CMIT South Elementary School
Week of November 27, 2022
CMIT South Elementary December Themes
Character Theme: Confidence
"“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”―Theodore Roosevelt
STEM Theme: Engineer Design Process
“Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world.” - Unknown
Dear CMIT South Elementary Tiger Families,
Welcome back! I hope this message finds you rested, rejuvenated, and ready for the exciting opportunities that 2024 holds for us at CMIT South Elementary.
As we step into the new year, I want to extend my warmest wishes to each one of you for a fantastic start to 2024. The winter break was a time for joy, relaxation, and making beautiful memories with family and friends. Now, as we resume our academic journey, let's carry that spirit of enthusiasm and positivity forward.
Health and Safety Reminders
With the changing weather and the recent holiday season, we find ourselves in the midst of the cold and flu season. I kindly encourage everyone to prioritize their health and well-being. Wearing masks daily, especially in shared spaces, can help mitigate the spread of germs. If your child is feeling unwell—experiencing a fever, vomiting, or frequent restroom needs—I urge you to consider keeping them home to rest and recover. Your child's health and the well-being of our entire school community are of utmost importance. Please consider flu shots and COVID vaccinations as ways to protect or mitigate the effects of any illness for your child.
Attendance Matters
A gentle reminder regular, on-time attendance remains crucial for academic success. School doors open for arrival at 7:35 AM, and students should be picked up between 2:25 PM - 2:55 PM. Consistent late arrivals and pick-ups will prompt contact from our team to ensure adequate support and understanding of school expectations.
As we commence the new year, a friendly reminder to address your MySchoolBucks.com account for school meals. Ensuring your accounts are up to date will ensure a seamless experience as we resume breakfast and lunch services.
Upcoming Events
(Open House) Our last open house of the season is scheduled for January 18, 2024, at 6:30 PM, both online and in person. It's an excellent opportunity for new families to discover more about CMIT South Elementary and the Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation.
Thank you for your continued partnership in nurturing a safe and conducive learning environment for our students. Let's embark on this new year with positivity, resilience, and a commitment to excellence.
Wishing you all a successful and fulfilling 2024!
Sincerely,
Ronald A. Miller, Jr
Principal
Chesapeake Math & IT Academy South Elementary
Please take a look at these December - January calendar reminders:
1/15/24 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Schools and Offices Closed
1/18/24 - Open House - 6:30 p.m.
1/19/24 -End of Second Quarter (44 days)
1/22/24 - Professional Day for Teachers – ½ Day Asynchronous Learning for Students
Hazel Health Services Coming to CMIT South Elementary
What is Hazel Health?
Hazel Health has partnered with Prince George's County Public Schools to provide access to quality healthcare services for all students, at no cost to families, this school year. Students can be referred by the school counselor or their parent/guardian. A designated person at the school or a parent/guardian can initiate a video visit with a Hazel health care provider while your child is at school or at home to provide either physical or mental health services. Therapy sessions with Hazel Health are a safe space and are private and confidential.
How can your child receive services?
Waitlists for mental health services for children are sometimes long or sometimes as parents it's tough to find the time to take our children to appointments which makes it difficult for them to receive the immediate support they need. Hazel Health is geared to bridge that gap. Students are able to receive these services free, virtually and while in school. If you have any questions please feel free to visit their website https://www.hazel.co/ or reach out to me.
The “Lost and Found” collection bin is located in the cafeteria. Any found articles (coats, hats, gloves, backpacks, lunch boxes, etc.) are placed in the bin. Found small items (keys, glasses, jewelry) are stored in the Main Office. Students may check the “Lost and Found” for lost items before or after school, or during lunch. All items left unclaimed at the end of each academic quarter are donated to charities or are discarded. Parents are strongly encouraged to label all belongings with first and last names.
In November 2020, PGCPS launched an online volunteer application and approval process. Click here for more information on becoming a volunteer and to access the application.
Birthdays are so much fun to celebrate with classmates. However, during the school day, the health and safety of each student are important, especially students with food allergies. Students are ONLY permitted to bring in NON-FOOD items to distribute to classmates at the end of the school day. Birthday invitations will not be distributed.
Attendance in school each day is important. Let’s stay in school.
In order for an absence to be considered excused, a written note must accompany the student no later than three (3) days after return to school. The note should include:
- date(s) of absence
- scholar’s name
- Reason for absence
Late or make-up work will not be accepted unless the absence is an excused absence. Please review Administrative Procedure 5113 AP 5113 - Student Attendance, Absence and Truancy for further information.
Students who are absent for ten consecutive days will be withdrawn on the 11th day and will need to re-enroll.
