Third Graders Are Studying Geography

As a culminating activity for their map and globe study, students brought in various maps to explore.

State Testing Information

New testing information from the State Department of Education:

• The Alabama Science Assessment for 5th and 7th grades will be replaced with the ACT Aspire Science Test for 5th and 7th grades.  
• Schools who administer the paper and pencil version of ACT Aspire are required to do so within the first three weeks of the testing window.  Because of this change, our dates for ACT Aspire will now be:
• April 16 - Math
• April 17 - Reading
• April 20 - Writing
• April 21 - Science (5th Grade only)

Week of September 1

Date	Event
Mon, September 1 Labor Day	Schools Closed
Tues, September 2 C Day
Wed, September 3 D Day
Thurs, September 4 E Day
Fri, September 5 F Day

Attendance Awareness Month

September is Alabama Attendance Awareness Month!  Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life.

We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But, we also know that when students miss too much school— regardless of the reason— it can cause them to fall behind academically.  Your child is less likely to succeed if he or she is chronically absent and we know absences can add up quickly.  A child is chronically absent if he or she misses just two days every month!! Research shows that by 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school.  By 9th grade, good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th grade test scores.  Clearly going to school regularly matters!

At Paine Intermediate, we want to help establish positive attendance habits for our students.   In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of attending school, we will recognize all students who achieve perfect attendance for the month of September.  Perfect attendance means being at school 100% of the month with no check-ins or check-outs!  All students who achieve perfect attendance, beginning September 2, will receive the following incentives:

• Week of September 12: A pack of Smarties because Smarties come to school every day!  Students must be present 9/2-9/12 to receive this treat.
• Week of September 19:  Perfect Attendance pencils.  Students must be present 9/2-9/19 to receive a pencil.
• Week of September 26: Perfect Attendance paw print bracelets.  Students must be present 9/2-9/26 to receive a bracelet.
• September 30: Perfect Attendance certificates and classroom recognition.  Students must be present 9/2-9/30 to receive a certificate for a month of perfect attendance.

Here are a few practical tips to help support regular attendance:

• Make sure your children keep a regular bedtime and establish a morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
• Ensure your children go to school every day unless they are truly sick
• Avoid scheduling vacations or doctor’s appointments when school is in session.
• Talk to teachers and counselors for advice if your children feel anxious about going to school.
• Develop back up plans for getting to school if something comes up.  Call on a family member, neighbor, or another parent to take your child to school.

Let us know how we can best support you and your children so that they can show up for school on time every day.   We want your child to be successful in school!

Fundraiser Information

You have less than 2 weeks to help support our schools with our Fall Fundraiser!!

Great American Fundraising will end on September 8^th.

****Important Note****

If you registered your child on or before Monday, August 25^th, we ask that you log back in and update the Teacher Box.

·     Log In to www.gaschoolstore.com

·     Click on the My Info tab on the left

·     Scroll down to Student Info

·     You will now see a Teacher/Team box with a drop down arrow. Here you will select your teacher (they will be in alphabetical order).

Pump It Up Party $250 in Sales (or $125 Donation)

Kona Ice Party $50 in Sales (or $25 Donation)

Don’t forget about our Prize Parties!

Thank you so much for your support!

Mercedes Marathon Information

Dear Parents,
Over the next five months our school will be training for the 2015 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Kids Mercedes Marathon. The Kids Mercedes Marathon is an innovative, endurance building running/walking program for K-5th graders. Our goal is to assist your child in building endurance, setting and accomplishing long-term fitness goals, and enhancing self-esteem while teaching valuable lessons about making health and fitness a regular part of his/her  life. Children will run the distance of a full marathon (26.2 miles) over the course of the five month program.  Students must train for the last mile of their marathon by running a total of 25.2 miles in ¼ mile, ½ mile, ¾ mile, or 1 mile increments between now and the end of January to qualify for race day participation.  As each child completes the final mile on the actual marathon course on Saturday, February 15, 2015, he/she will receive a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama Kids Mercedes Marathon Finisher’s Medal, a miniature version of the Mercedes Marathon Finisher’s Medal.

