Summer PD

Reminder:  Teachers, If you are participating in PD outside of your 2 flex days this summer, there could be some compensation (not to exceed 2 days).  We will be able to do so in the areas of science, math, SS and Literacy/ELA. For example, an HTHS ELA teacher participates  in the 4 day A+ training- 2 of the days will be Flex and the other 2 will be paid at their daily rate (not to exceed 2 days).  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Lunch on Tuesday

Pizza for faculty and staff should arrive by around 11:00 am on Tuesday.  It will be set up in the front office area.  Thank you to one of our parents, Mr. Armstrong for providing lunch for everyone.  He is also leaving us with some large bags (which may be useful as we are carrying personal items home, etc.).  He wanted to leave you with the following message:

My mother retired as a teacher/educator in middle Georgia, and throughout my life I saw how mentally taxing the role can be.  You not only have the responsibility of our children’s education, but also their safety.  And you own a great piece of who they are/become as people.  Your influence is greater than many will ever know.  And through a pandemic on top of everything else, and how you’ve reacted to it amazes me.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for everything that you do!!!

Please take as many of the reusable grocery bags that you think you’ll use, and I hope you’re able to enjoy your summer.

Family News

Please keep Mary Rountree and her family in your thoughts and prayers!  Mary's mother passed away this afternoon around 3:00.   We will post information regarding arrangements as soon as it is available.  Sending love and prayers!

Math Curriculum Update

 Updated Information from Mrs. Bramlett regarding our Math Curriculum for next year:

I noticed in the blog that there have been questions about math next year so I am sending this email so that you have more information. We will still use our curriculum guides as a main source to our curriculum. However, StemScopes will be integrated throughout as well. I have already mapped out the first trimester for third grade. If you are interested in seeing the 3^rd grade map as an example for what this could look like for your grade, click the link on the email sent out this morning.

 

I am starting back up the process for other grades now that AimsWeb testing is over. My goal is to have the first trimester completed for each grade (1^st – 5^th) by the June PD dates. Here is a little bit more detailed information about the curriculum map you will receive:

How the curriculum map is organized:

• Number talks for each day are listed.
• The outline of the day’s activity are listed. If an item is hyperlinked, you can click it and it will open up the page from the curriculum guide. There is a district calendar that will be utilized within Stemscopes to link the Stemscopes activities for each day.
• You will notice that 3^rd grade Stemscopes activities are linked on the curriculum map. This was done because teachers did not have access to the program at the time that I created this. The Stemscopes activities will be listed on future maps, but not linked. The activities on the site could be updated at any time so if I link them on the spreadsheet, you may miss critical updates that have been made to the curriculum.  
• Handouts- These are linked on the map so any printouts that are needed are easily accessible. I sometimes change the wording on the Stemscopes handouts to make the activity more open rather than based on a specific strategy.
• Mini Lessons- I have created quick videos for most mini lesson topics. In these videos, I show the strategy that should be presented in the mini-lesson. I will also use these videos to create a parent letter that can be sent out so that parents can see the strategies that will be presented in class and that correspond with our standards.

What you need to know-

• You currently have access to the online part of Stemscopes math. Simply log in to your account like you do for science, and you will be able to click math as a topic. There are great videos that show you how to set up the specific activity that you will see listed on the map.
• Not all linked handouts will need to printed and/or copied. Since we will not be using everything within the STEMscopes curriculum and will be relying heavily on investigations from our guides, we will not receive workbooks as there would be several wasted pages. HOWEVER, you will receive a foundations kit and a fluency kit. The foundations kit will have anything you need for the explore activities pre-copied and laminated. The fluency kit will have the fluency games pre-cut and laminated and enough of each game for a class set. So for example, if you see something such as task cards- they will be in the foundations kit. Also, some things can be assigned online so that will also limit copies.
• Please do not share the link to this map with anyone outside of Trussville City Schools.

 

If at anytime you have questions about math curriculum, please contact me. I am just an email, text, or phone call away! (Phone number- 205-960-7239, If you text me, let me know who you are so that I can store your number correctly.)

Weekly News

Library Dedication in Memory of Jana LoPresti 

Thank you to everyone who stayed on Friday afternoon to dedicate our library in Jana's name.  It was such a special event and it meant so much to Jana's family and our Paine Family!  We would like to thank Mrs. & Mrs. Bill Roberts for making the naming possible and Lance Pate for all of his support with the creation of our snack cart, J. Lo's Grab-n-Go.  We would like to extend a special thank you to the following:  Andrea Barker and Kim Dahlke for such a great idea, Lori Phillips for painting/staining the cart (it looks beautiful), and Ellen Ormond and Amy Ramer for coordinating the celebration with all well-thought-out details that made it so special.  Please make sure you stop by J. Lo's Grab-n-Go this week for a treat!

