Read-A-Thon Begins!

Our Magical Read-A-Thon begins TODAY (February 25-March 9)! Remember that for 2nd-4th grade, the class per grade who earns the most Accelerated Reader points will win a prize. Plus we’ll have a pajama day on March 4 and character dress-up day on March 11! Scroll down for more details.

This year’s spring auction – Glitter Ball – is only 1 week away! Details that you don’t want to miss about this event are below.

And lastly, be sure to register for Math Night on March 7 (2nd-4th grade) and to participate in small fundraisers running now (details below)!

School Events

READ-A-THON 2022: Through the Wardrobe

It’s here! The Through the Wardrobe 2022 Read-A-Thon kicks off Friday, February 25th! Kindergarten & 1st grade students may begin logging their reading on the Through the Wardrobe reading logs and 2nd -4th grades can start taking AR tests to count for Read-A-Thon. Look for the Through the Wardrobe challenge and K-1st reading logs in this week’s Friday folders. Read-A-Thon FAQ’s can be found here.

What are some ways that parents can support and encourage their children’s Read-A-Thon efforts and add to their reading enthusiasm?

• Take trips to the Nashville Public Library to check out a bag full of books
• Help them create a cozy reading nook
• Encourage less screen time or “screen free days”
• Read aloud with them
• Never leave the house without a book
• Read a book together and then have a coordinating movie night
• Let them see you reading books
• Talk to them about the books they are reading
• Listen to audiobooks while driving around town

Please Buy Your Glitter Ball Tickets by March 1st!!

We’re just one week away from Glitter Ball, a dazzling night of dinner, dancing and bidding to raise big dollars for our stellar school! Book that sitter and buy your tickets now for the can’t-miss event on March 5 from 6-10 p.m. at Richland Country Club. Come dressed in your chicest black and white and ready to party like the glitterati!

Tickets are $100 and additional drink packages are also available online. 

Buy Tickets

Now’s Your Chance to Bid On, Buy PPE Exclusives! 
Let the bidding wars begin! Want in on Ms. Lolita’s special retirement dinner? How about a takeout lunch with Mrs. Temple? At 3 p.m. today, you can start bidding on fun outings with your teacher and unique Percy Priest experiences. It’s also time to sign up for grade-level and parent parties! There’s something for everyone, so be sure to check out “Teacher Outings,” “PPE Experiences,” “Grade-Level Parties” and “Parent Parties” when perusing the silent auction catalog. All remaining items open for bidding at 8 a.m. on Friday, March 4th, through 9 p.m. Saturday, March 5th. Bring your best offers!!

Tickets for Teachers
As in years past, we would love for our incredible teachers and support staff to attend the auction at no cost to them. We are asking for donations to make this a possibility. As little as $10 from each student would make this a reality and of course anything you can give is greatly appreciated! Please Venmo your donation to @Megancallender (4248 are the last 4 digits of phone number).

Thank you to our Sponsors!
We are so grateful to our many sponsors, including Camel Express, who have helped make Glitter Ball possible!

2nd-4th Grade Family Math Night – March 7

Join us on March 7 from 5:15-6:30pm in the PPE Cafe for a fun evening of math games and activities brought to us by Mathnasium of Brentwood! Parents are encouraged to stay and play with your “Mathletes,” but due to space constraints, we kindly request that each student bring a maximum of one adult and no siblings. Sign up now to reserve your spot: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0F4AADA929A7FE3-ppefamily!

Small Fundraisers & Announcements

Elan Skin Medical Spa Fundraiser – March 12 deadline
Freshen up your look in the New Year with a visit to Elan Skin, and support Percy Priest while you’re there! From February 12 to March 12, Elan Skin will donate to the PTO 10% of any sales made with the mention of Percy Priest Elementary. All purchases must be made in person. Elan is located at 3750 Hillsboro Pike.

Flower Power Bulbs – March 23 deadline to order
Want to spruce up your garden this Spring? Order your spring bulbs and seeds from Flower Power and the school will receive 50% of all proceeds raised. The funds raised from this event will be used to support the PTO budget which provides our school with additional staff, software and supplies. Thank you so much for your support – let’s grow together!!

Visit http://PercyPriestElementary.fpfundraising.com and place your order today (or before 3/23). The bulbs and seeds will be delivered straight to your door! Feel free to send the link to friends and family!

Spring Ferns from Market Fresh Produce – April 4 deadline to order
If you want the biggest, healthiest ferns on the block and you love Percy Priest, be sure to buy your Market Fresh Produce ferns through the PTO now through April 4th! Pick up will be at the Percy Priest Playground from dismissal until 4PM on April 21st. The funds raised from this event will be used to support the PTO budget which provides our school with additional staff, software and supplies. Thank you so much for your support!

