PTO Newsletter 10/28
Sending festive greetings to all of you this Halloween season. Isn’t it spooky we are almost finished with October?
We want to thank Harry Allen, a PPE parent, for being our Principal for the Day on Thursday. It was fun to have him make our announcements and greet our kids, teachers and staff throughout the day.
We have had so many wonderful events this fall and plenty more to come! Hold onto your broomsticks because we have a busy week at the school next week. There will be Class Harvest Parties, Percy’s Reading Party, GrandFriends Day and Open House for Prospective Families. We have lots of open volunteer slots we need to fill to make these special events possible so please sign up using the Percy’s Reading Party, GrandFriends Day and Scholastic Book Fair sign-up links!
Witching you a Happy and Safe Halloween!
Upcoming School Events
- October 28- No School-Parent/Teacher Conferences
- October 31-November 4th-Scholastic Book Fair
- October 31- Class Harvest Parties
- November 2–Percy’s Reading Party
- November 3-Open House for Prospective Parents
- November 3&4– GrandFriends Day
- November 8-No School-In Service
- November 11-Veterans Day: No School
- November 15-Family Skate Night at Brentwood Skate Center
- November 23-25: Thanksgiving Break
- December 1-Art Show
Upcoming Field Trips
- November 16 – 1st Grade trip to Glen Leven Farms
- December 8 – 3rd Grade trip to the Tennessee State Museum
- December 8 – 4th Grade trip to the Clay Lady
Community Events Sponsorships:
Be a Friend of the Event for $150 and help make our Community Events this fall better than ever! Visit www.percypriest.org/get-involved/sponsorship/ and select your desired level of participation for the events listed below. We really couldn’t do it without the generous contributions and in-kind donations of our sponsors. Thank you to all our sponsors!
- Percy’s Reading Party (Nov 2)
- GrandFriends Day (Nov 3 and 4)
- Art Show (Dec 1)
PPE Scholastic Book Fair – October 31st-November 4th
It’s BACK! Our Scholastic Book Fair will take place in the library from Monday October 31st thru Friday, November 4th . First Day of book fair falling on Halloween…it’s the stuff childhood dreams are made of! The fair will be open for families to shop during Percy’s Reading Party on Wednesday, November 2nd . We still need a few more volunteers. If you are interested, please sign-up HERE. And thank-you!!!
We’re encouraging families to use the Scholastic Book Fair eWallet. The eWallet is a safe and secure alternative to cash. You can create a free account and add funds that will allow your child to select books. When they come to the fair, we’ll look up their eWallet. Again, the eWallet is a great alternative to cash.
Visit our book fair homepage to learn more and get started with eWallet and online shopping: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/percypriestelemschool. Students can bring their grandparents’ and special friends to shop at the book fair when they visit PPE on Thursday, November 3rd and Friday, November 4th.
If you can’t make it to the fair, then shop at our school’s Online Book Fair. All orders ship directly to your home, and shipping is free for book orders over $25. Your online orders will benefit our school as well. Thank-you for your help with this year’s fair! Don’t hesitate to email Miss Stuart with further questions. emily.stuart@mnps.org
Percy’s Reading Party – November 2nd
Calling all book lovers! Mark your calendar for the first annual Percy’s Reading Party! Bring the entire family to the PPE Café for interactive activities, crafts, illustration stations, word games, puzzles, Mad Libs, grade-level raffles, free prizes, popcorn, and more on Wednesday, November 2nd from 5:30-7:30 pm during the Scholastic Book Fair. We’ll even have a surprise guest author and guest illustrator!
Would you like to dress up as Percy and be the star of the party? Sign up here for your opportunity to greet our students, strike a pose in our fun photo area, and select winners in the grade-level raffle!
Thank you to our sponsors:
Gold Sponsor: Patterson Intellectual Property Law
Friend of Percy’s Reading Party: Camel Express and John & Diane Vidalakis
GrandFriends Day – Nov. 3rd and 4th
GrandFriends’ Day is just around the corner and we want to be sure you have all of the details. And, we want to be sure you know of some great ways to save money and give money to the Percy Priest PTO all at the same time!
On GrandFriends Day, students are invited to bring grandparents or a special friend to school to visit. GrandFriends are welcome to bring lunch for themselves and their student. The cafeteria lunch will be available for students only.
