We had a wonderful week completing the ELA portion of the PARCC assessment in grade 3-5. Next week, we will complete the MATH portion of the assessment in grade 3-5.

Testing Reminders:
1. Your child needs to bring in headphones.
2. Your child needs to arrive at school on time. .
3. Your child needs to eat a substantial breakfast in the morning that will give him/her the necessary energy and alertness for participation in the testing.
4. Your child needs to get a good night’s sleep the night before each testing day.
5. Your child needs to be in school every testing day. Children absent on a testing day will participate in make-up testing.
6. Please encourage your child to do his/her best!

Tenika Fryson

English Language Arts
We will read the story "If I Could Go to Antarctica." It is an informational text about the animals, plants, and terrain of Antarctica. We will be working on classifying and categorizing. We will also be reading with words having the medial /e/.

Mathematics
We are continuing with subtraction.

Science
Over the next few weeks, students will continue learning about various life cycles. Specifically, students will be focusing on the chicken life cycle as we continue to observe our chicks and our fertilized eggs.

High Frequency Words
Here are our sight words we have learned so far. Remember to practice reading and writing these words regularly! (When reading at home, if you see these words, have your child point it out!) All of the words we will learn this year are available on our grade level website under "Sight Words."

I, am, little, to, a, have, is, the, we, my, like, he, for, me, with, she, see, look, they, you, of, are, that, do, one, two, three, four, five, here

REMINDERS
-Earth Day celebration is on Monday. Please sign up via Sign Up Genius if you would like to assist. Please also remember to send a plant for our butterfly garden. Please see the following message sent via Class Dojo.

Monday April 30, 2018 will be our first annual Earth Day event! Please go to the following link for more information https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Br9cQ0oNTqxyiwOoKJcElAFMASL9K75c/view.

We are also in need of perennials for our butterfly garden. Students will be planting their plants on Monday afternoon. Please send these in if you would like your child to participate. Plant examples include, but are not limited to:

Larval Host Plants (Plants the caterpillar like):
asters (Aster spp.)
hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
ironweed (Vernonia spp.)
mallows (Family Malvaceae)
milkweed
Nectar Favorites (Plants the butterfly will drink from):
asters (Aster spp.),
butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)
Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)
Brazilian vervain (Verbena bonariensis)
Chaste tree (Vitex agnus-castus)
common zinnia (Zinnia elegans)
Pale purple coneflower (Echinacea pallida)
Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Azaleas/Rhodendron
Hyacinths
Russian Sage
Tango Hyssop

- Homework is due on FRIDAY each week. Homework that is not submitted by the due date will be given a ZERO.
- Please read regularly! Remember that just 20 minutes a day can boost your child's reading levels! Reading logs are due at the end of the month and will be given a zero if blank or missing from your child's folder.
- Please remember to send an extra pair of uniform clothes to keep in your child's cubbie at school in the event of accidents or spills.
- Uniform is enforced daily, including uninterrupted black shoes. Please go to http://cmitelementary.org/uniform-policy/ for more information.

-The Kindergarten Team

For reading, students will be reading the story Enemy Pie. They will be completing activities related to this story. They will need to create a recipe for friendship pie and work on their written response by answering related questions.

For math, students will continue to work on measurement. We will be measuring with nonstandard units such as dominoes, paper clips, etc.

For science, students will begin our life science unit. We will be planting flowers and observing the life cycles.

First Grade

2nd graders have been observing butterfly life cycles: our caterpillars are now chrysalides!

Please join us for our butterfly release at 1:30 pm on Monday, April 30th. 2nd graders will be gardening from 8:15 to 9:15 on Monday morning to add to the butterfly garden. Please pack your child a trash free lunch to help them participate in the 3Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Next week is Spring Picture Day on Wednesday, May 2nd.

Topics we are learning:
Math: Topic 10 : Three digit addition
Science: Life Cycles of living things
Social Studies: Chapter 4: Culture in America
RELA: Poetry and Research Writing

2nd grade team

We are so proud of all of our scholars! They showed such perseverance and determination during testing. Next week we will take the Math unit of PARCC. Testing will begin on Tuesday, May 1 and continue through Friday, May 4. We once again ask that your scholar arrives to school on time, well nourished, and well rested.
The Butterfly Release will be on Monday, April 30.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Br9cQ0oNTqxyiwOoKJcElAFMASL9K75c
This week's test strategy: RULES
R:read the question first.
U:underline and circle key words.
L:label the question.
E:execute your strategies.
S:select the correct answer and justify.

