We will miss our scholars. Please keep them safe and warm. Know where they are at all times. Please encourage reading at home during the winter holidays. Thank you so much. Happy Holidays.

L. Watkis (Acting Principal)

Our students learned coding in tech class this week. Ms. Ak-you and your team rock! Thanks to Mr.McCoombs and Mr. Young from Microsoft for supporting our students this week. Your partnership with our school means so much. Thank You.

L. Watkis (Assistant Principal)

Many great things have been happening in 3rd grade. Over the past week students have “traveled the world” by learning about the different holidays celebrated around the world. Learning about these different places and their celebrations was very rewarding. In math they have continued to expand their understanding on the different properties of multiplication! They are truly taking off with these concepts! In science we have continued to understand and explore how gravity, friction, magnetism, force and motion apply to our everyday lives. Lastly, we have continued to work on and talk about kindness is 3rd grade! Everyday is a great day to be kind but even a bit more so around the holiday season! We’re looking forward to seeing our 3rd graders when we return in 2020! See you next year!

Ms. Cunningham

Hello family! We made it to Winter break!!!!!!!!!! The second-grade​ team would like to thank you for all of your support and kindness throughout the first half of the year. We are so proud of our students and wish them all much success in the upcoming quarter. As the weather changes, please send the students with a heavy jacket for recess. We are still in short supply of Lysol spray and paper towels. As the seasons change, we would like to have parent volunteers to help with door decorations and the bulletin board. This shows your support of our school and makes the students take pride that their parents are involved. We are still in short supply of Lysol spray and would like to keep the classroom happy and healthy during the upcoming fall season. Please continue to donate to our classrooms so that the students will have abundant supplies. We would like to wish you all a very happy holiday season. Be joyous, love hard, and spend time with your loved ones. We will see you in the new year!!!!

Ms. Michelle Phillips, Ms. Fleet, Ms. McDonagh, and Ms. Lambert

This week our Kindergarteners drew fantasy buildings in preparation for building their own house from paper towel tubes and our first graders finished up their cardboard relief sculpture projects. In both projects, they learned/will learn that art can be made with anything they can possibly dream of! The second graders are halfway through with their torn paper landscapes, in which they are learning vocabulary words that they might have already known (background, middle ground, and foreground) are used in making art as well. The upper grade levels made small paintings using oil pastels and watercolors. For the third graders, I wanted to introduce the idea of one point perspective, a technique they will be using in the fourth and fifth grade. I also wanted to see how much they know about using watercolors! The fourth graders used exclusively oil pastels because I wanted them to know that some media is used for both drawing and painting. In the fifth grade, I wanted to see how much they remember from the one point perspective cities they’re working on so they can draw the shadows on the trees correctly. Let's get creative!

Miss James

Dear Parents and Guardians, As we come to a close on this 2019 school year and the holiday break, the students worked on how to work in small groups. The focus of the lesson for both K-2 and grades 3-5 was cooperation and communication. How to work together and how to engage in healthy conversation. For the older grades, they learned the three stages needed for a successful communication. 1) sending the message 2) receiving the message 3) responding back. All grades learned the different forms that communication can take. The students were able to name and give examples of; sign language, written language, body language. The final thing each class discussed was how to express helpful and not hurtful communication while giving examples of each. The younger students worked in small groups to "build frosty," a snowman out of various P.E. equipment. The older grades used tumbling mats and dodgeballs to play a game called "battleship" where they worked together to sink the other ships. Please look out on the newsletter for my new club forming after break called "Group Fun" for grades K-2 only. Every Tuesday we will expand further on lessons and play new games. The focus will be on working together as small and large groups.

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

On Thursday, an Ugly Sweater Contest was put on for all staff members. The participating contestants put up a good fight, but in the end, victory went to 4th Grade teacher Mrs. Girch and Student Support Specialist Ms. Middleton! Thank you to everyone that wore your worst!

Miss James

Dear Parents, Students had a wonderful event in Technology Class. Mr. McCombs and Mr. Young visited our school to present our students the Minecraft Hours of Code program. The students had a lot of fun! Thank you, Mrs. AK

Mrs. Ak

December 19, 2019 Dear Parent or Guardian: Our school will be administering the Measures of Academic Progress™ (MAP) Growth Assessment in Reading this school year. MAP Growth Reading is taken on a computer and is used to determine each student’s instructional level. The assessment will also allow schools to measure individual academic growth in reading. The winter testing window closes on January 24, 2020. Your child will take the winter MAP Growth Assessment on January 14 and January 15. The other testing window for this assessment will be in the spring (May 11-June 5, 2020). MAP Growth is a computer-adaptive assessment that adapts to your child’s level of learning and measures specific areas of reading such as Literature, Informational Text, Vocabulary Acquisition and Use in Grades 2-10. MAP Growth Assessments can be shorter than traditional standardized tests and use less class time, yet still provide detailed, accurate information about your child’s growth. Since the test takes less time, it may be administered in one or two class periods, depending on the test schedule at our school. In order to obtain a valid Reading/Language Usage score, no portion of the test may be read to a student, including English Language Learners (ELL) and students with an Individual Education Plan (IEP). There is no extra preparation required for your student to take the assessment. The goal of this assessment is to help improve literacy and reading in the Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) system. MAP Growth scores can be obtained from our school by parents upon request. A “Frequently Asked Questions” document can be found on the PGCPS Department of Testing, Research, and Evaluation website located at: http://www.pgcps.org/testing/. We are truly excited to begin a new era that focuses on every child’s individual growth and achievement. Partnering to help all children learn, parents/guardians and teachers can have a profound positive effect on the lives of our students. If you are interested in additional information about the MAP Reading Assessment, please download the Parent Toolkit at the following link: https://www.nwea.org/parent-toolkit/. Sincerely, School Testing Coordinator Fatih Metin

Fatih Metin Program Coordinator & Testing Coordinator

Our students participated in the Midatlantic fundraiser again this year and sold oh-so-much. They were rewarded with a party from the company. They had fun away. Thanks to all the parents who bought and sold items so that this event was so successful.

L. Watkis (Acting Principal)