  

  

   

Thank You to our Substitutes

It has been the most challenging year I can remember.  I know coverage issues have been hard on everyone.  We want to extend a special thank you to our floating substitutes.  We would not have survived the year without them.  A very special thank you to Ms. Hayden who has been here every day this year!

Year End Awards

We will be coming around the classrooms this week for year end classroom awards and certificates.

Important Reminders - To Prepare Rooms for Summer Waxing

• Teacher must take ALL personal rugs/carpets/couches/chairs/bean bags, etc. home this year and have them cleaned (including any that are in storage in the school).
• Teachers are responsible for disposal of any rugs/carpets they do not want (custodians cannot do this).  Do not put any of these items in the dumpsters at the school.

Note:  We will set up a Goodwill Pick-up on each side of the campus for personal items that are still in good condition that you may no longer want.  More information will be provided on where/when to place these items.

•  Each school principal must approve any rugs/furniture brought back into the school.

Note:  We will provide more information on this at the end of the summer.

•  If teachers have any expensive personal item(s) they need to take them home for the summer.
• Teachers are to disassemble and stack the clear plastic dividers on the book cases in their rooms.

Note:  We will communicate a location in our school for storage of the dividers for those that do not have a space.

• All bookshelves are to be emptied so that the vendor can move them. TCS nor the vendor will be responsible for any personal book case in poor condition if broken during the waxing process. 
• Chairs are to be stacked on the tables/desks in the classroom.
• Teachers should make a detailed map of ow they want their classroom furniture set back up and tape it to the white board in the classroom.
• Teachers need to "Declutter" their rooms so that cleaning can take place.

Lunch on Tuesday for Faculty & Staff

Pizza will be provided for all faculty and staff courtesy of one of our parents.  This is a special thank you for what you have accomplished during the most challenging year.

Student Lunch Schedule on Thursday

Since students will be dismissed at 12:00 on Thursday, so we will follow a different lunch schedule and procedure.  To Go Lunches will be picked up in the lunchroom.  Please coordinate with your partner where one of you stays back with the students who brought their lunch and one goes with the students purchasing a lunch.  Please eat either outside or in your classroom.  Our custodians will provide you with a trash bag.  Please place all trash in the bag, tie up, and leave outside your classroom door immediately following lunch.

Lunch Pick up Locations and Times

Time	North Lunchroom	South Lunchroom
10:15	K-Martin, K-Williams	Matos, Blank
10:20	K-Findley, K-Jacobs	K-Lackey, K-Dillard
10:25	K-Swatzell, 1-Moore	K-O’Dell, K-Birkeland
10:30	1-Payne, 1-Inman	1-Calvin, 1-Puryear
10:35	1-Seeley, 1-McGinnis	1-Mauldin, 1-Stewart
10:40	2-Swann, 2-Weyerman	1-Tweed, 2-Parker
10:45	2-Shumate, 2-Enoch	2-Wilks, 2-Hunt
11:00	3-Bickley, 3-Walters	2-Perry, 2-Vickers
11:05	3-Lutz, 3-Johnson	3-Barker, 3-Abney
11:10	4-Brooks, 4-Jackson	3-Ekonen, 3-Kuhn
11:15	4-Felts, 4-Jenkins	4-Bennett, 4-Dahlke
11:20	5-Camara, 5-Darnell	4-Kizer, 4-Williamson
11:25	5-Brasher, 5-Bryant, 5-Garrett	5-McGuire, 5-McLaughlin, 5-Burns

Math Curriculum

I have received several questions about our math curriculum next year and realize there is some confusion.  The Math Curriculum Guides we are currently using in Grades 1-5 will remain our PRIMARY curriculum.  STEMScopes Math will serve as a SUPPLEMENT for those grade levels.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

Copies of IEPs

Sped Teachers:  Please remember to provide copies of all of the IEPs on your caseload to Dr. Lothspeich before you leave on Thursday.  She will not be able to sign off on your year-end checklist until these are received.

Family News

Please keep the following in your thoughts and prayers.

Fran Box as she recovers from knee surgery

Leah Morrison who will have back surgery on Tuesday
The Richey family

Retirement Celebration - Thursday at 12:30

Please join us in the Media Center Thursday at 12:30 to celebrate our retirees.  Lunch will be provided by Paine PTO.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for all of your hard work, especially during these past two weeks of school. I know the process of closing the year (and the emphasis on decluttering this year) is hard, but so rewarding when complete.  If you are moving into a different room, we are here to help.  Ellen Ormond is coordinating where tables have been utilized/stored so we can get them back to the appropriate rooms.  Thank you for working so hard now to set us up for an amazing year next year!  I truly believe next year will be the best one yet as we are unified as grade level teams and get back to some sense of normalcy.  

