Essay Requirements (Grades 6-12 ONLY): At least 250 words, but shall not exceed 500 words • Typed and double-spaced • Original work only • Be sure to properly cite your sources. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/ • Due on Friday, January 24th Scoring Rubric Comprehension (20 points) How well does the essay reflect a thorough comprehension of the essay topic? Does the essay provide supported reasons for the student’s topic selection? Organization (20 points) Does the argument/discussion follow a logical and easily understood progression? Does any outside evidence contained in the essay support the essay’s main points? Conclusions (20 points) Do the conclusions follow logically from the main body of the essay and reflect what the student has learned from research? How compelling are the conclusions? Creativity (20 points) Use of diverse resources, language &/or style, unique angle? Writing (20 points) Correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure. Poster Requirements (Elementary ONLY): • Poster MUST be 18x14 inches • Illustrates & supports a significant African American • Illustrates the contribution clearly and with artistic energy • Is it Colorful? Creative? Innovative? Legible? Different? Finished? • Poster should have a caption of at least three sentences, but no more than 10 to include who, what, and how the person contributed to shaping history. • Poster should mention at least one NEW thing the student learned during this contest? (E.g. arts in STEAM, African American role models, about oneself, society, African American history &/or culture, etc.) CLF will have 3 winners from each division who will receive a $50 gift card. Student winners and their parents will be invited to an awards reception hosted by CLF. One honorary mention from each school/division will be asked to read their essay or present their poster submission. Refreshments will be served and community leaders, special guests, fellow students, teachers, school officials, and board members will be in attendance.

CLF Community Partnerships

On Saturday, January 4, 2020 our students will participate in our School-wide STEM Fair. Our STEM fair begins at 8:30 a.m. for grade 3 students, 9:30 a.m. for grade 4, and 10:30 a.m. for grade 5th. We look forward to seeing you there. Dress code- Students are to wear their White Oxford shirt. Location- Arrive at CMITNES, enter through the front door to register in the cafeteria. Parents are not allowed in the gym until 1:00pm for our open house! CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR SCHOLARS!

CMIT STEAM Committee

Welcome back! I hope that all enjoyed the break and are ready to continue with the year as we are almost at the halfway point. The assessment window has opened and we will be begin DRA testing next week and our mid-year MAP testing will occur in the near future. DRA testing takes time and is done on a one-on-one basis, therefore we can not state when your scholar will be tested. Please make sure that your scholar is getting plenty of sleep and a good breakfast to help ensure that they are doing their best. The book of the week is "George Washington Visits." We will be learning about cause and effect, verbs that end with -s, and rhyming. The letters for the week are Dd and Kk. The sight words are: see, look In Math, we will continue with subtraction for the week. Based on the amount of review needed, we may have the assessment on Friday. If not, it will be at the beginning of the following week. The field trip to the MD Science Center has been pushed back to Friday, February 7th. Dates to know: Jan 2- 24th- DRA Testing Window Jan 6- 24th- MAP Testing Window Jan 20th- NO SCHOOL

The Kindergarten Team

Reading - We will be reading "Ice Bear" by Nicola Davies. Reading Skills: inferring, visualizing, and making connections Phonics: 'ow' words (ex: snow, yellow, mow) Math - We are continuing with Chapter 2, which is solving addition and subtraction facts to 10. Science - We are using the Engineering Design Process to design igloos. Social Studies - We are continuing to learn about the state of Maryland. Health - We are learning about community helpers and understanding stereotypes. We hope everyone had a restful and relaxing winter break! Homework will resume on Monday, January 6, 2020.

First Grade Team

We hope everyone had a wonderful and restful winter break! Next week, we will be continuing our reading unit on Creative Ideas. The question of the week will be, "When does a creative idea lead to a surprise?" Throughout the week, we will focus on sequencing, as well as predicting and setting purpose. The spelling pattern for List A next week will be vowel patterns, i, ie, igh, and y. In math, we will continue to work on topic 5. This topic covers subtracting within 100 using strategies. As a reminder, it is recommended that students practice their basic addition and subtraction facts with flashcards regularly at home. Please continue to send your child to school in the correct school uniform. The only day children do not have to wear all black shoes is his/her PE day. As always, if you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher via ClassDojo. We are looking forward to an amazing 2020 here at CMIT!

- The Second Grade Team

Welcome back and Happy New Year! We hope that your winter break was restful and eventful. As we embark on the second half of the school year, the expectations have risen for students and we are all working together to ensure that students are meeting these expectations. Next week we will continue to review school wide expectations in and out of the classroom. In Math, students will be learning about graphs and data and continue with Force & Motion in Science. In Reading, students will be reading "Tops & Bottoms" and make inferences about the character and determine how the characters' actions impact the sequence of events in the story. In Social Studies, students will be finishing up Chapter 2. We will also be taking our MAP assessment this month. Upcoming Dates to Remember 1/4/202 STEM Fair @ CMIT Elementary 1/14/202 Skate Zone Field Trip 1/24/2020 Quarter 2 ends/ 3 hr Early Dismissal Let's continue working hard and ending the year strong!

Third Grade

We are so excited to be back! We are going to hit the ground running! The STEM fair is January 4th, 2020 from 8am to 2pm. Students will get invitations if their project was selected. We will be working with new units in Math, Science, and Health. In Math we will be starting Topic 5: Division. In Science we will continue to talk about Physics and the way things move. In Health we will be focusing on our Social Emotional Understanding, with this we will be focusing on the school’s Sanford Harmony Program. This week students will review procedures and learn about the History of New Years Eve and New Years Resolutions. They will also reflect on the school year thus far and create goals for the remainder of the year. Next week, we will return to our curriculum by reading "Paul Bunyan", our Grammar Skill will be Plural Possessive Nouns. In Social Studies, we will complete Unit 2 Lesson 3 focusing on Growth and the Civil War.

-Mrs. Michaela Moon, Fourth Grade Lead, Green Team Lead, Green Kiwanis Club Sponsor

Hello Parents, Happy New Year to you all! Here is the week at a glance: For math, we will be working on dividing and multiplying mixed numbers and the coordinate plane. In Science, we will continue with Matter.For health, we will continue with Respiration. In ELA ,students will be engaging in an interactive review of all concepts, skills and vocabulary from Unit 2. We will review skills such as Author's purpose, compare and contrast, and Sequencing. For Social Studies, students will continue to learn about financial literacy through our JaBizTown curriculum. Reminders: Students will not receive a January Book Project this month. Thank you for all that you do and let's have a wonderful 2020 academic year!

5th Grade Team