CMIT South Elementary School

Dear CMIT South Elementary Families,

As we enter these final precious weeks of our school year, I am filled with immense pride and gratitude for the extraordinary community we have built together. Throughout this academic journey, I have witnessed remarkable growth in our students - not just academically, but in their character, kindness, and resilience. Your children have faced challenges with courage, celebrated successes with humility, and supported one another with genuine care.

To our dedicated parents and guardians, your unwavering support has been the cornerstone of our students' success. You have been partners in education, advocates for your children, and pillars of strength in our school community. The countless hours you've invested - whether helping with homework, volunteering for events, or simply encouraging your child to do their best - have made an immeasurable difference.

To our amazing students, you have shown us what it means to grow with purpose and learn with passion. Your curiosity, creativity, and determination inspire us every single day. You have proven that when we work together and believe in ourselves, there is no limit to what we can achieve.

As we prepare for these final celebrations and milestones together, I am reminded of the words of civil rights leader C.S. Lewis, who said, "Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching." This principle of integrity has been woven throughout our school year - in how our students treat one another, how families support our mission, and how we collectively strive to create an environment where every child can flourish. It is this foundation of integrity that will serve our students well as they continue their educational journey and beyond.

Important Reminders for This Week

Creative Arts (CARTS) Schedule: Please ensure your child follows their designated A-Week/Week schedule for Creative Arts classes this week. These enriching programs are an essential part of our comprehensive educational experience.

Countdown to Summer: We are getting closer to the end of the school year with just 13 more days to go! Let's finish strong together.

Upcoming Events

Field Day Excitement - Friday, June 6, 2025 We are absolutely thrilled about our upcoming Field Day celebration! This special event promises to be filled with fun, teamwork, and wonderful memories for all our students.

Kindergarten Moving-Up Ceremonies - Thursday, June 12, 2025. We are equally excited to celebrate our kindergarteners as they reach this important milestone! These ceremonies will recognize their tremendous growth and preparation for first grade:

• 8:30 AM: Dr. Hughes' & Ms. Lewis' classes

• 10:00 AM: Ms. Herbert's & Ms. Windsor's classes

5th Grade Moving-Up Ceremony - Friday, June 13, 2025, at 9:00 AM Our 5th graders will be honored as they prepare to transition to middle school, celebrating their elementary school journey and the bright futures ahead of them.

Important Information for All Moving-Up Ceremonies: Each grade level has sent detailed information about their specific ceremony. Please review and follow the guidelines provided by your child's teacher.

Parking Instructions for Ceremony Attendees:

• Primary parking: Use the rear parking lot, backing into available spaces until all spaces are filled

• Overflow parking: If the rear lot is full, please use satellite parking at CMIT South Middle High School and walk over to the elementary building

• Please arrive early to allow time for parking and seating

We are looking forward to these successful and joyous occasions as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of our kindergarten and 5th-grade students. These ceremonies represent not just academic progress, but personal growth, friendships formed, and memories created during their time with us.

Critical Instructions for Parent Volunteers and Chaperones for Field Day- Friday, June 6, 2025

Arrival and Drop-Off Procedures:

• Morning Drop-Off: Follow normal arrival procedures using the car lanes at the rear of the building (7:25 AM - 8:00 AM)

• After dropping off your student, you MUST exit the school parking lot

Parking Requirements for Volunteers:

• All chaperones must park at CMIT South Middle/High School (9822 Fallard Ct, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772)

• After parking, chaperones may enter CMIT South Elementary through the cafeteria and await further instructions

• Strictly prohibited: Parking at CMIT South Elementary, on the street in front of the building, or in neighboring business parking lots

• Important: Vehicles parked illegally are subject to ticketing and towing at the owner's expense

Chaperone Responsibilities:

• Support teachers with classroom supervision and transitions between activities

• Stay off cellular devices to ensure everyone's safety - "Supervision is Critical"

• Wear your assigned class color t-shirt if chaperoning with a specific class

• PTO will provide guidance on appropriate attire for station volunteers

Early Dismissal:

• Parents must sign out students at the front office before early departure

• Sign-out forms will be available in the morning for planning purposes

Safety Reminders - Your Cooperation is Essential

Morning Drop-Off Safety Alert:

• Students must remain in vehicles until staff are visibly present outside

• Staff supervision begins at 7:25 AM

• Students should never be left unattended outside the building

• This policy protects all students from potential safety hazards

How You Can Support at Home

We encourage meaningful conversations with your child about:

• Appropriate ways to interact with classmates

• The importance of respecting others' personal space

• Good sportsmanship and teamwork during Field Day activities

As we look ahead to the final weeks of school, remember that the STEM Journey Begins Here at CMIT South Elementary! It’s not over yet, 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, June 2, 2025!