Lawful Absences
Students enrolled in public schools are considered lawfully absent from school for any portion of the day, only under the following conditions:
- Death of a family member
- Illness of the student
- Court appearance
- Work approved or sponsored by a school
- Observance of a religious holiday
- State of emergency
- Suspension from school
- Mental Health (Students may receive as an excused absence one (1) day of absence
- in each semester of each school year for a student’s mental health needs.
- Other emergencies
- Deployment-related absences
Unlawful Absences
Unlawful absence – any time a student does not attend school that does not qualify as the above-listed reasons for a lawful absence.
Tardy
Scholars will be officially tardy if they are not in the building at 8:10 a.m.
If your scholar enters the building after the 8:05 a.m. bell, a parent must escort them into the building and electronically sign them in the late arrival portal. Scholars will be given an orange tardy slip to be permitted to class.
Parents of students who have 10 or more tardies in a semester will be required to meet with the principal/designee to discuss the reasons for the tardies and to develop a plan for improvement.
Health Forms
Please be sure to submit all required health forms! Please note that ALL medications, cough drops included, cannot be administered or consumed without appropriate documentation.
You can access all health forms here for the 2023-2024 school year.
School Meals
2023-24 School Year Meal Prices
Elementary (Pre-K through Grade 5)
Breakfast: $1.60/day
Lunch: $2.75/day
How to Pay
MySchoolBucks, owned and operated by Heartland Payment Systems, is an online payment service that provides parents the ability to securely pay for meals, monitor student cafeteria purchases, make tuition payments for Before and After School Extended Learning programs, and receive email notifications for low-account balances. With MySchoolBucks, payments can be made 24/7 using a Visa, MasterCard, Discover, credit or debit card, and mobile app.
Principal Lunch Account
ALL breakfast,lunch, and Principal lunch payments should be made via www.myschoolbucks.com.
All money comes/goes to 1 account (child's). All that is needed to set up account (if not done) is
students lunch pin or student id.
Free and Reduced-Price Meals
We encourage all families to consider applying for free and reduced-price meals! Visit www.myschoolapps.com/Home/PickDistrict to apply online today!
To apply, you will need:
- The name, school, and grade of your school-age children
- The name of all adults living in the home
- Income information for all adults living in the home
- Student ID Numbers for your school-age children
Applications will also be sent home with students the first week of school. Applications are available at all PGCPS schools and can be submitted at any time.
Grade Level Updates
STEM FAIR PROJECTS:
Here is a Digital STEM Fair packet, for those who may need to review the requirements. FINAL DUE DATE FOR THE STEM FAIR is 01/17/2024. The physical backboard and video presentation will all be due on this date. Kindergarten does not have to complete the research paper. Video presentations should be submitted via Flipgrid. Each teacher has provided the link to access the Flipgrid page to all families. Directions for the video are on the assignment post. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions.
Here is an example of what a STEM Fair board may look like. Please check the above packet for all items that are required to be on the board. SCIENCE FAIR DISPLAY BOARD SAMPLES
Completed projects are due Wednesday, January 17, 2024; completed projects will include the Backboard and video presentation. Students will be presenting brief information about their projects this week.
Parents should ensure projects are submitted on time.
NO LATE PROJECTS WILL BE ACCEPTED (K-5th)
UPCOMING DATES:
½ Day Asynchronous Learning Day (At-home)- January 22, 2024
Aquarium Field trip- Tentative day February 26, 2023
NO SCHOOL- February 19, 2024
Parent/Teacher Conference and 2 hr delayed opening- February 20, 2024
Grade Level Updates
First Graders were tested on IReady last week. This provides additional data to help students support student learning as they navigate the curriculum. Please review all skills with students daily to help build and sustain strong memory skills. All skills can also be found on Google to provide additional practice.
The STEM project is due on January 17. Students should be able to articulate their learning as they present to their classmates. Practice makes perfect.
Reading Updates: UNIT 2/WEEK 6
NEW AT THE ZOO-Project
Phonics Long i CVe pattern w/silent /e/
Spelling Long/i/ (Mike, like, bike)
/S/ sound spelled /C/ for example, cement
/J /sound spelled /g/ …for example, germ
HFW: into, don’t, know, many, after
Decodable Story: Too Many Pups
Literacy Project: New at the Zoo
Math Updates:
Topic 6:Represent and Interpret Data
Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many are in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another
EQ: What are some ways you can collect, show, and understand data?
-organize data into three categories, collect and represent data -interpret data, -continue to interpret data -Problem Solving
Social Studies Updates:
Symbols and Traditions of the S. American Heroes (hero, migrant, worker)
Science
Weather and Seasons (EQ: What can you tell about weather and seasons?)
Health Updates:
How do we communicate?
