This past week MSDE released its ratings of public schools in Maryland and CMIT North Middle School has earned a 5 Star Rating. The rating system is based on several factors, including academic achievement, absenteeism, curriculum, and performance of English language learners. CMIT North Middle School was one of only four middle schools to earn a 5 star rating in Prince George's County. All members of the CMIT community play a role in this achievement to include students, parents, and teachers. Congratulations!! Baltimore Sun Article: Star ratings for Maryland elementary, middle and high schools https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-school-rankings-20181203-htmlstory.html

Mr. Brauer, Principal

Ms. Wake is our most recent Teacher of the Month. Ms. Wake's dedication to the students and staff of CMIT goes above and beyond expectations. She spends time during the Summer to ensure the math curriculum is updated and working with new sixth grade students to prepare them for middle school as part of our Bridge Program. Ms. Wake can be seen nearly every afternoon and Saturday tutoring students. Additionally, she is the Math Department Chair and opens her door to other staff members to share best practices. We are very lucky to have Ms. Wake as a member of the CMIT Family! Congratulations Ms. Wake on a job well done!

Mr. Brauer, Principal

The 7th Grade Team would like to congratulate the following students for being a positive example to their peers for the month of November. For showing improved study habits and positive contributions to class, Mahalia Dedios is recognized as a Student of the Month. Congratulations Mahalia!!! Actively participating in class, helping classmates, and constantly staying on task, Toluwani Akinlade is being recognized as a Student of the Month. Congratulations Toluwani!!! Thank you for your efforts, dedication, and positivity. Keep up the good work!

7th Grade Team

CMIT Parents, Community & Fellow Pioneers of Science: A science fair project is a unique way for students to pose questions, find answers, and to meet their own curiosity about the world. This project is an experiment, a demonstration, and a research effort. The student presents their findings and overall project layout to a group of judges at the STEAM Fair event. Chesapeake Math and IT Academy - North, Middle School Science department would like to cordially invite you as a STEAM FAIR JUDGE on Saturday, January 26, 2019. STEAM fair judging consists of viewing the students’ posters and interviewing them about their projects and scoring based on our rubrics. STEAM fair judging will be held at CMIT North High School (14800 Sweitzer Lane Place Laurel, MD 20707) from 9AM. Please click and sign the link below to volunteer as a Judge. Thank you for all that you do to our scholars. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n3fjxnxgd2j0-U1SQw2FVWjUQR54nOb6Vx74AX1uP3I/edit

Gemma Y Bognot CLARKE, Ph.D Grade 8 Science Teacher Science Department Chair

Dear Teachers & Students of all CLF Schools, This opportunity is available to any CLF school students. By announcing before the holiday break, we thought this would give our tigers more time to prepare for the 2019 Black History Month Essay & Poster Contest. We did so because this year’s THEME is: STUDENTS’ CHOICE!! That’s right, YOU decide. (Ask your teacher for help if you need guidance). As in year’s past, CLF will invite finalists to represent their school along with their distinguished parent(s)/guardian(s) to our 2019 Black History Month Reception. This year, we are pleased to be hosting the reception in Upper Marlboro, MD at our gorgeous CMIT South Campus. Remember, among the finalists invited, (3) winners from each division will be announced and $50 gift cards awards to each winner. Please reference the 2019 BHM Poster/flyer circulating around your school for more details & scoring rubric. Final drafts will be collected by your language arts teacher on or before January 25th. Warmest regards, Mark J. Sutherland Community Partnerships Director Chesapeake Lighthouse Foundation

Community Partnerships

Happy holidays to everyone! I am so proud to share that our scholars having been working very hard on this Shakespeare unit. They have successfully read and interpreted 5 Shakespearean sonnets as well as the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. They are in the process of writing an essay on how Shakespeare developed the theme of love in Sonnet 18 and the balcony scene. This feat is no small thing for a 6th grader! I feel like this study will really give our scholars an advantage over their peers when they get in high school. Please congratulate your child on a job well done. Next week we will begin a new unit on Shakespeare that showcases parts of Julius Caesar and structures of dialogue, monologue, and soliloquy. We will be reading about the aftermath of Caesar’s assassination. Please support your scholar by revisiting the play with them. Best wishes for a safe and healthy holiday season.

Amy Sumor

RECENTLY... Students finished the PSAT! All who participated in the prep work/practice tests we had in class commented after the test that they were very helpful. They knew what to expect from the test, and they were comfortable working at a fast pace. Yay! Looking forward to score reports soon! We've finished reading and discussing Anthem by Ayn Rand, and we're in the midst of bridging this novella with our upcoming informational genre unit by discussing identity. Students should have spoken with their guardians regarding the origin and meanings of their names, and they shared what they found in class on Friday. COMING UP... We'll work a little more on discussing the various aspects of identity (and how identity develops/changes based on circumstances, experiences, others' expectations, etc) in preparation for studying informational texts (current events, data displays, etc) related to the same topic. If your student signed up to read/participate in the Dear Martin book study in class, we'll officially start that on Monday, 12/10! I know we're all very excited! WINTER CHALLENGES -- SUPPLIES NEEDED! As mentioned in Google Classroom...the last two days before winter break we have an opportunity to get to know each other through some "Winter Challenges." In order to do all of the challenges, however, we need some supplies. I've attached the list of supplies...the more we get, the more challenges we'll have. A special THANK YOU to all the students who volunteered their lunch periods to come wrap gifts for our "White Elephant" exchange which will take place on 12/21 (Friday before break).

