We can hardly believe that there are only 5 weeks of school left until the end of the school year! There is still plenty of fun to be had, from ongoing auction parties to grade-level parties, and Field Day to the Spring Sing – and our inaugural Spring Movie Night and Picnic! Don’t miss out on any of the fun, and be on the lookout below and in future communications about bite-sized ways you can volunteer. We can’t do it without our wonderful parents and caregivers!

Upcoming School Events

• April 18-28 – 3rd and 4th Grade TNReady Testing
• 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

Builders Club – Tuesdays in May
Sign up for a Maymester of Builders Club, an after school activity for K-2nd grade students filled with problem solving, imagination, self-expression, math skills, spatial sense and motor abilities, creativity, and social and emotional growth. Click here for details and sign-up form.

Parenting Series – Recording available
Did you miss the talk by Kelly Flanagan (LPC-MHSP) from the Nashville OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center on: “Childhood Mental Health 101- What to Look For, and How You Can Help at Home.”? You can check out the recording here. Password is Wellness.

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!

Dr. A’s Art Night Out for Kids – April 28
Come and join Dr. A. on Friday, April 28th, for a two-hour studio art class! This month, students will create a stunning spring flower still life painting on canvas, share a flower-inspired story, and enjoy a snack of Cheeze-it crackers and fruit snacks! The class is $65 per child and includes all art supplies and snack. If you have a food allergy, please plan to bring an allergy safe snack to enjoy with friends. Class will take place in the Percy Priest Art Room. Sign up here to attend and to read the full details.

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.

Cinco de Mayo Celebration!

May is just around the corner, and that means it is time to celebrate! This year 5 de mayo will be celebrated on May 5th along with field day. One of the field day stations will be a 5 de mayo themed station. We will have música Latina and a bubble machine to create a festive ambience. Students will have the opportunity to play with hula hoops, ribbons and jump ropes. Students will also have the opportunity to put on traditional Mexican clothing and have their pictures taken in a photo booth. Lastly, I’ll be serving the students Mexican paletas/popsicles!

On Tuesday, May 2 will be Taco Tuesday in the café! Tacos and other Mexican food will be served for students who would like a school lunch. If you would like to join your child on Taco Tuesday, please remember to sign up by using the booking link.

Please encourage your child to wear the colors of the Mexican flag on Taco Tuesday; green, white and/or red!

Thanks so much for your support!

Señora Trujillo

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.

PTO General Meeting – May 9
Our last PTO meeting of the year is Tuesday, May 9th, at 6pm in the library. We will recap the year and present and vote on the PTO budget and Executive Board slate for next year! We will also present a capital spending plan for changes to our new building that will need to be PTO-funded (and approved). Come hear all about them and let us know what you think!

Spring Movie Night and Picnic – May 12th
Percy Priest’s first Spring Movie Night and Picnic is Friday, May 12th!! Bring your lawn chairs or a large 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.

You can pack your own picnic for your family or Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe is available to pre-order for pick-up at the event. The deadline to pre-order is Wednesday, May 10th at 2pm. Click here to pre-order now.

Zio Matto Gelato will also be on-site selling their delicious gelato, and we will have a concession stand selling bags of popcorn for the movie.

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.

Upcoming Auction Party Dates

If you purchased tickets to a grade-level auction party, see below for all of dates and for parties with spots still available!

School Fundraisers

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

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.

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.

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