-Hearing and speaking
Pictures (Optional-Please include caption)
Math skills are ongoing: Students must practice math daily to sustain mastery of skills
Data
Do a favorite ice cream survey with family members; document and share the data with everyone. Questions to ask:
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
How many people answered this question?”
“Which is the most?”
“Which has the fewest?”
“Are they the same?”
“How many are in each category?”
Data
Grade Level Updates
Grade level blurb:
Hello Tiger Family! We are quickly wrapping up Quarter 2! Here are some quick reminders as we move along 2nd grade!
1. Students are no longer able to charge Chromebooks in class. They MUST charge their Chromebooks at home.
2. Please continue to check SchoolMax regularly for up-to-date grades.
3. Please continue to check Blue Folders AND agenda books nightly.
4. STEM Fair is DUE January 17th. Second grade students are required to bring in their trifold board and submit a 2-minute video presentation on CANVAS. Presentations will be shared in class. Please be sure to reference the rubric available in the STEM Packet and reach out if you have any questions.
Reading Updates:
Unit 3 focuses on “Our Traditions”. Students will dive into many different kinds of text like, folktales, fables and legends. This week we will focus on Legends. A Legend is an old story that tells about an important event or hero that has a special meaning in a culture. We will be reading “The Legend of the Lady Slipper” in class.
Our spelling words this week will focus on comparative endings. You will notice many words have the same base words but different endings added on. The endings we are focusing on are -er and -est
Math Updates:
All classes should be wrapping up Topic 5 and have tested or will test soon. We will continue problem solving addition and subtraction within 100 in our next topic. Please utilize your homeroom teachers CANVAS site for additional resources and support.
Homework packets will be given at the beginning of a unit. It is essential that you and your scholar are only doing the lesson your homeroom teacher has assigned and taught in class not completing the entire packet in one day.
Science Updates:
Your class should be wrapping up Topic 3 in science and have tested or will be testing soon. We will be moving onto Topic 4- Plants and Animals. Please utilize our CANVAS site.
STEM Fair is DUE January 17th. Second grade students are required to bring in their trifold board and submit a 2-minute video presentation on CANVAS. Presentations will be shared in class. Please be sure to reference the rubric available in the STEM Packet and reach out if you have any questions.
Social Studies Updates:
We are working in and wrapping up Topic 3 - Government. Please utilize our CANVAS site for review material as we dive into this topic.
Health Updates:
We have wrapped up Healthy Heart and will move into our January magazine all about Fear and when you feel afraid this week.
Grade Level Updates
Grade level blurb:
We are one week away from the end of 2nd quarter. The deadline for missing assignments is January 13th. Please be mindful that we are slowly but surely approaching testing season so prepare for a lot of test prep over the next few months.
Reading Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: This week we continued talking about informational text. We read the informational text Weird Friends. We were able to identify some text features such as Subtitles and Headings and why might an author use them. We also started iReady testing.
Mathews/Madison: This week students worked on the following:
- I-Ready testing
- informational text structures
- analyzing text details
- r controlled vowels
- irregular plural nouns
Next week students will reflect and share what they learned about how plants and animals depend on each other for survival from the text Patterns in Nature and Weird Friends. students will be writing a how-to article and learning about plural nouns.
Math Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: We are working through topic 6 which is on the area. There are only a couple of lessons left so be on the lookout for a study guide.
Madison/Mathews: This week students will work on studying Topic 6 Test (Using Multiplication and Addition to Find the Area of an Object) and next week, they will be introduced to Topic 7 - Finding and Interpreting Data.
Science Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: We are about halfway through our unit on Climate. The past couple of weeks we have discussed what climate is and how climate affects the Earth. Please be on the lookout for a date for the topic assessment.
Madison/Mathews: This week students focused on their STEM Fair projects and Unit 3 Weather and will continue to do so next week.
STEM Fair projects are due on January 17th. NO LATE PROJECTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Social Studies Updates:
Fleet/Lewis: In Social Studies, we began looking at the first people in the United States, people who migrated from other countries, and how they worked together as allies sometimes.
Mathews/Madison: This week students work on types of resources around us. Next week, students will learn about human capital.
Grade Level Updates
Happy New Year!! We hope that you all had a restful and joyous holiday season with your loved ones! We have finished our excellent eighteenth week of school and have finished our second week of 2024! We are glad to welcome back our scholars and look forward to continuing to grow in the new year. As a grade level, we could use donations of tissues, hand sanitizer, index cards, and pencils. This past week 4th graders completed their winter administration of the i-Ready diagnostic. This is a county-mandated test used to help determine students' reading ability and next steps to make scholars successful. Once all makeup testing has concluded we will share home the most recent scores. Please read the reminders to ensure that you are partnering with your scholars to make them successful for school. The second quarter comes to an end on Friday, January 19, 2024!
