Another week down and a little over one week of summer break left! Another round of back to school info, important links, and opportunities to help out as we gear up for the school year. Take a look below!

WELCOME TO OUR NEW TIGER FAMILIES! If you know families joining PPE this coming year please forward this newsletter so they can sign up and be in the loop sooner than later.

Important Dates

Note: Dates are subject to change. The BEST way to stay updated is with our PTO Google Calendar – view and subscribe here!

• July 29: Deadline to update online school directory
• August 1: Class lists go live! Teachers will send email greetings to their new classes.
• August 5: Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party
  • Families are invited to come meet their teacher and bring school supplies to the classrooms (pre-ordered school supplies will be delivered automatically)
  • New Families Sneak-a-Peek @ 8:15 am
  • All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party @ 9:00 am
• August 6: First Day of School (Half Day for Kindergarteners only)
• August 7: Half Day for Kindergarteners only (full day grades 1-5)
• August 8: Full Day all grades
• August 15: Open House & Invest Kickoff
  • Grades K-2 @ 5 PM
  • Grades 3-5 @ 6 PM
• September 2: No School (Labor Day)
• September 5: Picture Day Part 1 (Individual Photos)
• September 6: Fall Community Event at PPE
• September 9: Tiger Cup Golf Tournament at Old Natchez
• September 17: PTO General Meeting (all welcome!)
• September 19: Percy’s Vintage Closet

Back to School

So many happenings as we ramp up to back to school! More details will follow in the weeks to come.

July 29: Deadline to Update the School Directory

Only a few days to update your info on the online school directory for back to school! Please take a few minutes to sign in to the directory through the website or by downloading the Membership Toolkit app.

• Returning families will be prompted to confirm/update your contact information and student details.
• New families will create a login and password, and then you can input family contact information as well as provide consent for your child’s name or photograph to be included on the PPE website and social media.

Don’t wait to log in!! Be sure to update/register your account by July 29 to get first access to your student’s class list! Once your information is updated, you’ll be all set to see your class list on August 1 — your new teacher will email you and lists will be posted later that day.

Also, new this year, you will be asked for your student’s t-shirt size for field trip shirts, so be sure to log in soon so that we can get those ordered!

If you have any issues or questions at all, please reach out to erinkaiser2@gmail.com.

August 1: How to Access Your Class List

• Class lists go live on August 1
• Be sure to update/register your account by July 29
• Watch for Teacher Welcome Email on August 1
• Online directory will be final, live, updated later August 1 afternoon
• Log in on August 1 via the website or the Membership Toolkit app
• Find your name and teachers in the Directory
• Use Teacher drop-down to see the class (only those who have updated the directory will be shown)

August 5: School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party

8:15 am – New Families (parents and children) are encouraged to come snap a picture with our school mascot, Percy, and then head on to your child’s classroom to meet your teacher. Then, meet in the front circle to enjoy popsicles while socializing with other PPE families. The PTO will be there with kindergarten orange totes and the Roar Store (our Spirit Wear store) will be open.

• Kindergarten families: want your new Orange Tote Monogrammed? Please read this document for instructions on getting your bag monogrammed.

9:00 am – ALL returning families are invited to stop by the school to meet teachers and visit classrooms. Then, meet in the front circle to enjoy popsicles while picking up some new PPE gear from the Roar Store.

School Supplies Note: If you have purchased items through First Day School Supplies, they will be shipped to the school the week of August 1st.  Boxes will be delivered to each classroom, so you’re all set! If you did not purchase items through First Day School Supplies, school supplies lists by grade can be found on the website soon. Parents are encouraged to bring all school supplies to their child’s classroom during the All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party, or otherwise on the first day of school.

Car Rider Numbers Note: Car rider tags will be distributed to new families at the All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party, as well as on the first day of school. Returning families will continue to use the same number. Please work with your child to learn his or her Car Rider Number before school starts, or even consider writing it on their tote bag/tag.

August 15: Open House

Save the date for this year’s Open House, on Thursday, August 15! Hear important information from your child’s classroom teacher, school leadership, and the PTO regarding what’s ahead for the school year.

5:00 – Kindergarten through 2nd grade parents will meet in their classrooms

6:00 – 3rd through 5th grade parents will meet in their classrooms

• If you have purchased items through First Day School Supplies, you are all set; they will be shipped to the school and delivered to each classroom.
• If you did not purchase items through First Day School Supplies, school supplies lists by grade can be found on the website here. Parents are encouraged to bring all school supplies to their child’s classroom during the All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party, or otherwise on the first day of school.

Get Involved!

2024-2025 School Year Volunteers Needed

Can you help out this year? There are so many ways to volunteer, both big and small and WE NEED YOU. It is incredibly rewarding to get involved in the PTO so start here by indicating how you want to help volunteer.

Two back to school events are looking for volunteers right away as they start planning:

• Back to School Movie Night at PPE (our fall Community Event) | Sept 5 | Email Jen Follis jenandtreyfollis@gmail.com
• Tiger Cup Golf Tournament at Old Nachez | Sept 9 | Email Jennifer Jones jennifercjones2@gmail.com

We need YOU to lead the Auction Committee!

The PTO is looking for a few rockstars to step up and Co-Chair the amazing Spring Auction. Are you organized? Have you spearheaded or volunteered on your preschool Auction Committee? Come be a part of this very rewarding team and fundraise a large component of our goal in a fun way. You won’t be alone and you don’t have to “cold call” businesses. Help organize a team to email for auction item requests (99% of our asks are fulfilled), work with our system admin to build the auction site, communicate in the weekly newsletter, and more. You will work closely with the Auction Party team who has fantastic plans for theme and party. This job is easiest if you start in the fall so step up and volunteer to co-chair our Auction! Email Jenny: PresidentsPPE@gmail.com

School Fundraisers

Roar Store – grab your spirit wear for back to school

The Roar Store is a wonderful way to show Percy Priest Spirit and fundraise for our PTO. Students can wear Percy Priest Spirit wear shirts any day to school in place of collared shirts. They can wear the spirit shorts/skorts on Fridays. This gear, along with PPE accessories, can be purchased through the Roar Store. The Roar Store shop will be open in person on the following back to school days:

• August 5: All School Sneak-a-Peek and Popsicle Party
• August 6: First Day of School
• August 15: Open House
• September 6: Fall Movie Night (at PPE)

Psst – want to help out with the Roar Store this year? Our amazing spirit store is completely parent run and operated and they need your help. Email pperoarstore@gmail.com to volunteer.

Pre-loved PPE Attire Needed!

It is that time of year- time to clean out your Tiger’s closet before school starts! We will be accepting gently used clothing items or accessories that have PPE’s logo for our inaugural “Percy’s Vintage Closet” sale this fall! More details to come, but anything you’d like to pass on to another Tiger, please drop off on the school’s front porch. Any tops, bottoms, accessories with PPE logos on them that are gently worn, are all accepted!  Look for the marked plastic bins that say “Pre-loved PPE attire” and we’ll take it from there. Thank you!

Small Fundraisers Spotlight

For a list of all of our ongoing small fundraisers, please visit our Small Fundraisers webpage.

Parents and Caregivers – you can support our school every time you shop at Publix!  Choose Percy Priest Elementary PTO as your organization of choice for the Publix Reward Program and they will donate a percentage of your purchase to our PTO. 100 percent of the proceeds are used to support the PTO budget, which provides additional staff, software, and supplies to PPE.    Instructions can be found here.

How to Stay Connected

Email Lists

New families – Be sure to sign up for our school newsletter, which includes grade-level information each week. Register today.

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), click here.

For Google Calendar, click here.