The sun came out on Percy Priest’s Drama Club’s performance of “Annie” this week.  Two performances of acting, singing, hard work and new friendships for many students.  We are so proud of all who participated and grateful for Ms. Zimmerman for leading this club.

Annie’s optimistic message that “the sun will come out tomorrow” is a wonderful one for our children to absorb.  We are grateful for the many enriching opportunities that PPE provides and thankful for all those who make those opportunities possible.

Also, one last reminder that Dr. Young is running the Boston Marathon run on Monday! Words of encouragement mean the most to him so please feel welcome to drop him an email this weekend. We’ve received many questions since about how to support him and although he’s a little bashful about this, if you’re interested in making a donation to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge, you can do that on his fundraising page. We’re cheering for you, Dr. Young!

Upcoming School Events

• April 18-28 – 3rd and 4th Grade TNReady Testing
• April 20 – Author Visit (2nd, 3rd & 4th)
• April 21 – Tiger Tennis Social
• May 1-5 – Teacher Appreciation Week
• May 1 – NPL Puppet Truck- Puss in Boots (2nd & 3rd)
• May 2 – NPL Puppet Truck – Tomas (K & 1st)
• May 5 – Cinco de Mayo & Field Day (*May 9 Rain Date*)
• May 7 – Incoming Kindergartener Popsicle Party
• May 12 – Spring Movie Night and Picnic @ 5:30
• May 19 – Spring Sing @ 9:00

Spring Field Trips

• April 26 – Kindergarten @ Zoo
• May 11 – 2nd Grade @ Nashville Children’s Theater

School Events

Author Visit: Dion Leonard – April 20th

We are thrilled to announce that bestselling author Dion Leonard and his cute dog Gobi will be visiting PPE on April 20th! Dion will present three times, to 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders. PPE families will have the opportunity to purchase autographed copies of his book, Finding Gobi: Young Reader’s Edition: The True Story of One Little Dog’s Big Journey. Look for order forms in this week’s Friday folders.

Tiger Tennis Social – April 21- Tickets available for purchase!

On Friday, April 21st (Rain Date April 28), we’ll gather at Seven Hills Swim & Tennis for tennis, fun, a tasty lunch and light cocktails. All skill levels will have a great time – just bring a racquet!

Pick a time for tennis drills and play —  9:00 -11:00 or 12:00 – 2:00. Lunch will be served from 11-12.  There will also be a raffle during lunch to win some amazing prizes from K. McCarthy, Poncho and Lefty’s, Edleys and Elle Gray, just to name a few!

Don’t play tennis but want in on the fun? Purchase a spectator/lunch option and come to socialize, grab a cocktail and lunch, and watch some tennis!

Purchase your tickets at https://fly.causepilot.com/percypriest/tigertennis2023

We are also excited to announce that The Spark Collection will be at the Tennis Social to adorn you with a new bracelet! This option is available to those who are playing tennis and to those who are simply coming for social fun. Sign up here for your timeslot!

Field Day – May 5th – Volunteers Needed

Field Day 2023 is just around the corner and we need your help with running events for our students! Please sign-up here to bring a case of water or to help run an event. Please sign-up for both the 5th and the rain date of Tuesday, May 9th.  Even if you are not able to help with an event, we invite all families to join us on Field Day.

Popsicle Party for Incoming Kindergarteners – May 7th at 3:00

Rising Kindergarteners and their parents are invited to come meet each other and enjoy a popsicle on the PPE playground Sunday, May 7 at 3:00. It’s a great way to start getting connected! Also, please go ahead and register for Kindergarten so our planning for the fall can begin! Details can be found here.

Spring Movie Night and Picnic – May 12th

Save the Date for Percy Priest’s first-ever Spring Movie Night and Picnic on Friday, May 12! Bring some lawn chairs or a blanket and enjoy an outdoor movie, DJ Louie, a bounce house, food and more! The fun will begin at 5:30pm, with the movie starting at dusk.

3rd & 4th Grade TNReady Testing Schedule: April 18-28th

Testing will begin promptly after morning announcements, so please ensure that your student arrives on time during our testing dates. Tardy students will be held in the front office as to not disrupt the testing environment and will have to take their test at a later time.