Our students will run each Monday that they have PE.  Please be sure your child dresses appropriately for this activity. To make it easier for everyone involved, we will keep a master log of the miles run to turn in to the Marathon office once we reach 25.2 miles. Therefore, you do not have to do any logging of miles at home. We will do it in PE.   Some running outside of school time may be needed to reach 25.2 miles.  We will record the mileage with a note from home.  You are responsible for registering your child in the kids marathon if he/she chooses to participate.  Participation is not required.  Registration MUST be completed by November 15th. You may register online at www.mercedesmarathon.com. There is a discount for online registration. You may also register via paper form by printing a copy from the website. If you have any questions, or would like additional assistance or information, please do not hesitate to contact the marathon office at (205) 870-7771 or at kids@mercedesmarathon.com.
Thanks! Feel free to come run with us!
Coach Carlile
Coach Chrisenberry

September is Attendance Awareness Month

Club Day Information

 Club Day selection forms were sent home with students on Friday.  Click on the link below to Mrs. Blake's blog for details about Club Day and to enter your child's club selection online.  

http://mrsblakescounselingcorner.blogspot.com/

We ask that students (1) complete the hard copy form that was sent home Friday and (2) enter their choices online.  Completed Club Day forms are due by Wednesday, August 27^th.  If you have any questions, you may email Mrs. Blake at lauren.blake@trussvillecityschools.com or phone her at (205) 228-3387.

Week of August 25

Duties for Week of August 18

Date	Event
Mon, August 25 F Day	2:00 Early Dismissal  Boy Scout Roundup during P.E.
Tues, August 26 G Day	Boy Scout Roundup during P.E. Drama Auditions 3:00-4:30
Wed, August 27 H Day	Drama Auditions 3:00-4:30
Thurs, August 28 A Day	Boy Scout Roundup Meeting in Paine Primary Lunchroom 6:00-8:00
Fri, August 29 B Day	Friday Freeze 2:15

                                   

Support the Huskies!

Get ready for the Huskies!

The HTHS Football Jamboree has been changed to Jack Wood Stadium.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Jack Wood Stadium

6:00 pm

Admission is $7.00 (5 & under is free)

Line Up:

Fairfield vs Center Point – 2 quarters

Hewitt-Trussville vs Fairfield – 2 quarters

Hewitt-Trussville versus Center Point – 2 quarters

Come out and support the Huskies!

A Message from Our SRO

A message from Paine Intermediate SRO, Officer Bradford:

Here on the Paine Campus, we strive to find ways to make our entire campus safe and school a fun experience for our students. There are many policies and procedures in place that we, as SRO’s, implemented to secure our campus in the most effective way possible. We want you, our parents, to have a pleasant experience when you arrive on campus to eat lunch with your children, watch student programs , and even the drop off and pick up your children. We made improvements to the carline system and feel it is working better today than days past.

Having said that, we must strive to keep SAFETY a priority on our campus. Many of you arrive on campus between 1:30 to 2:30 P.M. daily to get in the carline to pick up your children. We have allowed this up to this date, but we are receiving many complaints about parents not paying attention to students and teachers in the crosswalk between the school and playgrounds. It is imperative that if you are arriving early to sit in the carline, you must drive very slowly and cautiously to get to your parking slot. PLEASE do not block any of the crosswalks or park within 10-15 feet from the front or the back of the crosswalk.

School still is in session until 3:00 P.M.  If conditions warrant a change, we will be required to put procedures in place to prevent injuries on our campus. We will continue to monitor the situation and hopefully parents will understand the process and will see that all procedures are for the protection of our students and staff.

We would appreciate everyone being patient and cooperative in the carline, especially the merging process, and working with us to keep this the safest campus with the best parental support in the state.

Thank you in advance for your willingness to support us as we continue to give your child the best education in the safest manner possible.

Thank you!

Chuck Bradford

Trussville Police Department

Paine Intermediate

School Resource Officer

7600 Gadsden Highway

Trussville, Alabama 35173

205-228-3412     School office

205-655-2101     Police Dispatch

PTO Fundraiser Starts Today!

Our PTO fundraiser this year will be through Great American Fundraising.  We had our kick off today.  Your child will bring home a packet with his name and his teacher's name on it.  The sale will end on September 8 when students should turn in their packets with payment.  Delivery of the products will be in mid October.  

We encourage everyone to participate.  Money raised in previous years has allowed the PTO to provide playground equipment, classroom donations, teacher appreciation gifts, specialists' funding, new copiers, and copies for teachers.  

Check out your child's packet for details about great prizes they can earn.  There will be a Kona Ice party and a Pump It Up party as incentives.  Thank you in advance for your support.  

State Superintendent to Visit Area Schools

From August 26 through October 7, State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Tommy Bice, will visit schools all across the state to talk to parents, teachers, and the community about the Future of Public Education. In an attempt to cover the state, 12 schools have been selected to have this forum. On Thursday, September 4, Dr. Bice will visit Carver High School in Birmingham.  Principals, teachers, parents, and the community at large are encouraged to come out to one of the events.  