With Tiger Pride,

Ms. Tauheedah N. Simmons-Lewis

Principal

Outstanding Chess Tournament Success! We are incredibly proud to announce that CMIT South Elementary student Arvik Nag has achieved championship victory at the CLF Chess Tournament held on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at CMIT North Middle School! Arvik's strategic thinking, dedication to practice, and competitive spirit have earned him this well-deserved recognition in his age group.

Adding to this remarkable family achievement, Arvik's brother Arvin also claimed the championship title in the middle school division. This extraordinary accomplishment by both brothers demonstrates the power of perseverance, intellectual curiosity, and the supportive family environment that nurtures excellence.

Arvik's victory reflects the values we cherish at CMIT South Elementary - academic excellence, critical thinking, and the courage to compete at high levels. We celebrate not only his chess mastery but also the sportsmanship and dedication he has shown throughout his preparation for this tournament. Congratulations, Arvik, on representing our school with such distinction!

Grade Level Blurb:

Thank you to all the Speakers that came on Career Day. The students had a great time!

We are approaching the end of the year. Here is some information about the upcoming Kindergarten Promotional Ceremonies. The ceremonies will be at 8:30 am and 10 am. The 8: 30 ceremony will have classes of Ms. Lewis and Dr. Hughes.The 10 am ceremony will have the classes of Ms. Herbert and Ms. Windsor. All students have a part if your scholar had a speaking role because continue to practice with them at home. The ceremony is about one hour. Students do not have to stay for the remainder of the day. Please feel free to celebrate with your scholar. Students WILL NOT receive a cap and gown. Students should dress their best. (dresses, suits, etc.)

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

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 28: Wacky Wednesday: Icee Day

June 6: Save the Date: Field Day

June 12: Kindergarten Promotion 8:30 am and 10 am

June 13: All of Kindergarten's: End of school year Party

June 18: Last day of school

Reading Updates:

UNIT 5- Week 1: Weather Around the World

Essential Question: How have people learned to live in bad weathert?

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

Blend and Segment: Onset and Rime

• Phonics:Vowel sounds - shorts and long

• Review letters c and t

• High-frequency words: be, saw, our

• Story Vocabulary:snow, rainy, windy, weather

• Unit Vocabulary: effect, measure, prepare, and extreme

Learning Goals:

• Learn about the past

• Visualize details from a story

• Syllables and compound words

• Read a sentence and illustrate it

• Find details in a text

• Find the theme of the story

• Make inferences

• Match sentences to illustrations

• 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 13: Analyze, Compare and Create shapes

Essential Understanding: How can two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes be described?

• compare and contrast 2-D & 3-D shapes

• Analyze the flat surface 2-D shapes to see if it can be used to create a 3-D shape

• Create shapes shapes from other shapes

Vocabulary: sort, two-dimensional, three-dimensional, circle, triangle, side,vertex, square, rectangle, hexagon, cube, cylinder, cone, sphere

Science Updates:

TOPIC 6: Environments

Essential Question: What do people need to survive?

• Learn how the relationship between the people and their environments

• Discover how people fulfill their needs depending on the environment

• How can people and animals change the environment

• Explore how to protect the environment

Vocabulary: shelter, forest, plain, desert, ocean, environment, resources, reuse, and recycle

Social Studies Updates:

Chapter 5 : Time and Chronology

Essential Question- How do we track time?

• Understand different that different words tell about time

• Look into measuring time

• How do we make a timeline

• Interpret how to we use a timeline

• Explore sequencing of events

Vocabulary: future, past, calendars, months, week, year, decade, seasons, weather, pattern generation and century

Health Updates:

June Topic: Every Day, Play

• Identify what is play and what is not play

• Explain why it is important to play

• Explore different ways to play and how it could be exercise

• Discover how exercise keeps your body strong.

• Create the rules that keep playing safe

Vocabulary: heart, lungs, muscles, exercise, play

Grade Level Blurb:

As we enter the final weeks of school, we’re excited to finish the year strong! DIBELS testing will continue on Monday, so please make sure your child is well-rested and on time. Also on Monday, we’ll be taking our final field trip, where students will explore and learn about erosion—a great hands-on learning opportunity! Looking ahead, Field Day is scheduled for Friday, June 6, 2025. It promises to be a fun-filled day of outdoor activities and celebration. A big thank you to all of our grade-level chaperones and volunteers—we couldn’t do it without you!

Reading Updates:

In Unit 5, Week 2, scholars will be learning how to compare and contrast texts—a key reading comprehension skill. This week’s story will be an informational text, helping students practice identifying similarities and differences in content and structure.Our foundational skill focus will be on double consonants, as students continue to build their phonics and decoding abilities.

Math Updates:

In Math, scholars will be learning how to compare numbers within 1,000, using place value understanding to determine greater than, less than, or equal to relationships.

Social Studies Updates:

Scholars will be finishing up their topic about heroes from the past who have inspired positive change in the world today.

Grade Level Blurb:

Students enjoyed Career Day! Thank you for all of our guests. Each class enjoyed themselves! As the year closes, please keep an eye out for grade level announcements about Field Day, as well as end of year activities.

