THE PIRATE TREASURE
SEPTEMBER 17, 2021
PACE
Team Pace participated in a campus service project in collaboration with the East Texas Food Bank and the Rotary Club of Longview to distribute produce boxes. It was an intentional time of giving back to our community and modeling service to Pine Tree students. A big thank you to district administrators who served with us. A team that serves together, grows together.
PACE Alternative Campus welcomes Tristan Roberts, PACE ABU Secondary Teacher. The secondary ABU students have the responsibility of hoisting our national's colors for the campus each morning.
PACE students served with Mrs. Shalonda Adams, PACE/ABU Principal, by putting out flags around Longview on behalf of the Rotary Club of Longview in honor of Labor Day and Patriots' Day. The PACE Alternative Campus encourages each student to take action, be involved, and serve in the community. Service learning today, leads to leadership tomorrow.
PACE Alternative Campus is Taking Pride and Reaching Potential.
HIGH SCHOOL
The calendar has turned and Pine Tree High School is back for another school year.
Students are glad to be back on campus, administration and staff are busy preparing the young students for their futures. The atmosphere around school, despite constant traffic disruptions with street work on Fairmont out in front the campus, is buzzing with excitement.
PTHS welcomes Cleo Wadley as the new principal this year. He replaces veteran principal Cindy Gabehart who retired in May and is now enjoying time with her daughters and grandchildren. Wadley brings a wealth of experience in school administration to his position, and he has laid a groundwork already for Pine Tree High School students to not only be successful in the classroom but in life as well.
One of the changes seen around campus this year is no personal technology on a student’s person in the classroom. They can only have personal technology on them during class changes and lunch. This new policy has caused a lot of talk around PTHS, but it has also brought a new and engaging life to the school, one that sees bell to bell teaching and a lot of interaction that was nonexistent in the past. Students have adapted to the new policy fairly well, and administration and staff feel that, as the year goes along, positive results from this policy will be manifested in student work and student test scores.
The new advisory period on Thursdays and Fridays is also allowing students time to catch up on class work, to be instructed by administration and staff on different things and to get to know students and teachers they might not otherwise see during the school day. Thus far, these 30 minute sessions have been wonderful for everyone involved, and administration feels as the year goes along this will be an excellent time for students to really engage in the full PTHS experience.
There are a number of new faces around campus this year, and all teachers and staff are busy getting back into the groove of total face-to-face classes again. Students are engaged, staff is enjoying the interactions they have with students and PTHS is seeing some great academic work.
School pictures for every class, seniors to freshmen, have been completed. The PSAT will be given on October 13, and will involve a large number of students, so that is something administration and staff are focusing on in the days ahead.
Progress reports have gone out to students, and in the next couple of weeks, the first eligibility statuses will be given to students in sports and other extracurricular activities. Thus far, it looks very favorable that the new policies have enabled students to get off to a great start in their academic and core classes, helping keep the number of potential students who will miss time in their events to a minimum.
On the sports front, volleyball and football are well into their seasons with volleyball just finishing tournament time and now into district play. Football just finished non district play with wins over Kilgore and Liberty Eylau and a loss to Lindale. They start district play September 24 with a home game against Marshall. Tennis is also in the midst of a fall team season, while golf will have several tournaments over the next month.
Overall, it has been a busy time at PTHS, but it has been very successful and administration, staff and students adapt to new procedures and policies and continue to produce an excellent educational atmosphere at the high school.
PINE TREE JUNIOR HIGH
PTJH is off to a great start this year with a focus on helping students challenge themselves to take pride in their actions and reach their full potential. Teachers identified students that have demonstrated these characteristics in the classroom, and sixty students were rewarded with a trip to a PTHS Pep Rally.
The PTJH Pirates and Lady Pirates have kicked off the year with a lot of hard work and many victories on the course, in the gym, and on the field. The boys cross country team won first place at the Hallsville Invitational Meet.
The 7th grade volleyball A and B teams both won 2nd place in the Invitational Tournament hosted at PTHS. All of our teams have shown growth and played hard in every contest. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes held its first meeting of the year with more than thirty students in attendance.
#PTJHRocks
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Pine Tree Middle School is off to a running start and enjoying the sound of students in the hallways once again.
Mr. White showed his ‘Pirate Pride’ in his football uniform, as he unloaded cars on the first day of school. Students were eager to begin the year and this year the number of fifth grade students seems to be growing.
