Dear CLF Schools’ Communities of Volunteers, Philanthropists, Innovators, and Stakeholders! Every year, during the first weekend of November, our CLF community gathers to celebrate our collective culture. For 2019, Saturday, November 2nd, marks the official event date for our 7th Annual CLF CultureFest 2019! The location for this year’s CutureFest is our CMIT North High School: 14800 Switzer Lane, Laurel, MD 20707! The event will kick off at NOON and closing ceremony will be held at 5:00 PM. Performers, vendors, volunteers, and CultureFEST fanatics can plan to come early to help set up. Join your CLF community for a fun-filled, STEMazing way to celebrate cultural diversity with: music, games, heritage-based foods, local MD vendors, live stage performances, and so much more! This event grows each year and is an extraordinary way for our CLF Community to NETWORK and FUNDRAISE, together. (think out of the box…there is no box…there is no box to think about; skies are our collective limit). "Let’s keep the momentum going for our non-profit schools, PTOs, SGAs, PACs, Foundation and community for generations to come! After all…When it comes to CultureFEST ideas, our CLF motto is:" "YES AND!" #CLFCultureFest All About CULTUREFEST: CultureFEST is a family-friendly festival event to celebrate our six STEAMazing schools & cultures without a competition component. We need you to choose not if but how you wish to support CultureFEST: student talent, come laugh, play games, come to learn about and celebrate diverse cultures! We truly hope you & your family will join us for community, unity, friendship, and fun at this year’s CultureFEST on Saturday, Nov. 2nd. As we gather ideas for CultureFEST, this annual cornucopia of culture requires your input, energy, and creativity in as many ways as you can imagine. Imagination is the power of creation so please join in the fun and help to shape the biggest CLF event of the year by signing up, today! Right now, we need volunteers for planning & performing. Sign up, TODAY! Visit the link below to fill out your survey! http://clfmd.org/culturefest-is-coming/ -- Warmest regards, Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation 6151 Chevy Chase Dr. Laurel, MD 20707 T. (301) 776.2300 E. clfpr@clfmd.org Website: CLFMD.ORG

CLF Community Partnerships

Greeting Parents! It has been a pleasure meeting your students this week. I am excited to go on this educational journey with them. Important notes -Back to School night September 11 - Technology assignments will be announced - Supplies for classroom needed= wipes, tissues hand sanitizer (thank you for those that have provided)

Victor Hawkins

Wow, we're back from another school year and I'm so pumped to be teaching first grade! It has been a fun week getting to know each other. The students have been absolute champs as we've been learning so many procedures! The most important conversation we had was about respect. Respect for others, for ourselves, our environment, property, collaboration, and thoughts. The students talked at length about how they could be better citizens of our classroom and our school and I was very impressed with how thought out their responses were. Based on that conversation alone I can tell it's going to be a fabulous year of strong and respectful community building. Next week we will swan dive into our curriculum and I think the students are really going to enjoy themselves. Thank you so much for your support, your offers for support and the vast mountains of school supplies our class received! It is very much appreciated! Have a spectacular weekend, I look forward to seeing my students on Monday!

-Ms. Libebe

Parents, Week 1 has come to a successful close. This week we focused on class rules, procedures, and protocol. They have completed pretesting to measure their background knowledge in subject areas. The Fourth Grade Team is excited to partner with families to ensure a successful year full of academic and social growth. As we prepare for Week 2, look for weekly homework sheets and notices through ClassDojo and grades for Week 1 assignments to be posted in SchoolMax by Friday September 13, 2019. We are adjusting to as a whole so we ask families to be patient with us and allow students to adjust independently. Feel free to reach out via ClassDojo or email with any questions or concerns.

4th Grade Team

We have had an amazing first week of school here in the 2nd grade! We have have been working hard going over our rules and getting used to our new routines. Next week we will begin some instruction and our pre-tests for math and science. Important Reminders: -Students need 2 notebooks for both Ms. McDonagh and Ms. Fleet -Dismissal is over at 2:55. Please try your best to be on time or you may be charged by the Enrichment program -Homework and other important information will be posted on Class Dojo; make sure you're connected -Back to School Night is next Wednesday, September 11th at 5:45pm Thank you all for your support so far this school year. We look forward to getting to know you all more as the year goes on.