GrandFriends will also have the opportunity to visit the Book Fair in the library and purchase books for their student. And, our Roar Store with Percy Priest apparel will be available for purchases as well -– perfect for a little early Holiday shopping!
- Thursday, November 3 rd 10:30-11:30 (1st Grade)
- Thursday, November 3 rd 12:00-1:00 (Kindergarten)
- Friday, November 4th 10:00-11:00 (4th Grade)
- Friday, November 4th 11:15-12:15 (2nd Grade)
- Friday, November 4th 12:30-1:30 (3rd Grade)
**All visitors need to bring a government issued photo ID. If possible, please register ahead of
time using the bookings link below to speed up the check-in process. Please plan to arrive at least 20 minutes early so we can get everyone checked in. If you are local to the area, you can
also come in any day prior to your visit to get yourself checked in to our system. If you have
visited PPE in years past and had your ID scanned, then you are already in the system.**
Registration Link:
Thank you to our sponsors:
Platinum Sponsor: Samir Giris Artoul Foundation
Bronze Sponsor: John & Diane Vidalakis
Friend of GrandFriends Day: Caleb Hemmer, Camel Express Car Wash and Travel Stars
Fundraisers
Jenni’s Ice Cream- November 3rd & 4th
Charleston Wrap – deadline October 31st
Shop online and invite friends, too! Share our fundraiser with your friends and family near and far to help reach our fundraising goal! Our fundraiser features over 2,500 gift items including Ultra-Heavy gift wrap, accessories, exclusive kitchen and home goods, holiday décor, personalization items and gifts, fragrant candles, high fashion bags, delicious gourmet foods and more. To order, visit registercw.com to access your participant dashboard and unlock your participant link. Our organization code is 24825
Pop Up Used Book Sale-November 16 & 17
We have recently acquired a number of gently used books. We will be holding a pop up used book sale November 16 & 17 during lunch. Every book costs $1. Please send cash with your child to school on these days if you would like for them to purchase a book (or two). This is a separate sale from the big used book sale we will do in February. Please DO NOT send in any book donations yet. We will ask for those after winter break. Reach out to Tabitha Witherow tabiguy@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Holiday Flower Bulb Sale
Beautiful Amaryllis and PaperWhites. These flower bulbs are all top quality, an excellent value, and are guaranteed to grow. 50% of all orders placed using our website will go back to the school.
Visit out Personalized Website by December 15, 2022: http://PercyPriestElementary.fpfundraising.com
Minted – through May 23
Help us raise money by shopping Minted all year long! You’ll get 20% off beautiful Minted products (excluding fine art prints) and Minted will donate 15% of the proceeds from every order back to us. Use our code FUNDRAISEPERCYPRIEST at checkout. Thank you so much for your support!
Roar Store – New Merchandise
The Roar Store is restocked with new merchandise! Please visit the Roar Store to check out all the new items. Order online now at the Roar Store
General Announcements & Community Events
Spanish Class News
In Spanish class, your child will be learning about the Day of the Dead holiday which is celebrated in parts of Mexico and Latin America at the end of October through the beginning of November. The students will discover that the Day of the Dead celebration is a jubilant and festive tradition that unites families and establishes a sense of identity.
Please consider attending Cheekwood’s annual “Día de los Muertos” celebration which will be held on Saturday, October 29 – Sunday, October 30 from 9:00am – 3:30pm. It is a fun celebration with entertainment, art activities, exhibits, vendors, food and more!
If you have any questions about the Day of the Dead celebration, please feel free to email me at lisa.trujillo@mnps.org or call me at 615-298-8416 ext.816021. Thank you for taking the time to appreciate what your child is learning and creating in Spanish class.
Join the PPE Green Team
Do you have a passion for environmental stewardship? Join PPE teacher, Mrs. Hartsock, and PPE parent, Denise Bahil, on the green team. No experience or expertise necessary. Please contact Denise at denise.bahil@gmail.com for more information or to sign up.
Become a Friend of the Stage!
Attend the “Getting to Know The Little Prince” Workshop
Saturday, November 5th from 9am-12pm at J.T. Moore Middle School (4425 Granny White Pike)
Ahead of the upcoming performances, Moore Theatrics is inviting students in grades 2nd-4th to participate in a workshop inspired by the story, dance, and movement of The Little Prince. This workshop is a great introduction to the famous book written by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, a tale of love and friendship for children and grown-ups alike. Kids will explore characters and their relationships through kinesthetic learning, music, and creative prop design. Additionally, participants will receive one ticket to attend the performance time of their choice of Moore Theatrics’ production of The Little Prince (running Nov. 17th-Nov. 19th) and a promotional production poster.