Pine Tree Middle school connected with Books-a-Million over the summer with generous community support by donating to their Book Drive for Education. Books-a-Million donated over 500 books to our campus library! Thank you to Books-a-Million! We appreciate you. Also this month, the Amazing Maze Challenge has started in the library. Students may pick up the supplies if they turn in a book review.
Guitar classes are beginning in sixth grade and students are eagerly asking questions about when U.I.L will begin! This is an exciting time to be a pirate. We are looking forward to a year full of educational experiences at Pine Tree Middle School.
We have welcomed Mrs. Sarah Sage to our campus as vice principal this year. She is excited that PT Middle School won the spirit stick at the convocation kick off.
Mr. White Showing School Spirit!
Thanks, Books-a-Million!
PTMS Wins Spirit Contest!
PARKWAY ELEMENTARY
LEARNING ABOUT STATE FAIRS
Mrs. Fobell’s life skills class learned about state fairs and all the many things one can experience at state fairs across the country - rides, events, and food. Students had the opportunity to make Texas state fair cheese fries. They were delicious and enjoyed by all.
GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS KICK OFF NEW YEAR
Gifted and Talented students at Parkway started off the year with a STEM get-to-know-you activity that was a great deal of fun. Students earned toothpicks based on their answers to get-to-know you questions. Before the students started their challenge, they had a lesson in the structural integrity of a tetrahedron vs a cube. The students looked at many real world examples before Ms. Wyman presented the first through fourth grade GT students with a challenge.
Students were responsible for designing and building the tallest freestanding tower possible using the toothpicks they earned and marshmallows as the connectors. Each student had successes and failures as they attempted to use their design to build their tower. With guided questions, they were able to problem solve and make modifications to their tower as they continued to build it both out and up. The tallest tower built at Parkway was created by Ronin Foster standing 12 inches tall.
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS CHALLENGE
The first full week of PE class we were getting to know each other. What better way to have a challenge than the old school rock, paper, scissors with a twist. Students jumped inside a hula hoop to get to the person in front of them. When the students met, they played rock, paper, scissors. The winner continued to jump with the loser stepping out to go to the end of their lines. When the other team reaches the last hula hoop, they get a point for their team. What a way to get the heart rate up while having a blast!
BIRCH ELEMENTARY
COOKIE DOUGH FUNDRAISER
On Monday, September 13th, we kicked off our cookie dough fundraiser with the help of Mr. Steve Davis with American Concepts. Our students were able to raise over $36,000 last year which funded t-shirts, field trips, and a portion of our Celebration Slide “Big Blue”. We intend to exceed that amount this year to continue to support our students and give them amazing opportunities and lifelong memories of their time at our Birch First campus.
GOOD NEWS CALL
Each day teachers and/or staff nominate one student from our entire school who has shown Pirate Pride in the classroom or any other location in our building. The lucky recipient receives a call home from one of our administrators. We believe in acknowledging our students’ growth, hard work, and determination each day.
MORNING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Each morning, our Birch First Family begins the day united as we listen to our uplifting morning announcements. Students assist in reciting the pledges, our inspirational administrators share a word of the day and other thrilling information, and our students partake in an educational drill. Every day is a great day at Birch Elementary.
GRANDPARENT'S WEEK
Our Birch First students are blessed to have a huge support system that not only encompasses our campus, but also their families and extended families. This week we have honored the grandparents of our Birch First students as they play an integral role in helping our students thrive academically, emotionally, and socially. Our students have delighted in dining with their beloved grandparents during breakfast each morning.
PRIMARY
IT'S GREAT TO BE A PIRATE!
After a crazy couple of years, things are finally starting to get back to normal at Pine Tree Primary. Our little Pirates are working on learning rules and procedures in the classroom, as well as finally getting to experience lunch in the cafeteria! This is the first time since COVID began that we are finally getting to enjoy lunch in our cafeteria, and our little Pirates could not be happier.
We have been working hard the past few weeks learning our letters, numbers, and colors. We have been showing off our knowledge of colors the past couple weeks by wearing a different color every day. We have made it through red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple, pink, black, white, brown, and grey.
Starting school, many for the first time, can be a scary thing for both parents and students. With a bit of patience and hard work, these little Pirates are growing leaps and bounds.
PINE TREE ISD
Email: info@ptisd.org
Website: www.ptisd.org
Location: 1701 Pine Tree Road, Longview, TX, USA
Phone: 903-295-5000
Facebook: facebook.com/PTISD
Twitter: @PTISD