Dreambox

The Dreambox Dogs are moving! 

3rd Grade - Mrs. Camara's students spent 124.1 hours on DreamBox last month and completed 679 lessons.

4th Grade - Mrs. Carden's students spent 164.5 hours on DreamBox last month and completed 852 lessons.

5th Grade - Mrs. Brandon's students spent 721 hours on DreamBox last month and completed 721 lessons.

Yearbook Sale

Weather permitting, the PTO will sell the remaining yearbooks Thursday morning starting at 7:30 A.M. in the Primary and Intermediate offices.  Yearbooks will be $60, cash only, first come first serve.

Thank you all for your support in producing the 2014 yearbook.  Looking forward to 2015!

Candace Mann

Yearbook Advisor

410-6129 (cell)

Reading Cows Have Mooooved!

Our reading cows have moooved to new classes.  Congratulations to these classes for having the highest percentage of students reading and taking tests.

Third Grade:     Mrs. Moore's Class
Fourth Grade:   Mrs. L Smith's Class
Fifth Grade:      Mrs. Peters' Class

Testing Tips

Do Your Best on the Test! 

Testing Tips from Mrs. Naylor & Mrs. Blake

As you get ready for school on test days, stay calm & relaxed.  Get up in plenty of time to eat & get ready without having to rush.  Come to school in a good mood, ready to test.  Please limit outings and late night extra-curricular activities that may interfere with your regular bedtime routine, as you need plenty of sleep to be rested each day.  If possible, try to reschedule routine doctor/dentist check-ups so that you are here for testing.  Any missed sub-tests will have to be made-up.  Get to school on time too!  If you check in late & the test has started, you won’t be allowed to enter your room.  You’ll have to make it up at a later time after your class has finished.

 

Other tips & strategies for standardized tests:

• Get a good night’s sleep & eat a well-balanced breakfast each morning (limit sugar.)

• Wear comfortable clothes: (clothes you feel relaxed in & not too tight or binding.)

• Bring/wear a light weight jacket if you tend to get cold in your room.

• Pin back hair/bangs if needed; hair in face can be distracting.

• Leave distracting jewelry, toys, & games at home during testing.

• No cell phones, IPODS, IPADS, or items that make noise or take pictures allowed the room!  

• Have a good attitude & think positive; don’t stress!  You are ready & you can do it!  

• Listen & follow all directions.  Read directions, questions, & every answer choice carefully. Don’t answer until you have read all the choices!  You can’t ask your teacher for help.

• Don’t get discouraged because you won’t know every answer & that’s ok!

• Think before you pick an answer; eliminate obvious wrong answers.

• Make an educated guess if needed; don’t leave any blank answers.  Mark something!

• Sit up straight if you are yawning & tired. Take some deep, relaxing breaths.

• Don’t rush.  Work at middle speed, but be aware of the time; don’t spend too much time on any one question.  You can always go back to the harder problems if time permits.  

• Darken bubbles fully & erase any stray marks on the answer document.  

• On ACT Aspire, you won’t need scratch paper; you can figure out problems in your test booklet.  But for the 5th gr. AL Science Assessment, 5th graders may ask for scratch paper.

• Be sure the answer you are about to mark corresponds to the same question number you are on in the test booklet.  It is easy to get off track with your bubbling if you skip any.  

• Copy math problems correctly; be sure to line up place values & double check the sign so that your computations will be right. 

• If your answer does not match one of the choices, see if you made a mistake.  Re-read the problem, re-copy the numbers, & try solving again.  

• Check over your answers when you are finished; use your extra time wisely!  

• Don’t change answers unless they are definitely wrong; your first guess is usually best.   

• After you double check your work, sit quietly. You’re not allowed to do anything else until all tests are collected (you can’t take out a book to read, paper to write/draw, talk, etc.)

No After School Activities Today (Monday, April 28)

TCS will close today, Monday, April 28, at 2:00 P.M.  Buses will run their routes.  All after school activities are cancelled. 

Earth Day

Several teams from Paine Intermediate participated in Trussville's Earth Day cleanup on Saturday, April 26.

