PTO Newsletter 1/26
School is back in session! Hip Hip Hooray! We had a little weather interruption at the beginning of the 2nd semester, but we are now back on track. Our spring calendar has a lot of great events, so please mark your calendar so you do not miss out on the fun. We will have our next General PTO Meeting on Tuesday, February 13th at 6:00 pm in the library. Terri McConnell, one of our reading interventionists, will be sharing about MNPS screening, how it can relate to dyslexia characteristics and how we can help.
Last, if you haven’t ordered your yearbook, today is the DEADLINE! Please scroll down for purchasing information.
Important Dates
- January 26- February 8 Order Sugar Drop Cookie kits for Valentine’s Day (Pick-up 2/9)
- January 30 – Navigator Day
- February 12-16– Teacher Appreciation Week
- February 13– PTO General Meeting at 6:00 pm
- February 14 – Valentine’s Day Class Parties (parents welcomed)
- February 15– Papa John’s Spirit Night
- February 19- President’s Day (no school)
- February 23-March 4– Readathon
- February 20 – Storyteller Series: Mr. Lincoln
- February 20– Family Skate Night-Brentwood Skate Center
- February 20-22 – Used Book Sale
- February 23– Parnassus Book’s Spirit Night
- February 29 – Percy’s Reading Party
- March 2 – Spring Auction Party-Loveless Barn
- March 4– Readathon ends and reading logs are due
- March 5– No school
- March 5 -Chill-N Nitrogen Ice Cream Spirit Night
- March 8– Book Character Dress Up Day
Field Trips
- February 1-2– 4th Grade Field Trip (Rescheduled)-Clay Lady
- February 6-Kindergarten Field Trip-Children’s Theater
- February 9– 3rd Grade Field Trip-Huntsville Space Center
- February 22– Kindergarten and First Grade Field Trip-TPAC
Upcoming Events
We are 5 weeks away from our spring auction so a few friendly reminders to help you “Get Down Tonight.”
- “Studio 24”- Event tickets for Saturday night will sell out. Don’t wait to buy! Scan above or visit here.
- “Blame It on the Boogie”- additionally tickets for a one-way bus ride from Loveless to Green Hills are available for sale.
- “Hot Stuff”- Donate services or experiences for the silent auction! Any ideas or donations are welcome. Please email percypriestauction@gmail.com.
- “We Are Family” We still need volunteers for grade-level party hosts and grade-level basket coordinators. We are here to help guide you! Please scan here:
- “That’s the Way (I Like It)”- Previews of items and popular PPE Experiences are coming soon. In the meantime, make sure to set up your Cause Pilot account to save precious time before bidding.
Feel ready to support in other ways? Here’s how!
Support with sponsorship:
We’re looking for a few more sponsors for Studio 24. If your family or company can support us, we want to hear from you!
Email Julia Stoll Saitta (percypriestauction@gmail.com) or purchase a sponsorship here
Join the auction party committee:
Email Katie Mehaffey katieelliston@gmail.com if interested in helping with party related tasks!
Used Book Sale – February 20-22 – Donations and Volunteers Needed!
It’s time to start gathering your used books for the annual used book sale, happening in February. We welcome books that are appropriate for Kindergarteners through 5th graders, and we especially need chapter books.
This event will happen about a week ahead of the Read-A-Thon so the kids will get excited and have “new” books to read. Donation bins will be on the PPE front steps in January and February.
Sign up to volunteer during the sale here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0848AEA82AA0F94-47161263-used
Please reach out to Gillian Stewart gstewart0707@gmail.com or Avery Van Pelt avery.t.vanpelt@gmail.com with any questions.
Help Sponsor An Event at PPE
Be a Sponsor of one of our many events throughout the year to help make them better than ever! Visit Here 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!
After school clubs are back, thanks to the hard work of our teachers who put every detail of these together! Scroll down for details and reach out to the teacher for available spots.
Woodland Fairy Club
Teacher sponsor: Stuart
Date: Our club will meet on Thursdays.
Time: Dismissal 4:15
Grade Level: K & 1st grade girls (limit 24)
Wonderful Wednesday
Teacher sponsor: Condra/Dick
Date: We will meet each Wednesday beginning January 17th -March 27th
Time: Dismissal 4:00
Grade Level: K & 1st
Cooking Club
Teacher sponsor: Zeller/Williams
Date: Our club will meet on Thursdays.