Third Grade Team

Our field trip to Annapolis is on May 31! Please send in permission slips, emergency forms, and money no later than May 11!

PARCC testing will continue on Tuesday, May 1. We will complete all four Math sections between May 1-4. Please continue to arrive to school on time!

Monday, April 30, we will be celebrating (late) Earth Day! We are asking parents, if willing, to donate plants (perennials please!) for our garden and come assist our students plant them. This will take place during student's creative arts class from 10:30 AM-11:15 AM. We will also be releasing our butterflies from our butterfly project on that same afternoon at 1:30 PM. If you would like to volunteer to come for either of these events, or would like to donate a perennial for the garden, please let your homeroom teacher know!

Good Afternoon,

The students worked very hard this week on the Reading/Language Arts PARCC testing.

Thank you so much parents for making sure the students ate breakfast and receive plenty of rest.

Next week is Math PARCC testing.
Math testing will take place on May 1-4. Math Make-up testing for any student who is absent will be on May 7.

We are asking that students bring headphones to use for testing. Please bring them in a plastic bag with their name on it.

Promotion Ceremony

The date will be on Friday, June 15, 2018 at 9:00am

I have asked for Baby and current pictures of all 5th grades and I do appreciate the parents who have started sending them to me. Please send the pictures to my email instead of hard copies and DOJO message. My email address is tkeys@cmitelementary.org.

Thank you!

Terri Keys

This May is Mental Health Month

"When you or someone you love is dealing with a mental health concern, sometimes it’s a lot to handle. It’s important to remember that mental health is essential to everyone’s overall health and well-being, and mental illnesses are common and treatable.

So much of what we do physically impacts us mentally. That is why this year’s theme for May is Mental Health Month – Fitness #4Mind4Body – is a call to pay attention to both your physical health and your mental health, which can help achieve overall wellness and set you on a path to recovery.

May is Mental Health Month was started 69 years ago by Mental Health America, a national organization, to raise awareness about mental health conditions and the importance of good mental health for everyone. Last year, Mental Health Month materials were seen and used by over 230 million people, with more than 10,000 entities downloading MHA’s tool kit.

This May is Mental Health Month, we are focused on how a healthy lifestyle may help prevent the onset or worsening of mental health conditions, as well as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and other chronic health problems. It can also help people recover from these conditions. Eating healthy foods, managing stress, exercising, and getting enough sleep can go a long way in making you both physically and mentally healthy.

MHA has developed a series of fact sheets (available at www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may) on the importance
of exercise, diet and nutrition, gut health, sleep, and stress management. Also new this year is the #4Mind4Body Challenge, where we call on everyone to join us in completing a small task each day during the month of May – and tell us about it on social media using #4Mind4Body.
Learn more here: www.mentalhealthamerica.net/challenge.

We know that living a healthy lifestyle is not always easy, but it can be achieved by gradually making small changes and building on those successes, by looking at your overall health every day – both physically and mentally – you can go a long way in ensuring that you focus on your Fitness #4Mind4Body."

For more information on May is Mental Health Month, visit Mental Health America’s website at www.mentalhealthamerica.net/may.

***Press Release from MHA***

Graciously,
Your School Counselor

Hello Tigers' Den!

In honor of "May is for Mental Health Awareness", every Monday for the month, each classroom will participate in a Mental Health activity/lesson/challenge. They will range in complexity and target audience, as well as tackle different areas of mental health (diet, exercise, emotions, support systems, communication techniques, etc.)

There will also be additional challenges and information sent home for family involvement in this critical exploration :)

Keep your eyes open for them, and lets get engaged in community efforts of support in all areas of our mental health! It is so important that we all take responsibility for the mental health development of our scholars, and support it throughout our community at large... partnership is key!

If you would like to volunteer to come in and host a mental health activity with our Tigers, please reach out to me and I will happily work to coordinate a time!

Graciously,
Your School Counselor

Food for thought...

Graciously,
Your School Counselor