Fourth Grade Reminders:
Scholars should come to school each day with a fully charged Chromebook. As a STEM school technology is utilized in all classes and students are completing assignments digitally. It is difficult to charge Chromebooks during class.
Please check Schoolmax weekly to see the 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 Schoolmax are those that will be used to calculate progress reports and report cards.
If your scholar is absent, please share a note with the homeroom teacher 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.
Each week we suggest checking your scholars 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.
Reading Updates:
This Week: Students brought an end to the realistic story we have read the past two weeks “Minn of the Mississippi.” In this story we read about the challenges a snapping turtle faces on the Mississippi River and how Minn adapted to her environment. Students identified how the character changed throughout the story and how she adapted to the challenges she faced. Also, students showed their mastery by completing a spelling quiz or irregular plurals, a quiz on the story, and an essay about how Minn changed.
Next Week: Students will continue in fiction as we begin our poetry unit. Students will read a collection of poems that explore how different creatures depend on each other for survival. Students will monitor their inner conversations this week, determine and identify elements of poetry, and begin creating their own poems using figurative language. Students will also continue to expand their vocabulary by studying Greek and Latin root words.
Math Updates:
This week students finished exploring multiplying whole numbers using the area model strategy in Topic 3. This week students prepared for the Topic 3 assessment by reviewing previous concepts such as; multiplying by multiples of 10, 100, and 1000, estimating products, multiplying using arrays, and multiplying using the area model.
Please check Schoolmax and Canvas with your scholar to ensure completion of assignments.
Science Updates:
In Science we have begun our next topic, Topic 2: Human Use of Energy. Students are learning about How Humans Interact and Use Natural Resources. This week we are diving into some hands-on activities in science.
STEM Fair Reminder:
Final STEM FAIR Projects are due Wednesday, January 17, 2024. No late projects will be accepted. If your child is going to be absent that day, please have someone drop off their STEM Fair Board.
Social Studies Updates:
This week: Students read about reconstruction and the Civil War and identified the causes and effects of the war by completing a graphic organizer using notes from the text, a video, and a map.
Next week: Students will take a quiz on the Civil War and begin reading about the United States facing change in the twenty-first century.
Grade Level Updates
Grade level blurb:
Hi everyone! Welcome back, we hope everyone had a wonderful break!
Reminder that we have no school Monday for MLK day!
We are just about at the HALFWAY point of 5th grade! We are finishing up quarter 2 this week! We want to keep pushing through and encouraging students to keep trying their best as we help get them prepared for middle school! 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 would love it if people wanted to come in and volunteer during lunch times for students, so let us know if you are interested.
We are in January, and we are focusing on our character trait, confidence! We want to show confidence in any way we can!
The temperature is dropping, and students MUST have a winter coat to be allowed outside for recess. The CMIT fleeces are no longer warm enough for recess. If the temperature drops below 32 degrees or is wet outside, we will have indoor recess!
Reading Updates:
We are moving along into unit 2 which is about observations. We finished our story which is an informational text called “Tracking Monsters.” We also had our spelling test on prefixes. We will be working on the next section of unit 2 next week!
Math Updates:
Students are in the fifth unit of Math which is about division. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!
Science Updates:
Students are working on the third unit of Science, about the biosphere and geosphere. Homework will be posted on the assignment calendar as we get started so keep an eye out!
Social Studies Updates:
We are in chapter 4 which is about life in the colonies. We will be working on chapter 4 lesson 2 next week!
Lego:
Hello All
This week in Legos and Robotics we are continuing to film our movies. We are adding our finishing touches to our Winter Wonderland. I will send out a post once it is set up for viewing.
Maker’s Lab:
Hello All,
I am excited to share with you that this week's activities that took place in the maker's lab were using a Microscope. During our session, I had the privilege of teaching your children how to use a microscope. The hands-on experience allowed them to explore the fascinating world of microscopy, observing tiny details and gaining a deeper understanding of various specimens. The maker's lab provided an interactive and engaging environment, fostering curiosity and a love for learning. Your children demonstrated great enthusiasm and curiosity throughout the process, showcasing their eagerness to explore and discover. I believe that these experiences not only enhanced their scientific knowledge but also promoted critical thinking and analytical skills. I look forward to more exciting explorations in the maker's lab and the continued growth of our young scientists.
CHESAPEAKE MATH AND IT SOUTH ELEMENTARY
• Hours: 8:00 a.m to 2:25 p.m
• Grades: K-5
• Uniform: Yes
• Before After School Enrichment: Yes
http://clfmd.org/enrichment-2/
• School Colors: Hunter Green, Navy Blue
• School Mascot: Tigers
• School Website: http://www.cmitsouthes.org
For more information