The CLF Board will appoint two parent members from Prince George’s County to its Board of Directors. Interested parent candidates wishing to join are required to submit their resume along with a cover letter of intent to the board of directors by January 31. Cover letter items should include various ways the parent candidate believes they will best represent CLF’s public charter schools by contributing to the CLF board. Potential candidates are also asked to indicate how many children they have attending CMIT schools and how many years they have been involved with CMIT schools in their cover letter. Please e-mail your resume and cover letter to: awilson@clfmd.org with the subject line: “CLF Board Parent Candidate.” Board Executive committee will review resume submissions and select five candidates prior to the board meeting. The board will vote to elect two out of these five parent candidates recommended by the executive committee at the January 21, 2016 CLF Board Meeting. The parent board members selected will then serve a one-year term and parent board members may serve for three consecutive terms if re-appointed by a majority board vote at the end of each annual term.

Administration

"Families {overly} centered on children create anxious, exhausted parents and demanding, entitled children..." [YIKES!] https://www.yourmodernfamily.com/less-patient-more-lonely/ I found some really interesting and thought provoking ideas in this article (and in the many that are linked throughout it!) As I work on always keeping my perspective fluid, I wanted to share this with all of you :)

Graciously, Your School Counselor [Mrs. Whitney Green]

Students are expected to attend all club sessions. I look forward to an exciting year! We will meet every Thursday. We have a busy few week ahead of us so it is important that all students are present each weeks. We are in need of the items below. 1. boxes 2. bottle tops 3. hot glue sticks 4. Old small motors or old motorized things 5. wires 6. hot glue guns 7. small figures or old lego people (preferably star wars themed) 8. Anything useful

Mrs. Mccain-Wigfall MESA Coordinator

Our Fifth Annual STEM fair will be January 5, 2019. Invitations went home with students who are invited. Third graders should arrive at 8:30 a.m. Fourth graders should arrive at 9:30 a.m. Fifth grader should arrive at 10:30 a.m. Student should wear their white Oxford shirts and be dressed to impress. Students in fourth and fifth grade who completed eprojects do not need to bring anything. Their projects will be reviewed on chrome books. All volunteers should arrive at 7:45am. Thank you for your time and consideration to this matter. We look forward to an amazing STEM Fair.

CMIT STEAM Committee

Grub for Grandparents Friday January 25th (times vary) To celebrate CMIT Grandparents Day, we will be having our annual Grub for Grandparents on Friday January 25th (flyers will be sent home this week). Grandparents will need photo ID to sign in. They will gather in the media center and then be escorted to the cafeteria for lunch. Following lunch, Grandparents will exit the cafeteria and join their grandchild in their classroom. In the classroom there will be an opportunity to assist students with classroom activities and/or project for 35-45 minutes. To RSVP please click the Google form link below. RSVP deadline is Friday January 18th and we are not accepting same day registration for this event. RSVP: https://goo.gl/forms/JEhJ7HD1baHyxv882 Please note each grade has it's own arrival time: K: 9:45AM, 1st: 10:20AM, 2nd: 10:55AM, 3rd: 11:30AM, 4th: 12:05PM, 5th: 12:40PM We are also looking for fingerprinted volunteers and donations for this event. Please click the link below to sign up if you are able to do either. Thank you so much in advance for your help and support! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090E44AFA82EA2FB6-cmit4 Our next spirit night will be January 11th at the Laurel Chuck-E-Cheese 936 Fairlawn Ave. Laurel MD 20707. On January 11th students who sold 10 items or more will participate in our Fundraiser party during school hours. Thank you for your support. Ways to Support Year Round... Image result for giant a plus Register Your Giant Card- -Please register your Giant Card for the A+ school rewards. You can register online the school's ID is 18383. If you have already signed up before you don't have to do it again. If you haven't yet below is information on how to do it: http://files.constantcontact.com/e7bfdf5a001/50a87b93-de63-45c2-be16-984572499d55.pdf Boxtops: Collect and Save your Boxtops from all those wonderful summer cookouts and family gatherings this summer. On Amazon Don't forget to SMILE please click the following link http://smile.amazon.com/ch/47-2051473 to help make us smile.

CMIT ESN PTO

Next Week in First Grade! Reading - We are reading "Ice Bear" by Nicola Davies. Reading skills: retelling, making connections, nonfiction vs fiction, opinion writing Phonics: long o - spelled 'oa' Math - We are finishing Chapter 2, which includes counting on, doubles, near doubles, and using addition to subtract. We will be starting Chapter 9, which is comparing two-digit numbers. Science - We are continuing to work on The Engineering Design process by working on our in class STEM project of The Elves and The Baker. We will be designing and building simple machines. Before the break, we sent home a flyer with our scholars about recyclable items needed to make this project successful. A picture of the flyer has been included in this newsletter for reference. Social Studies - We are continuing to learn about making choices. Health - We are continuing to learn about pollution.

First Grade Team

Welcome back from winter break! We hope everyone had a wonderful time with their loved ones and is ready to have an amazing second half of the school year. Next week we will be getting back into the swing of things. In Reading, we will be beginning Unit 3. This unit focuses on creative ideas. The question of the week next week will be, "When does support from others help with a creative idea?" Throughout the week, we will be focussing on Author's Purpose and Questioning. The spelling pattern for list A next week will be e, ee, ea, and y. In math we will be finishing up Topic 4: Fluently adding within 100. Have a wonderful weekend and we will see you next week.