Ms. Fleet and Ms. McDonagh

Dear Parents and guardians, We started off the year strong so far in P.E. class reviewing expectations, grading, rewards and consequences. We played a game called "snake" where students had work together to pass a ball through their line to get to the end of the snake's tail ( mesh bag ) where they placed their item. This game was intended to get the kids familiar with the whistles of the gym, following directions and safety rules, and how to clean up and prepare to leave the gym after class is over. We were very successful this week and will review and practice procedures for the following week. Please make sure that your child's teacher knows what mode of transportation your child will be taking for dismissal. Each individual student should also know the name of the van they ride home in if they are a van rider. We had many of the younger students and a few older ones who did not know the names which held up our dismissal line while we were running back and forth and trying to sort things out. As last year, things are already getting faster and easier with each day. We have decreased our dismissal time by 15-20 minutes each day. IMPORTANT !!!!! The driveway that leads to the back the school building can fit TWO cars at time as well as the turn so please allow cars to get along side you when forming the line. We can not have a car line that goes around the entire block every day. This is how it was done last year and we kept dismissal to 45 minutes total ever day ! Thanks and keep and eye out for news about "Sports Mix club"

Garrett Loomer P.E. Teacher - Department Chair CMIT South Elementary gloomer@cmitsouthes.org

It has been a fantastic first week in 3rd grade. Students blew us out of the water with all that they remembered from last year! We reviewed classroom and school wide expectations and procedures, determined excellent classroom rules generated by the students themselves and learned a bit about one another. We even got a jump start on some of our beginning of the year testing! We are looking forward to getting our testing done over the course of the next few weeks and really getting into things! If this week is any indication, this year is going to be GREAT! Also, another great big thank you to the parents who worked hard to send in supplies! It certainly does not go unnoticed and it is greatly appreciated!

Ms. Cunningham

Our first week has been very productive! We are getting to know each other, learning classroom, hallway, cafeteria, and playground procedures, as well as reviewing material from Kindergarten! We will be taking SLO Pre-Tests within the first week, and students will begin learning our curriculum next week as well. If you have any questions please feel free to message me on Class Dojo and email me at cmadison@cmitsouthes.org - have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Madison

Hello Tiger Parents! Welcome to our Grade level newsletter. About me: My name is Miss Michelle Phillips. I hail from the Bronx, New York. I am a graduate of Virginia State University, class of 2016! I have a Bachelors of Science degree in Education. My study of focus was Education with a minor in Special Education and a minor in History. My favorite subject to teach is Social Studies. I love to see the past come to life. I am here this year as an aftercare teacher for our enrichment program. If you have any questions please reach out to me via classdojo or my school email mphillips@cmitsouthes.org Look out for upcoming dates and messages from me on our newsletter​.

Ms. Michelle Phillips

Welcome to Kindergarten! We have had such an exciting week. Students have worked very hard this week learning new routines, meeting new friends and having fun! This coming week we will continue to reinforce the routines and dive into learning. Your children have worked very hard this week. You should be very proud of them. Thanks for all the support this week.

Kindergarten Team Ms. Curtis, Ms. Lucas, Ms. Herbert & Ms. Derfler

I just wanted to give all of my 5th grade parents a reminder to fill out the contact information in the google from that is posted on the Class Dojo page. If you can't find it, please send me a message and I will send you the link personally. This is extremely important because it contains their allergy information and will be what I leave for any substitute teachers for if I am ever out sick. Thank you!

Mr. Rowland

Welcome!

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

Greetings All, My name is Chanel Brown and I will have the pleasure of working with your son/daughter as a first-grade teacher. I am looking forward to an exciting year and I am delighted to have your children in my class. This year we will have some fun and challenging tasks to help us reach our goals. We are going to work, play, and learn hard and have fun in the process. Through our daily interaction, we will learn and prove there is no"I" in "TEAM." Our class goal will be to work together towards a fantastic and successful school year! I have high expectations for all of my students and I am committed to assisting them with the expectations required. Sincerely, Ms. C. Brown 1st Grade

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

Dear Parents, Welcome Back! I'm your child's Technology teacher. They come to my class once a week. I believe this year will be more beautiful. This is over the first week. Together with the students, we talked in detail about class rules, expectations, rewards, and consequences. I believe that it will be a better academic year if we stay in touch with children about better education and behavior. You can email me if you have any problems about your child. I will also contact you in lessons, assignments, and behavior related to your children. Thank you, Mrs. Ak Technology Teacher

Mrs. Ak

September 5, 2019 Dear Parents/Guardians, This is already a fabulous school year because you are here. I now ask for your support to help us build a positive school culture where we as educators, students and parents can thrive. Please know that your voice is important in helping to establish a positive culture. Your involvement in school life is an important way in which a positive culture can grow. With that said, we are here to hear from you share your concerns and also offer us possible solutions that you think may work. Our parent population is very diverse in talents, so consider using your business or personal platforms to showcase your school in a positive way. The Dismissal Team did a phenomenal job. Safety is key, so I am appealing to all parents...please ensure that dashboards have a label with name, grade, and possibly the teacher's name. Van drivers should know the name of your child as well. In the weeks ahead, we will start after school clubs as another opportunity for continuous learning. Another option is for you is our before and aftercare enrichment program. Finally, please sign up for the PTO and support a very dynamic group of people who are already making an impact on student achievement. I thank you so much as we move forward -learning and growing together on the same team. Respectfully,

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

A letter from our Counselor.

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

We earn our stripes when we know our school pledge.

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)