Prayers Needed

Paine Family,

Please keep the Richey family in your thoughts and prayers.  Avery, 1st grader here at Paine, passed away this week.  She has two sisters also at Paine (4th grade), Ella & Lexie.  

Also, please keep Leah Morrison in your prayers.  She will be having back surgery on Tuesday.

Weekly News

May - Important Dates & Upcoming Events

Wednesday, May 19th - Data Meeting during Collaboration

Wednesday, May 19th - Posting Turned Off

Wednesday, May 19th - Data Meetings During Collaboration

Friday, May 21st - Library Dedication & Reveal in Memory of Jana LoPresti

Friday, May 21st - 3rd Grade Cursive Handwriting Assessments Due to Dr. Lothspeich

Monday, May 24th - 3rd Grade Year End Party

Tuesday, May 25th - 4th Grade Year End Party

Wednesday, May 26th - 5th Grade Year End Party

Thursday, May 27th - Students are Dismissed at 12:00

Thursday, May 27th - Celebration of our Retirements at 12:30

Friday, May 28th - Teacher Flex Day

A Special Thank You!

With the close of National Nurses Week, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our school nurses, Beth Copham and Randa Taylor.  They guided us through the most difficult time during the pandemic, and did this with such attention to detail and grace!  Paine Nurses rock!

5th Grade Extravaganza

We had our 5th Grade Extravaganza on Friday, and were blessed with the most beautiful day.  Our PTO did an incredible job planning and organizing this event.  Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen.  It was such a special day for our 5th graders and everything was perfect!  

   

   

  

  

  

Wednesday Collaboration

We will go over our year end data.

Library Dedication in Honor of Mrs. Jana LoPresti

Please join Jana's family and friends in the library at 3:15 on Friday.  We will dedicate our library in her memory and we also have a special surprise for our faculty in her honor!

Room Preparation for Waxing

For your references, listed below are the guidelines we discussed in our Thursday faculty meeting (provided by our Building and Facilities Department).

• Teachers must take ALL personal rugs/carpets/couches/chairs, bean bags, etc. home this year and have them cleaned (including any that are in storage at the school).
• Teachers are responsible for disposal of any rugs/carpets that they do not want (custodians do not have time to do this).  Do not put these any of these items in the dumpsters at the school.
• Principal must approve any rugs/furniture brought back in to the school.
• If teachers have any expensive personal item(s) they need to take it home for the summer.
• Teachers are to disassemble and stack the clear plastic dividers on the book cases in their rooms.
• If the rooms do not have a counter top to stack the dividers on please stack on a pallet for storage at the school.
• All bookshelves are to be emptied so that the vendor can move them (TCS nor the vendor will be responsible for any personal book case in poor condition if it is broken during the waxing process).
• Chairs are to be stacked on the tables/desk in the classrooms.
• Teachers shall make a detailed map of how they want their classroom furniture set back up and tape it to the whiteboard in the room.
• Teachers need to “Declutter” their rooms so that cleaning can take place.
  

Weekly News

We had a great week celebrating our teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week!  I hope you felt all the love and gratitude you deserve!  A special thank you to our PTO for all they did this week to honor our teachers!

 

National Nurses Day - Wednesday

Wednesday is National Nurses Day and we would like to thank our school nurses for the incredible job they have done this year under the most challenging circumstances.  They have been absolute rock stars!  I know we could not have stayed open this year without their careful consideration of every situation during this pandemic.  Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our faculty, staff, and students!

May - Important Dates & Upcoming Events

Tuesday, May 11th - School Leadership Team Meeting After School

Wednesday, May 12th - National Nurses Day

Wednesday, May 12th - No collaboration meeting

Thursday, May 13th - Faculty Zoom Meeting

Friday, May 14th - STAR & Performance Series Express Testing Complete

Friday, May 14th - 5th Grade Extravaganza

Wednesday, May 19th - Posting Turned Off

Wednesday, May 19th - Data Meetings During Collaboration

Friday, May 21st - Library Dedication & Reveal in Memory of Jana LoPresti

Friday, May 21st - 3rd Grade Cursive Handwriting Assessments Due to Dr. Lothspeich

Thursday, May 27th - Students are Dismissed at 12:00

Thursday, May 27th - Celebration of our Retirements at 12:30

Friday, May 28th - Teacher Flex Day

5th Grade Extravaganza - Friday

Our 5th Grade Extravaganza is Friday at Faith Community Church.  Fifth grade teachers will remain with their homeroom class throughout the event.  Masks will be required, with frequent mask breaks.  Teachers will walk students to and from Faith through a trail cleared by our PTO (do not walk near Highway 11).  We will come back to the school for our final outside activity at 2:30.   (K-4, please do not take your students out to recess after 2:30.)  