Electronic Devices:

As TNReady testing approaches, a reminder that electronic devices including smart watches and cell phones are not permitted in the testing area. Our preference is for students to leave their electronic devices at home during testing. If students bring these devices to school, they will be required to turn them off and store them in their backpack. We ask that you please help us with this, so we can avoid any test irregularities.

TNReady Optional Time Legislation:

According to the Public Chapter 978 passed by the Tennessee 112 th General Assembly, a test

administrator may allow a student an additional optional time of 20% of testing time per subpart, to ensure students are able to finish the TNReady assessment completely. Our district has made the decision to provide optional additional time for all students tested on TNReady. Parents and students do not have to request this in advance. Test administrators will offer the optional additional time to students automatically at the end of every test session in compliance with the new legislation.

Thank you for supporting us in helping us create an optimal test environment for students.

School Fundraisers

Market Fresh Ferns – April 14 deadline to order

If you want the biggest, healthiest Fern on the block and you love Percy Priest, be sure to buy your ferns now through April 14!

Visit our fern webpage to purchase yours today!

Pick-up will be April 19th at the Percy Priest Playground (corner of Wilshire & Priest) from dismissal until 4PM. If you are unable to pick up in that timeframe, please ask a friend for help or email MeganLCallender@gmail.com.

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!

We have two types of ferns available:

Boston Fern (10” and thrives in shady environment) $32

Kimberly Queen (10” and thrives in a sunny environment) $24

April 1st – 30th

Throughout the month of April stop into Elan Skin for products, treatments or a gift card and support Percy Priest! Elan Skin will donate 10% of all sales made with the mention of Percy Priest Elementary back to the PTO. All purchases must be made in person but this does include gift cards and Mother’s day is right around the corner! Elan is located at 3750 Hillsboro Pike.

General Announcements

Friends of Forest Hills Pathways invite you to our inaugural Forest Hills Lemon Walk, Sunday, May 7, 1-3pm on Otter Creek Rd. (Parking at PPE.) Enjoy lemonade and treats for sale by neighborhood children, with 50% of proceeds benefiting advocacy and upkeep of our community’s connector.

Moms Thrive will meet on Thursday, April 20, with special guest Kelsi Ray. She’ll talk about supporting your family through a crisis. Moms Thrive is a non-school-sponsored group put on by fellow PPE moms who want to help develop community and encourage and equip moms with tools that lead to grace-filled parenting. Please note all speakers will be coming from a biblical worldview.

Spring for Moore – Saturday April 22nd from 6-10 pm

Please join JT Moore for the annual JTM Spring for Moore Fundraiser and Silent Auction. This is an adults only event, so line up your babysitters! Tickets are Now on Sale!  The theme is Hollywood, and suggested attire (but not required) is anything Hollywood (Think old Hollywood, famous movie stars, etc).  There will be heavy hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, a photo booth with props and a costume contest with a grand prize!  All of this in addition to our silent auction where we will be auctioning off wonderful items! Tickets are available here until April 8.

Unicycle Needs Your SSA and Non-SSA Donations (including baseball gear)!

It’s spring cleaning time and Unicycle is looking for SSA donations as well as non-SSA, including baseball gear and sneakers. Please drop those items on the Percy Priest front porch in the designated Unicyle bins. Thank you!

Message from the PPE Green Team

Did you know that 40 percent of food in the U.S. goes to waste? Donating food ensures that food resources are used wisely. Bring in canned food items for donation to Second Harvest Food Bank next week. Donation boxes will be placed on the porch.

In case you missed it, we started composting lunch waste at Percy Priest. So far, 1st , 2nd , and 4th grades are composting. We’ll be launching Kindergarten and 3rd grades on May 1. We need your help to make this a success.  Volunteers are needed to help the kids sort their lunchtime waste while they are learning. Please sign up to help the kids at lunch. Instructions will be provided.

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 here.

We need your help to make this spring the best 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.

Kroger will donate 4% of the total dollars spent in their stores to PPE. To participate, click on this link, create or login to your account and select Percy Priest Elementary PTO as your Community Rewards Organization.

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