Fifth Graders Present Civil War Wax Museum

Week of April 28

Date	Event
Mon, April 28 B Day	Early Dismissal @ 2:00
Tues, April 29 C Day	Alabama Science Assessment for 5th Grade  (Third and fifth grades will swap specials times.*)
Wed, April 30 D Day	5th Grade Assembly 7:45
Thurs, May 1 E Day	4th Grade Assembly 7:45 5th Gr to American Village 10:30-4:30
Fri, April May 2 F Day	3rd Grade Assembly 7:45
Sat, April 26
Sun, April 27

State Testing Information

Dear Parents,

During the next two weeks our students will be engaged in state standardized testing.  We will begin testing promptly at 8:30 each morning. Testing dates are as follows:

·       Tuesday, April 29 – Alabama Science Assessment (5^th grade only)

·       Tuesday, May 6 – ACT Aspire Math

·       Wednesday, May 7  – ACT Aspire Reading

·       Thursday, May 8 – ACT Aspire Writing

Please take note of the Digital Device Policy from the State of Alabama that applies to standardized testing.

The possession of a digital device (including but not limited to cell phones, MP3 players, cameras, or other telecommunication devices capable of capturing or relaying information) is strictly prohibited during the administration of a secure test.  If a student is observed in possession of a digital device during the administration of a secure test then the device will be confiscated.

If a student is observed using a digital device during the administration of a secure test, testing for the student will cease, the device will be confiscated and is subject to search, the student will be dismissed from testing, and the student’s test will be invalidated.

We encourage our students not to bring digital devices to school during the week of testing, but we also understand that many of our students rely on these devices to read books and for communicating with parents before or after school hours.  If your child needs to bring a digital device to school, they must turn the device in to their teacher each morning.  The teacher will place the device in a bin and it will be removed from the classroom during testing.  The device will be kept in a secure location and will be returned to the student after testing concludes for the day.  If the device is in the classroom during testing, it will be confiscated.  Please discuss this state policy with your children and have them leave all digital devices at home during testing if possible.

We are looking forward to a great week of testing.  If you have any questions, please let us know.

Sincerely,

Christy Naylor                                                             Lauren Blake

3rd Grade Counselor                                                   4th and 5th Grade Counselor

christy.naylor@trussvillecityschools.com                   lauren.blake@trussvillecityschools.com

(205) 228-3221                                                           (205) 228-3387

Boosterthon Pledges Due Friday

Please return your Boosterthon pledges tomorrow, Friday, April 18.

Week of April 21

Date	Event
Mon, April 21 E Day	Early Dismissal @ 2:00
Tues, April 22 F Day
Wed, April 23 G Day
Thurs, April 24 H Day
Fri, April 25 A Day
Sat, April 26
Sun, April 27

Important Information for Our Fifth Graders

Any upcoming 6^th grader who has turned 11 years of age on or before the first day of the 2014-2015 school year must have a booster of the T-Dap vaccine.  Until June 19 parents may bring the updated form to Paine Intermediate; after June 19 parents should take the immunization form to HTMS during the days they are accepting registration contributions.  Please check the HTMS web page for the dates they will be accepting the forms.

Thank You

Many thanks to members of Faith Community Fellowship for their service to Paine Intermediate on Saturday.  Faith Families spent their Saturday planting flowers in our planters and pots outside the front door.  They put together two storage units and two strawberry planters for our gardens.  We are so fortunate to have Faith Community Fellowship as our neighbor and supporter.  

Boosterthon Pledges

Thank you for your support through your Boosterthon pledges.  We ask that all pledge money be turned in by Friday, April 18.  Each classroom teacher will receive a percentage of the money her class returns by Friday.  Again, we appreciate your help.  

Boosterthon Update

I would like to personally thank everyone for their support of our Boosterthon Fun Run.  I believe this year's fun run was the best one ever.  Our students had such a great time on Friday.  They ran so hard in support of our school.  We had the help of our teachers and staff, our PTO, the Boosterthon guys and girls, and the staff of Faith Community Fellowship.  Many thanks to Officer Bradford and Officer Payne for their help on Friday with getting the students safely over to Faith.  Having the event at Faith frees up our field and playground for other school activities during the day.

Thank you for helping your child get pledges, and thank you in advance for getting your pledge to the school by Friday, April 18.  The money we raised together will greatly enhance our educational program at Paine Intermediate.

ACT Aspire New State Assessment

The State Department of Education recently adopted ACT Aspire to assess all students in Alabama in grades 3-8.  ACT Aspire takes the place of the Alabama Reading and Math Test, which has been administered to our students each spring for the last several years. Our students will take three separate tests on three days.  The tests take an hour or less, so interruptions in the instructional day will be minimal.  It will be important for all students to attend school on these days.