Kudos to You and our Volunteers

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Used Book Sale
Thank you to Tabitha Witherow and her team of parents who made this year’s Used Book Sale a huge success! We raised over $1,600.00 to support the PTO budget which provides our school with additional staff, software and supplies. Thank you so much for your support! And happy reading!

Navigator Days supporting Unicycle
Navigators Day was amazing this month! We asked you to dig deep and give those closets an early spring clean to help spread some love and new wardrobes to students in the MNPS Homeless Education Resource Office (HERO) program, and gosh, you delivered!

UniCycle began in 2014 when then-Percy Priest parent Jami Oakley approached then-principal Melinda Williams about hosting a “little collection” of outgrown school uniform items in an effort to support students who needed extra school clothes and were enrolled in the HERO program. PPE parents stepped up big time and Jami quickly realized that “outgrown, not worn out” school clothing is basically a natural resource – it just keeps coming!

UniCycle grew to more schools, honed the collection and distribution system to be as simple as possible, and within a couple of years, was working in dozens of schools with Percy Priest as the hub. The process switched from collecting and distributing only to HERO students to also building relationships and UniCycle Closets (where any student can grab anything they need on a day-to-day basis) in each school that became a partner. Now, UniCycle distributes clothing at more than 60 MNPS schools on a regular basis and serves nearly ALL clothing needs for the 3-4,000 HERO students each year. Last year, they distributed more than 20,000 items of clothing. All from the back portable building at Percy Priest Elementary and with the support of Dr. Young and our awesome front office staff, who have never once complained about all of the boxes that come and go every day!

Students supported by UniCycle are served in so many ways by the MNPS community – having clothing that fits and “fits in” makes everyone have a better day. The program provides an easy way for a counselor or social worker to request items for a student at any school across the city, whether they have a UniCycle Closet in school or not, making needing help as stigma-free as possible. UniCycle integrates a “family-style” system of sharing outgrown clothing into every partner school. On the flip side, it provides JUST the right thing to do when students outgrow those khaki shorts and polos – an easy way to ease stress for another Nashville family.

There are a couple of recent major wins for UniCycle that are exciting and could use your support: 1) They’ve moved from completely volunteer-run to hiring a part-time warehouse coordinator to keep all the donations both coming and going. 2) They’re launching a website to broaden reach and make program information more easily accessible.

Check out the website here, sign up for UniCycle news by shooting an email to unicycle.nashville@gmail.com with the subject line “add me!”, and support UniCycle’s continued work with a monetary donation here.

Volunteer Spotlight

Name: Erin O’Brien
Children’s names and grades: Liam (6th), Emma (4th), Quinn (1st), Morgan and Connally (rising PPE Tigers!)
Volunteer Role: Auction Co-Chair
Why Percy Priest: Where do I start? I love being part of a neighborhood school, and I truly believe that Percy Priest is unrivaled in terms of administration, teachers and community. PPE staff consistently go above and beyond their job description, and I am happy to give back and get involved with this special place. This auction role has been truly humbling. People believe in Percy Priest and want to contribute to its continued success! I know my family is so very lucky to be here.

Kroger will donate 4% of the total to PPE. You just need to link your Kroger Plus card to PPE using these steps:
1. Click on this link.
2. Create an account by entering the following: (*Email, *Password, *Zip Code, *Find (location of store you use))
3. Add Kroger Plus 12-digit number OR phone number linked to your Kroger Plus account
4. Click on COMMUNITY REWARDS (*First Name, *Last Name, *Address)
5. Find your organization (*Type in our NPO Number: 89203 and hit Search, *Select Percy Priest Elementary School, and *Click ENROLL)

Add PPE happenings to your calendar automatically!

You can subscribe to our PTO calendar and have all of our events show up on your calendar, so you never lose track of important dates! Following the links below will prompt you to subscribe to the calendar via your preferred calendar app. Any time the PTO updates an event through the website, it will update on the calendar of all subscribers (how often your calendar pulls updated info will be based on your individual personal settings – every 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 week, etc).

For Calendar Apps (apple calendar etc), go to www.percypriest.org/?post_type=tribe_events&tribe-bar-date=2022-02-01&ical=1

For Google Calendar, go to https://www.google.com/calendar/render?cid=webcal%3A%2F%2Fwww.percypriest.org%2F%3Fpost_type%3Dtribe_events%26tribe-bar-date%3D2022-02-01%26ical%3D1