The cost to attend this workshop is $50. Space is limited so if you have a student wishing to participate, please reserve their spot today! You can register at www.mooretheatrics.com on the homepage.
For any questions, please reach out to Molly Seale, PPE and JT Moore parent, (615-806-4440) or Heather Donegan, (615-260-9510) or mooretheatrics@gmail.com
The PPE community is invited to the 2nd Annual Forest Hills Pathway Party, Wed., Nov. 2, 4-6pm across from school on Otter Creek. Enjoy food trucks, music from DJ Louie, daffodil planting and fellowship as we celebrate our neighborhood’s connector. Questions? Contact Jacob Radford at jacob.radford@gmail.com.
Green tip of the week
Halloween brings lots of fun memories, candy, spookiness, and…waste. Here are some ideas for all of those Halloween remnants.
Costumes: Sell or share used costumes on your neighborhood site. If you can, save and list them just before Halloween next year. Otherwise, go ahead and list them now.
Candy: Start saving those candy wrappers! We’ll be setting up a collection site for recycling. More details to come. As for extra candy, take it into the office or share with neighbors and friends who don’t have children.
Pumpkins: Compost your pumpkins in your backyard compost or drop off at one of Metro’s drop-off convenience center. Check here for locations and hours. https://www.nashville.gov/departments/water/waste-and-recycling/recycling/convenience-centers
Volunteer Spotlight
Volunteer: Chandra Allen
Children’s names and grades: Noelle (alum, 6th grade), Naomi (4th grade), Noah (1st Grade)
Volunteer Role: INVEST Co-Chair
Why Percy Priest: Percy Priest has been a great school for our family. Each year our children have amazing teachers who make learning fun and exciting. The teachers and staff are attentive to each child and make PPE a welcoming place. We have also been thankful for the relationships we have built with other PPE families along the way. I am grateful to have a small part in the volunteer efforts that make PPE such a wonderful place to grow and learn.
Volunteer: Elizabeth Sherrard
Children’s names and grades: Camille (2) Thomas (K next year!)
Volunteer Role: INVEST co-chair
Why Percy Priest: From the moment we enrolled (even in covid Kindergarten), PPE has been an open, welcoming community that is not afraid to jump in and make things happen for our school. The teachers and staff are the best in town, and the love and care they show our kids is inspiring and makes me want to do whatever I can to support them. We have made true friendships with so many PPE families and all of this makes it easy to give my time to this wonderful school!
Come Have Lunch!
Parents, grandparents and special friends are welcome to eat lunch with students! To help us with space and accommodating guests, we ask that visitors sign-up to come eat lunch using the bookings link below. Please be sure to select the correct grade level and teacher. When signing-up, we also ask that you only sign-up for one day at this time. Thank you for your help and we hope to see you for lunch soon. Sign up to come eat lunch with your student! Menus can be viewed on the Meal View App or at https://schools.mealviewer.com/school/PercyPriestES
Parent Talents & Resources
We know our Percy Priest family has a wide range of talent and expertise, and we would love to know about you and if you are willing and able to contribute in a unique way to our school. Please share with us so we can get a better understanding of these different talents and resources in our community. Our online form is available here.
How to Volunteer
We need your help to make next year the best year yet at Percy Priest! Dedicated and engaged parents are a key ingredient to making our school the great school that it is. There are big and small volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Please check out our volunteer form and let us know what things interest you. We’ll be in touch with more information.
If you have questions of any kind, please contact us at presidentsppe@gmail.com. Thank you!
Small Fundraisers Spotlight
For a list of all of our ongoing small fundraisers, please visit our Small Fundraisers webpage.
Publix Partners will donate $250 to the Percy Priest Elementary PTO for every $37,500 spent cumulatively by our school’s participants. To support Percy Priest, join Club Publix. If you’re already a member, log in to your account and select My Publix Partner to search for the school of your choice. Remember to pay with the Publix app or enter your phone number at checkout each time you make an eligible purchase. Parents do have to re-register annually.
How to Stay Connected
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: webcal://www.percypriest.org/?post_type=tribe_events&ical=1&eventDisplay=list
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%3D2022-08-31%26ical%3D1%26eventDisplay%3Dlist