Tuesday, May 6 - Math (1 hour)
Wednesday, May 7 - Reading (1 hour)
Thursday, May 8 - Writing (30 minutes)

We have the option of taking the tests electronically or with paper and pencil.  We decided, as a system, to use the paper and pencil tests.  The test is standardized, so test administrators (teachers) receive the same training; all students have the same testing conditions, and all students have the same amount of time for the test.

ACT Aspire provides longitudinal assessment data for student growth modeling from elementary grades to high school.  The tests are aligned to Alabama College and Career Ready Standards.  Students can be monitored to determine if they are on track for college and career readiness.  Schools will receive school and individual student data during the summer.  Parents will receive ACT Aspire results in August or September.

For more information, click here:
http://www.discoveractaspire.org/

Fifth graders will also take the Alabama Science Assessment on April 29.  This assessment has been given to fifth and seventh graders for the last several years.

Boosterthon News

Parents,

It is not too late to make a flat donation or pledge per lap for Boosterthon.  Anything you or your friends can donate will help to make our dream of having a garden for the entire school possible. 

There are so many benefits to having a garden.  Students will be responsible for the planting and care of the garden to improve their ability to synergize and put first things first.  Students will be able to observe the life cycle of butterflies, ladybugs, bluebirds, and many more creatures.  They will be able to observe the interdependence of plants and animals.  The garden will be a benefit to science, math, and language arts. 

We thank all of you that have already pledged.  We hope to see you tomorrow at our Funrun!  

Another Great Trip to Montgomery

Week of April 14

Date	Event
Mon, April 14 A Day	Early Dismissal @ 2:00
Tues, April 15 B Day
Wed, April 16 C Day
Thurs, April 17 Club Day	Club Day
Fri, April 18 D Day
Sat, April 19
Sun, April 20	Easter

Boosterthon Information

Parents, 
Please join us on Friday at Faith Community Fellowship for our Boosterthon Fun Runs.  This is a special time when we celebrate together and encourage our children as they run to raise funds for our school and to have fun.  You may park in the Faith parking lot. Our students will walk over through the pine trees right before their run times.  

Fifth Grade       9:00-10:00
Fourth Grade  10:30-11:30
Third Grade      1:00-2:00

Fourth Grade Visits Montgomery

Boosterthon Update

Thank you for your support of our Boosterthon Fun Run Fundraiser.  Many students have gotten pledges and registered them on funrun.com.    Our hope is that we raise the funds needed to expand our gardens and to supply teachers with needed classroom funds.  If you haven't made a pledge yet, will you consider pledging or helping your child get a pledge from family, friends, or neighbor?  

Last fall, students planted pansies and tulip bulbs.  This spring they are studying the results of their planting and charting the growth of the plants.

Students have begun new plantings.

Scoliosis Screening for 5th Graders

On April 15^th and 16^th, I will be conducting scoliosis screenings during PE class.  This is required annually for all students 5^th thru 9^th grade by the State Department.  A student can only be “exempt” from the screenings if they have religious beliefs that conflict with health care screenings or if the student is currently under the care of a physician for scoliosis.  These are the only two reasons that a student can be exempt from screenings.  All non-exempt students will be screened. 

Tresia Mize, RN

School Nurse

Paine Intermediate

Week of April 7

Date	Event
Mon, April 7 E Day	Early Dismissal @ 2:00
Tues, April 1 F Day	4th Gr Montgomery Field Trip (Orange Hall)
Wed, April 2 G Day
Thurs, April 3 H Day	4th Gr Montgomery Field Trip (Green Hall)
Fri, April 4 Boosterthon Day	Boosterthon Fun Run
Sat, April 5
Sun, April 6

Boosterthon Kick Off

We kicked off our Boosterthon Fun Run Fundraiser today. Students were given pledge books and information about how to upload their pledges at funrun.com.  We hope we can count on everyone’s support for this important fundraiser.  We want to raise money for classrooms and to expand our gardens.  We want every student to have the opportunity to experience planning, planting, and harvesting vegetables.  Our goal tonight is for each of our students to get two pledges.  Will you support Paine Intermediate by helping your child get at least two pledges tonight?  Thank you so much for your support!