddle.

Reminder: We are happy to have volunteers come in to assist us with different things throughout the year, so if you are interested, please make sure your volunteer requirements are completed.

We are excited to enter into October focusing on our character trait, kindness! We want to promote kindness in any way we can, whether the act is big or small!

Parent-teacher conferences are Monday, October 9, and they will be virtual. Please keep an eye out for a signup sheet coming next week! It is first come, first serve for the time slots. Once they are filled, if you didn’t get a time slot but would still like a meeting, please contact your teacher to set up a conference on another day.

Many classes will be moving on to Unit 1 Week 4 focusing on Poetry. We will be reading a variety of poems and focusing on our weekly question of “How do different places make us feel?”

Our spelling week will be on consonant digraphs. /th/ and /ch/ are examples of consonant digraphs. Consonant digraphs are TWO letters that make ONE sound.

We have officially wrapped up our topic on forces and motion. We introduced topic 2 this week on electricity and magnetism. Please be mindful topic 2 is only 2 lessons long.

Ms. Lewis and Ms. Fleet’s classes, please be prepared to take your topic 2 assessment next Thursday, October 19th. Study Guide will be posted at the beginning of next week.

The team is very proud of the efforts being shown by our scholars this year.

Students received their MCAP results from last year’s testing in May of 2023. If you are new to this school, your scores were sent to the school of record at the time of testing. Those results will be sent to us from the previous school. This was this group's first time sitting for the MCAP. Please take the time to review the results and the information that was provided by the county and the state regarding this testing. We ask that you keep this copy because it is the only one that will be provided. Teachers are not able to reprint these documents as they are secure testing materials shared with us from the state. Please keep in mind that MCAP scores cannot be compared with any other tests. Also, MCAP results are not just a set of “numbers” but a roadmap to opportunity.

Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Monday, October 9, 2023. You will meet with both of your scholar-teachers at the conference time. All conferences will be virtually and Zoom links will be provided before the conference time. Sign-Up Genius was shared on Classdojo for all families to sign up for a conference spot. Please click the link provided to you through Classdojo to join the conference at the scheduled time.

Each week we suggest checking your scholar's browser history and YouTube history. This is to make sure that your scholar isn’t going to a site or watching videos that you would not approve. Teachers are limited to only seeing activity on your scholar’s screen when they are in class. We utilize a system called Hapara that allows us to prevent access to certain sites. We are asking that you check your scholar's computer history weekly.

Anti-Bullying School Spirit Week October 16- 19, 2023

Monday- Croc and Socks/ Students must be in full uniform

Tuesday- Represent your favorite superhero

Wednesday- Dress like a buddy

Thursday- Wear orange

If students are not participating in the spirit days they must be in full uniform.

This week: Students finished reading closely our second story of the year “Rare Treasure.” This biography gave us information about scientist and one of the first paleontologists Mary Anning. Students worked on determining the meaning of unknown words that appear in context. Students also had a chance to begin working with the figurative language of similes and metaphors. Finally students complete their first essay in which they wrote an opinion essay about traits to describe Mary Anning. The week was concluded with students completing a quiz that assessed their about the text of the week.

Next week: Students will have Writer’s Workshop. We will begin generating ideas for our personal narrative. A personal narrative is a story written by the author about the author. We will continue to focus our students on having a purpose for their writing and writing for their audience. Students will determine the topic for their personal narrative and begin planning their writing. We also will work with students on how to properly portray the characters that will be in their narrative.

This week we completed sub-topic 1-5 Constructing an Argument, and began reviewing all of Topic 1, students also completed the Topic 1 Assessment. Next week we will begin exploring Topic 2: Fluently Add and Subtract Multi-Digit Whole Numbers.

Please check Schoolmax and Canvas with your scholar to ensure completion of assignments.

This week students' learning was focused on the Scientific Method and how to correctly conduct an experiment and collect data. Next week will resume exploration of Lesson 2 Collision. All students were given a hard copy of the STEM FAIR Packet, a copy was also added to Canvas. . STEM FAIR Topic is Due Wednesday October 11, 2023. STEM FAIR Projects are due Wednesday, January 17, 2024

This week: Students reviewed Lesson 2 Climate and Weather of the United States and identified the different climates and weather that are in different regions of the United States. They also started reading Lesson 3 Regions and Resources.

Next week: Students will continue to read Lesson 3 Regions and Resources and analyze and classify natural resources, capital resources, and human resources. They will understand how each region has natural resources that are used to make products.

Hi everyone!

We are moving right along in 5th grade! Please check the assignment calendar on our google site to see what upcoming assignments students may have. We have been having tests, quizzes, and homework, so we want to make sure students are keeping up with their work. Students should click on their homeroom teacher’s name to see their assignments. Here is the link to the 5th grade website for those who need it: https://sites.google.com/pgcps.org/5thgradeclasssite/home

Reminder that we are happy to have volunteers come in to assist us with different things throughout the year, so if you are interested, please make sure your volunteer requirements are completed.

We are now in October focusing on our character trait, kindness! We want to promote kindness in any way we can, whether the act be big or small!

Thank you to everyone who attended parent-teacher conferences on Monday! If anyone still has any questions, please send your teachers a message. We also have our field trip coming up October 18, so please keep an eye out for more info on that! Chaperones, we will be messaging you with more info! Money was collected this week.

We finished section 3 of unit 1 about historical fiction stories. Our story this week was called “Pedro’s Journal.” In this story, students will read about Pedro’s journey to discover land on board the Santa Maria. Students took their spelling test on vowel teams and took their reading quiz this week and we are now moving into section 4.

Students are in the third unit of Math which is about multiplying multi-digit whole numbers. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!

Students are in the first unit of Science, in lesson 3 which is about properties of matter. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!

Lego:Hello,

This week in Legos, the students did pre builds for next week's helium project.They also learned coding on the Scratch application. Please encourage your students to use their Scratch application over the weekend to practice their coding skills

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