- The Second Grade Team

Happy New Year and welcome back!! Next week in learning: ELA: Students will use text features to understand nonfiction texts. Social Studies: Students will understand the reasons why people settle in certain areas Math: Students will be learning about fractions and they should keep practicing their multiplication facts. Science: Students will continue working on the engineering process and magnets. Third graders will be taking the MAP reading and math assessment next week.

Third Grade Team

Ms. Webb Updates. Math: We will continue multiplying multi-digit numbers. We will explore the following methods: Traditional (partial products), area model, and lattice. Feel free to watch videos on youtube or Kumon to get a head’s up. This week: traditional (partial products) - https://youtu.be/q-6Owg7joIQ and lattice method - https://youtu.be/4QHKVwInkm8 Science: We will continue Earth/Space Science based on Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). We will discuss weathering and erosion of the earth's surface. Health: Students will present a Public Service Announcement PSA poster or commercial concerning the effects and/or dangers of drug use/abuse. The instructions, rubric, and due date will be discussed in class. We have already viewed examples. If their are any parents that are health professionals that could come in and give a brief presentation on some sort of health topic (i.e. drug use/abuse, nutrition, body systems, etc.) please let me know so we can develop a lesson! “) Ms. Ahmed's updates: Math: We will continue to learn Topic 4 in math: multiplication strategies for two digits, and estimating products. Please ensure your student completes online Pearson math assignments for Topic 4 and IXL.com homework in addition to the January math log. Science: We will continue learning Earth Science topics: changes to the Earth's surface. Students will create a "pet rock" for homework by the end of the week, Friday, January 11th. We also will have a homework assignment for finding current events related to STEAM, and students will have to complete this by Friday, January 18th. Health: We will learn about drug safety and have a related homework worksheet. RELA Updates: We will continue to focus on patterns in nature. We will be reading the myths "How Night Came from Sea" and "The Ant and the Bear." We will focus on theme, making inferences, and character analysis. In Social Studies, we will begin focusing on the Geography of Maryland which will include physical geography, climate, population, and environmental issues. Students will continue with weekly Spelling and IXL homework for the week of 1/7.

4th Grade Team

Hello parents!! These are the updates for next week: ELA: Students will begin unit 3 of our reading street books which will cover inventors and artists. Our first story will be Leonardo's Horse which is a biography. Our question of the week that we will explore is "How do artists inspire future generations?" We will be diving into the skill of main idea and trying to identify the details that helped us to pinpoint the man idea. Students have vocabulary words for this week that go along with this story. They also have a reading packet for homework that goes along with skills to review and also the skill for the week. We will also begin reading our 3rd novel for the year. The title is "Bud, Not Buddy". Many students have said they have this text at home and asked if they could bring in their own book. The answer is yes. PLEASE NOTE: If students bring in their own book they are responsible for keeping up with it. It is not the teachers responsibility of their own private property. Social Studies: We are in week two f chapter 3. This week we will learn about the English Colonies in Virginia. We will discuss how the English came to acquire the area as well as how they overcame the drought in the late 1500's. Students will have activities to complete within their Social Studies book as well as on Pearson. Math We will be continuing Fractions. Science We will be exploring Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources. Vocabulary words: species, habitats, population, and community. Math/Science Homework: All homework will be online. Parents please check to make sure students are completing the work. Signing the sheets ensures they are doing so. However, in some cases students are handing in the sheet with a signature but all of the work is not complete. The signature is beneficial for the students. This keeps the students accountable and ensures they are supported by both parents and teachers. REMINDERS: January 7- Ms. Smiley and Ms. Keys homeroom to take County MAP Reading assessment January 8- Ms. Bhatt and Ms. Linton-Philp homeroom to take County MAP Reading assessment January 9- Ms. Smiley and Ms. Keys homeroom to take County MAP Math assessment January 10- Ms. Bhatt and Ms. Linton-Philp homeroom to take County MAP Math assessment January 31- January Book Report Due Please be sure to check your students Schoolmax weekly to stay updated on their progress Happy New Year to you all!!

5th Grade Team

Harvard University researchers have found that children who start school up to a year sooner than many of their peers are more likely to be diagnosed with a particular disorder - even if they don't really have the condition. As a result, large numbers of children may be improperly labeled with the disorder when, instead, they are just immature. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers looked at the records of more than 407,000 children from every state and found that younger children in the same grouping of students had a 30 percent higher risk for this diagnosis than older students. What is the disorder? Think you know? Send your answers my way!! Happy New Year!!

Shannon McVeigh

Library This week, we will recap what we learned before the holiday break. Parents, do please continue to support on time book returns. Next week is check out week. Students with outstanding books need to return them before a new book can be checked out. Ecology Scholars learned parts of microscope this week. They were able to see some bacteria types under a microscope. When they see a bacteria picture, they are able to say bacteria type by now. This is great skill for an elementary student. They already know middle school science lesson. Next week, they will learn two specific bacteria types to help generating electricity for our MudWatt experiment.

Technology Team