Please remember:  We cannot invite parents due to our no visitor policy this year.  We are so excited to be able to have this event, but must adhere to all health and safety guidelines currently in place.  

Fifth grade teachers:  there will be a dunking booth (for students to dunk faculty), so if you would like get in please make sure you bring a change of clothes (but of course this is optional).  

A portion of our staff will be needed for the extravaganza so we will have a modified schedule for K-4, which will encompass an hour of PE/Field Day, but no specials (see below).

Friday Field Day Schedule for K-4

PE/Field Day for K-4 will be held on the North Field (for North students) and South Playground/Field (for South students).  Classes will be out there for one hour and there will be no specials (this hour will be planning time for classroom teachers).  If you have recess on the North Field or South Playground, please use the gyms instead.

The PE/Field Day schedule is listed below:

8:45-9:45 - 2nd Grade

9:45-10:45 - 1st Grade

10:45-11:45 - 4th Grade

12:15-1:15 - Kindergarten

1:15-2:15 - Third Grade

Leadership Team Meeting - Tuesday

We will have a school leadership team meeting on Tuesday from 3:15-4:00 in the South Collaboration Roo m.  At this time we will discuss some key items to begin planning for next year.

Thursday Afternoon - Faculty Zoom Meeting

We will have a Zoom Faculty Meeting at 2:15 on Thursday.  The Zoom link will If be sent out on Thursday.  We will be going over important information about closing the year and summer plans.

Year End Parties

If your class did not have a Valentine Party, your year end party schedule is listed below.  If you did have a Valentine Party as your 2nd party, you may have a special snack for students.   Food items for parties may be purchased by parents (but no homemade items).  Remember, we have a not visitor policy, so unfortunately room moms are not allowed to help with the parties.  All item should be dropped off at the front office.

Monday, May 24th - 3rd Grade

Tuesday, May 25th - 4th Grade

Wednesday, May 26th - 5th Grade

Weekly News

Teacher Appreciation Week

There are no adequate words to express how valued, loved, and appreciated you are!  I never dreamed at the beginning of this challenging year we would be at this point.  You have all demonstrated flexibility beyond all expectation, and have done this with such grace.  You have all covered for each other at some point during the year.  You have poured your heart and soul into the social, emotional, and academic growth and development of our precious students!  I know everyone is so tired as we move into the month of May.  What I do know is that challenges lead to growth, and we have grown so much this year....and I know we are even better for it!  I feel so privileged to work with each and every one of you!  Thank you for being the best!

Our PTO has something planned each day this week for our teachers:

Monday - Goody bags for teachers

Tuesday - Breakfast biscuits from Great Harvest for all faculty (and staff).

Wednesday - Baby Bites from Pasty Arts for all faculty (and staff).  

Thursday - Gifts for teachers

Friday - Lunch from Full Moon provided for teachers

Friday is School Lunch Hero Day!  PTO will be provided brunch for the lunch staff!

Paine Library Dedication
Save the Date:  Friday, May 21st @ 3:15

Please make plans to attend the special dedication of our library in memory of Jana LoPresti.  Jana's family will be present.  

At the dedication we will be revealing a SPECIAL surprise for our faculty and staff in Jana's honor. 

May - Important Dates & Upcoming Events

Monday, May 3rd - Last day for Purchase Orders

Thursday, May 6th - Choir Auditions (3rd/4th)

Thursday, May 6th - Posting will be Turned On

Friday, May 7th - Choir Auditions (3rd/4th)

Friday, May 7th - National CNP Day

Wednesday, May 12th - National Nurses Day

Friday, May 14th - 5th Grade Extravaganza

Wednesday, May 19th - Posting Turned Off

Friday, May 21st - Library Dedication & Reveal in Memory of Jana LoPresti

Thursday, May 27th - Students are Dismissed at 12:00

Thursday, May 27th - Celebration of our Retirements at 12:30

Friday, May 28th - Teacher Flex Day

Important Reminder

As we approach the final weeks of school, just a reminder to make sure students are closely supervised at all times, especially at recess.  We know students have spring fever and discipline referrals typically increase during this time.  

Upcoming Retirement Celebration

Thank You

Thank you so much for making me feel special on National Principal's Day.  I absolutely loved all the sweet cards and messages I received from your students!