Time: Dismissal 4:00
Grade Level: 1st/2nd grades during third quarter, 3rd/4th grades during fourth quarter
Imagination Club
Teacher sponsor: Acker
Date: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Time: Dismissal at 4:10
Grade Level: 1st, 2nd 3rd Grades
Game Club
Teacher sponsor: Mr. Tanner/Tanner
Date: Wednesdays and Thursdays
Time: Dismissal at 4
Grade Level: 1st-5th
STEAM Club
Teacher sponsor: Lester/Strobel
Date: Thursdays January 18- April 4
Time: Dismissal at 4
Grade Level: K, 1st, 2nd
Builder’s Club
Teacher sponsor: Faison/Wall
Date: Tuesdays BC will begin Jan. 16 and end April 23.
Thursdays BC will begin Jan. 18 and end April 25.
Time: Dismissal at 4
Grade Level: K, 1st, 2nd
Podcast Club
Teacher sponsor: Mr. Bray/Williams
Date: Our club will meet on Tuesdays.
Time: Dismissal 4:15
Grade Level: 5th grade
Drama Club
Teacher sponsor: Zimmerman
Date: Our club will meet on Tuesdays.
Time: Dismissal 4:30
Grade Level: 4th and 5th grade
PPE Families, we need your help with yearbook photo submissions!! Submit your photos online TODAY by logging into https://images.jostens.com/0F3OL24W-Aum5197YDWafgg. *When uploading, you will be asked for a photo description, but instead, we ask that you list the first and last names of the students in the photo (if it’s a group, you can just identify the class or grade).
If you have any issues or questions, contact hannahgwright@gmail.com or erinkaiser2@gmail.com. Thanks for helping to make the yearbook a special keepsake for our sweet kids and school!
Small Fundraisers
General Announcements
PTO General Meeting-February 13th at 6:00 pm
Are you interested in learning more about how reading develops? Have you ever had concerns about your child’s reading or spelling, and wondered what is developmentally appropriate or how you can support your child? Do you understand how our MNPS universal screeners relate to dyslexic characteristics, or what we will do to support your child if a screener indicates a need? If you are interested in learning more, then please attend our next PTO Meeting on February 13, 2024. Terri McConnell, one of our reading interventionists, will be sharing this information. There will also be a time for questions.
Last Day to Order Your YEARBOOK
MNPS Kindergarten Registration
Kindergarten Registration for the 2024-25 school year will kick off on Monday, January 30th. If you or someone you know has an incoming kindergartner, please encourage them to complete registration as early as possible. For information regarding enrollment requirements, please visit https://earlylearning.mnps.org/kindergarten.
PPE Kindergarten Readiness Camp: July 9-10
Calling all Rising Kindergarten girls and boys for 2024-2025 school year. Save the Date for July 9-10 for our Kindergarten Readiness Camp. Join Mrs. Murray Dick & Mrs. Bitsi Condra to get a “Sneak Peek” at a day in the life of a kindergartner! Your child will have the opportunity to meet new friends, engage in hands-on learning experiences, Tour the school, playground, visit ‘kinder’ classrooms, and so much more! Registration coming soon!
For any further questions regarding Kindergarten, please contact newfamiliesppe@gmail.com
Parenting Series: featuring Alanna Truss & Katie Lee of Be SMART.
Please click below to view their discussion.
Password is Wellness
As a parent of elementary school children myself, I’ve already used the scripts from this presentation to ensure safer playdates and sleepovers. The text message template of how to ask if any/all firearms would be locked/secured/inaccessible to kids was invaluable. I used it in conversation with another Mom and she even thanked me for bringing it up!” -Ms. KB
*All recordings are for the PPE community only. At the request of our guest speakers, please do not share, download or post any portion of the recordings outside the PPE community.
JT Moore Middle School is hosting an event geared towards helping ALL of our students grow in their mental wellbeing. The event “Wellness Matters: Helping ALL Students Be Their Best” will be on Tuesday, January 30th from 5:30 pm-7:30 at J.T. Moore Middle School.
This event is truly for all parents and caregivers. You will get the opportunity to learn from professionals in their respective fields about topics that we think are most meaningful to you and your student.
Highlights include: grief/loss, anxiety, technology/screen time addiction, and self-confidence. Our librarian, Jenny Winston, and 6th grade ELA Teacher, Julie Brown, will also lead a book talk on “The Emotional Lives of Teenagers” by Dr. Lisa Damour.
Light refreshments will be served. Childcare will be available.
View The Wellness Matters Flyer
Green Tips
Announcing the PPE Green Tigers Sustainable Arts Club with Turnip Green on Mondays from 3:15-4:45 for 2nd-5th grade students! Learn about creative and sustainable art projects using recycled materials for an Earth Day themed showcase and help manage the PPE classroom recycling program! Register directly with Turnip Green by Jan 30 (jada@turnipgreencreativereuse.org).
$180 for 12 weekly sessions.
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!
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
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), 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
Social Media
Join us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/percypriest/
Join us on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ppetigers/
https://www.instagram.com/pperoarstore/