Reading Updates:

We are continuing to read biographies! We are also reviewing reading and writing concepts from throughout the school year.

Math Updates:

We are continuing to learn about measurement!

Social Studies Updates:

To end the year, we are learning about civics, citizenship, and the branches of our federal government! We will introduce state and local levels as well.

Science Updates:

Students have been learning about fossils!

Greetings Fabulous Fourth Grade,

I hope this message finds you well. We are down to the last few weeks of the school year. We are so thankful for all the support and care that have been provided to the teachers this school year. We are super proud of the growth that has been shown in our scholars since the beginning of the year.

The Fourth Grade Team wants to celebrate our scholars by having a weeklong celebration. The flyer has been attached for you to view. We need your help to make this week successful. If you’re able to donate your time or supplies, please complete the SignUp Genius that has been posted below.

4th Grade Celebration Permission

4th Grade Sign Up

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 June is Integrity. I tell my students this means doing the right thing even when no one is watching. This month share with your scholar a time in which you showed integrity. Explain to them the feeling that you had from doing the right thing. Please continue to read to get updates and important information from Fourth Grade.

Thank you for your continuing support and partnership.

Warm regards,

4th Grade Team

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Field Day Friday June 6, 2025

• Fourth Grade Finale Monday June 9- Friday 13, 2025

• Last Day of School Wednesday June 18, 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:

This week students continued to read our novel “The Hero Two Doors Down.” This week students focused on the setting of the story and compared it to the setting of this day. Students will continue to watch how the character grows and changes throughout the story. We will also explore how character actions will affect events in the story.

Next Week:

Students will continue to read our novel “The Hero Two Doors Down.” This week students will work to make connections to the text as they compare choices they made to the choices made by the character of Steve. Students will also work to summarize a chapter. We only have 5 more chapters left to read in our novel. At this point of the story students are able to identify the changes that Steve has made as a character and how the events of the story are affected by his choices.

Math Updates:

This week we began our next topic focus, Fractions!! Topics 8-10 will focus on comparing, adding, subtracting, and multiplying fractions.Our Essential Question for these upcoming topics are; “Extend Understanding of Fraction Concepts including Equivalence and Ordering.” Workbook Volume 1 has been sent home.

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.

Science Updates:

This week we closed Topic 4 Earth’s Features and began Topic 5: Earth’s Natural Hazards. In this next topic, we will take the learning from our previous topic and apply that to the two types of natural Earth Hazard, tectonic and weathering hazards. Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, and other recurring natural hazards. The objectives for this topic are to; describe the impacts natural hazards have on the lives of people, describe how hazardous weather can affect humans and solutions to reduce the impact of natural hazards.We will be focusing on the skills, observation, weather island erosion, and on analyzing and interpreting data. Key vocabulary from this topic for lesson one; fault, earthquake, tsunami, volcano, and eruption.

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

Social Studies Updates:

This Week: Students shared their mini business projects with the class. In their presentations, they should tell us the name of their business, what they are selling or doing, who they think will use it, how they will tell people about it, and how their business can help the community.

Next Week: Students will analyze and reflect on their performance during the business project presentation and evaluate their learning experiences from career day.

Grade Level Blurb:

Greetings Families,

We hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend! Here’s what’s happening in 5th grade this week:

📚 Reading Updates:

We are continuing our book study. Students are engaging in discussions, identifying key details, and making connections as they read. Encourage your child to share what’s happening in the story at home!

➗ Math Updates:

Ms. Jenkins’ class is wrapping up the unit on line plots with a test.

Ms. Lewis’ class continues to work on dividing fractions and applying the concept to real-world situations.

🔬 Science Updates:

We are concluding our unit on energy and plants. Students observed how plants grow and sprout, connecting this process to their learning about photosynthesis and the role of energy in ecosystems.

💼 Career Day Recap

We had an amazing Career Day! Thank you to all of our wonderful guest speakers for inspiring our scholars with stories about hard work, perseverance, and passion. Students enjoyed learning about a variety of career paths and asking thoughtful questions.

🎓 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony

Our promotion ceremony will take place on Friday, June 13 at 9:00 AM in the CMIT South Elementary Gymnasium.

• Each student will receive two tickets for guests.
  
  

• Students are expected to dress up in black and white attire.
  
  

• Please make sure students arrive on time, as this is a regular school day and the ceremony will begin promptly at 9:00.
  
  

As always, thank you for your continued support!

– The 5th Grade Team

General CARTS Message:

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

Art:

This week we finished up projects in K-3! So we will be starting our last project of the year! Grade 4 is beginning their last project which is a collaborative cardboard city. Grade 5 is doing a mini-project inspired by Keith Haring’s figures. Then we will do a happy little landscape painting to close out the elementary school chapter of their life.

Legos and Robotics:

This week we continued creating video games that their peers will test and rate. Last week's test runs went well. The games created were challenging and creative.

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