Attachment(s)

Danica Justsen, NBCT

Dear Parents, I would like to announce that this week we made an introduction to python programming language. I am preparing video tutorials and worksheets for students to help them understand and use python programming. We are using an online python editor since it is easier to work with. I expect students to pay extra attention to python lessons so they can perform well and succeed in technology class. We will cover the basics first and start working on different projects till the end of the year. I would like our parents to be a part of this learning journey and support the child we both care about as much as they can. print("Thanks a lot!")

Best,
Ahmet Dokur, M.Ed.

THIS WEEK SCHEDULE : Girls and Boys Basketball CMIT - North vs Samuel Ogle Middle School 12/10/2018 Boys 6 PM/ Girls 7 PM -Home Buck Lodge Middle School vs CMIT - North 12/12/2018 Girls 6 PM/ Boys 7 PM -Away *All home games will be held at the High School Gym. (14800 Sweitzer Ln Laurel, MD 20707)

Attachment(s)

MS Athletic Department

Please join us for our next PTO Meeting. The PTO is working on a Town Hall Format for this meeting! Date: Thursday, December 13, 2018 Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm Location: CMIT Middle School, 6100 Frost Place, Laurel, MD 20707 Call in Option Below: 1. Dial In to the Conference (United States): (515) 739-1454 Access Code: 531867 International Dial-in Numbers: https://www.freeconferencecall.com/wall/cmitnorthpto#international 2. Join Online Meeting: Online Meeting Link: https://join.freeconferencecall.com/cmitnorthpto Online Meeting ID: cmitnorthpto Online Instructions: At the scheduled date and time of the meeting, dial in to the conference line. When prompted, enter the access code followed by hash (#). To join the online meeting, click the online meeting link and follow the prompts. For questions please contact the following: General - information@cmitnorthpto.org Membership - membership@cmitnorthpto.org Fundraising - fundraising@cmitnorthpto.org Class of 2019 (Graduation Packages) - Classof2019@cmitnorthpto.org

CMIT North PTO

Attention Middle School Parents - The Mid-Atlantic fundraiser orders will be at the school on Tuesday, December 11, 2018. The pick-up time will be 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM. ALL orders must be picked up during this time as the PTO has nowhere to store unclaimed items. Please contact CMIT North PTO at information@cmitnorthpto.org if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you, CMIT North PTO Fundraising Committee

CMIT Community - We would like to thank everyone for your support with the Fancloth spirit wear sale that we closed on November 14th. All orders that were submitted in the original order will be fulfilled in the next couple of weeks before the Christmas break. We have received a number of emails asking if there would be an opportunity to still place orders. Below you will a new FC# that can be used to place orders over the few weeks. This fancloth orders will only be open for two weeks and will close on December 15th at 11:59pm. This fancloth number will have the same items that was offered in the previous fancloth order as long as the company still have the items in stock. Please note that all items ordered under this new FC# will be received after the Christmas holiday and please place your orders online. Link Information below. http://shop.fancloth.com/20707/463886

CMIT North PTO

PGCPS has an App you can download on your phone and get daily updates on Grades, Attendance, Alerts and more. Go to https://www1.pgcps.org/bbapp/ to see how to get the Blackboard App.

CMIT Administration

Q: Is CMIT North MS a public school? 

A: Yes We are a public charter school who is staffed by PGCPS teachers and administration, along with CLF staff. We also benefit from additional guidance, management and financial support from Chesapeake Light House Foundation, whose educational concept this school is based on. 

Q: Do siblings get preference in applying to CMIT?

A: The process of gaining entry to any charter school in Prince George's County is through a lottery. However, siblings of already attending CMIT students are weighted differently during the lottery process. This different weighting gives preference to siblings. 

Q: What makes CMIT different then any other school in the district? 

A: Although we are a PGCPS public charter, we are given some autonomy over curriculum. This autonomy allows us to fast track students, who are academically ready, through selected high school courses in math, foreign language and technology. It is that fast tracking that opens up opportunity to more advanced  coursework on the college level while still in high school.  Additionally, we offer students supports and enrichments to every student, not available at most schools.

Q: Do you offer everything the big middle and high schools offer? 

A: Unlike many school in Maryland, we do not have a  full spectrum offerings in sports.  Instead, our focus is on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). Therefore, our sports offerings are more limited.  We offer, boys and girls soccer, basketball, boy's softball, boy's baseball,  boys and girls track/field at the high school. With that said we recently (2017) won the girls county basketball championship and made it to the playoffs in soccer. Our High school recently opened a multi-million dollar, state of the art gym complex. The middle school has also added an indoor gym space.  Lastly, we do offer special educational services, but becuase we are a school of choice, the amount of service hours we can provide is limited to 7.5 hours a week. Services hours are delivered by special education teachers but are limited to literacy and math courses.