Week of August 18

Date	Event
Mon, August 18 A Day	2:00 Early Dismissal
Tues, August 19 B Day	4th Grade Chat Night 6:00-7:30
Wed, August 20 C Day
Thurs, August 21 D Day	3rd Grade Chat Night 6:00-7:30
Fri, August 22 E Day

Summer Reading Celebration

Students who participated in a summer reading program and returned their certificates from a public library were rewarded today by Paine Intermediate librarian, Christi Williamson, with a Popsicle and a book of their choice.

Loving Our Paine T-shirts!

Students and staff members enjoy showing our school spirit on Fridays.

Box Tops!

Dear Parents and Guardians,

My name is Cissie Harrington, and I am the volunteer Box Tops Coordinator at the Paine Elementary Campus.  Last year our schools earned over $9,400 by simply clipping and saving Box Tops.  I am proud to say that Paine ranks in the top 5 in the state of Alabama for earnings!

This year, our goal is to raise $10,000 for our schools. Here is an easy way you can help:

CLIP — Clip the Box Tops from hundreds of participating products. Each one is worth 10¢ when our school redeems them from Box Tops for Education. Please check the expiration dates, trim them neatly (it cuts down on shipping costs), and turn them in to your child's teacher.  You may place them in a Ziploc bag with your teacher's name on it.  We collect Box Tops all year long, so you can send them in anytime.  We will have contests for each grade, with the winning classes in each receiving a pizza party.  Deadlines for the contests will be October 15, 2014 and February 11, 2015.  Ask your friends, neighbors and family members to help your child and join our fundraising effort by clipping them for Paine.

Are you a Box Tops member?  Sign up to support our school at www.BTFE.com (boxtops4education.com), where you can:

• Earn eBoxTops™ with Box Tops Receipt Rewards
• Stay updated on our school’s earnings
• Find a full list of over 250 participating products
• Receive exclusive coupons and recipes for your favorite Box Tops brands
• Learn about extra ways for our school to earn more money

You can also sign up for Box Tops email newsletters that will keep you updated on the program.

To learn more, visit www.BTFE.com. Thanks for choosing to make a difference for our school with Box Tops.  Let's strive to reach our goal of over $10,000 for our schools!

Sincerely,

Cissie Harrington

Box Tops Coordinator for the Paine Elementary Campus

Approved:  B. Schmitt      B. Bruno      A. Jeter

Library News

Library Tidbits

Flex Time

Flex time is open on Mondays from 8:45am-1:30 pm and Tuesday-Friday from 8:45am-2:30pm. Flex time begins Monday, August 18.  We want students to get ample reading materials and learn to make appropriate reading selections, and we certainly don’t want teachers to lose precious instruction time because students are constantly in and out of the library. Students should only come to flex time once a day unless authorized by the teacher.  We encourage students to check out two books when they visit.  This should decrease lost instruction time from the classroom. If a student chooses to only check out one book at a particular visit, they shouldn’t return for checkout until their scheduled library specials time. If students check out two books and finish them both before their scheduled library day, they are more than welcome to come for flex time in between.

No Fine Challenge
Beginning second trimester for fourth and fifth grade classes and in January for third grade classes, the classes with no fines or lost books at the end of the trimesters will receive three free books for their teacher’s classroom library.  This means that at the end of the trimester students owing fines or lost book fees have them paid in full. 

Millionaire Club
Students that reach one million words will be recognized at grade level assemblies. 

 

  

 

   

Week of August 11

Join us in meeting and greeting Dr. Autumm Jeter in the Paine Primary amphitheatre at 9:30 on Monday morning.

Date	Event
Mon, August 11 D Day	9:30 - Meet and Greet Dr. Jeter @ PP Amphitheatre   10:00 – PTO @ PP Amphitheatre   2:00 – Early Dismissal
Tues, August 12 E Day
Wed, August 13 F Day
Thurs, August 14 G Day	5th Grade Parent Chat Night 6:00-7:30
Fri, August 15 H Day	2:00 Dreambox and Summer Reading Rewards

A Snapshot of Our Second Day of School

Meeting and Greeting

Music

Learning Procedures

Physical Education

Playing Bingo and Learning Math Facts

Learning about the Library

Listening to Great Books

First Day Back!

What a great first day we have had!  Students spent today meeting and greeting new and old classmates; learning about their new teachers; playing at recess; learning new routines and procedures; and enjoying lunch together!  We have the most well-mannered and brightest students!  Thank you for entrusting them to us.