We hope everyone enjoyed their time off for Fall Break! This school year is flying by and continues to be filled with exciting and new activities for our PPE Community. Check out our calendar of events so you don’t miss out on any of the fun.

The temperature in Nashville has cooled and Fall is in the air!  ‘Tis the Season for extra layers, so don’t forget coats for your kids!

Let’s give a BIG Welcome to Diana Baxter as one of our new school counselors.

A message from Diana:

My name is Diana Baxter and I feel so fortunate to be joining the wonderful staff at Percy Priest Elementary School. I have already been apart of this one-of-a-kind community as a parent, and will be working alongside Mrs. Keiper-Berneman in the role of School Counselor beginning October 16th. I was a Child Development major at Vanderbilt University and later received my Masters in School Counseling from there as well. I have experience as both a teacher and counselor. I taught first grade as part of the Teach For America program. I also worked as a School Counselor in East Nashville prior to having children. While I have enjoyed being home and raising children, I have missed the excitement and joy of an elementary school. I look forward to getting to know all of the students at Percy Priest and supporting teachers and families!

Important Dates

• October 20 – Kindergarten Parent Party
• October 24 – Family Skate Night at Brentwood Skate Center
• October 25 – Makeup and Classroom Picture Day
• October 26 – 5th Grade Parent Party
• October 27 – No School – Parent Conferences
• October 27 – 4th Grade Parent Party
• October 30 – Shake Shack Dine Out Spirit Night
• October 31 – Harvest Celebration-Classroom Parties
• November 2 – Open House for Prospective Families 4-6pm
• November 2-9 – Scholastic Book Fair
• November 3 – 1st Grade Parent Party
• November 8-9 – GrandFriends Day
• November 10 – Veterans Day-No School
• November 13 – Storyteller Series- African Culture
• November 17 – 2nd Grade Parent Party

Thank you to those who were able to come to our PTO General meeting on Tuesday.  We heard from David Proffitt, MNPS Executive Director Facilities, Maintenance, and Construction, Casey Megow, MNPS Director of Facility Planning and Construction and Aaron Simon, MNPS Project Manager. Please look at their presentation HERE.

A Note from our contractors, American Constructors:

Site work Timeline

• Remainder of October – demo site, strip topsoil, excavation soil above rock
• November / December – blasting/rock removal; first two weeks of November blasting is to occur once a day (3:30); remainder of work twice a day (once during school, once afterwards)

Invest Update

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to those who have generously donated to this year’s INVEST campaign.  Your contributions are making a real difference for our children.

For those who haven’t had the chance yet, there’s still time!  Every donation counts, and we appreciate your support.

Don’t forget, many companies offer matching donations, which is a fantastic way to double your impact.  Be sure to check with your employer and make the most of this opportunity.  You can provide them with the following information:

PPE PTO is a registered organization.

Search Name is: PERCY PRIEST PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION

Unique Identifier: 043588824

Thank you for your generosity and helping us write this year’s story.

Upcoming Events

2023 PPE Literati Book Fair – November 2nd– 9th .

GrandFriends Day, November 8th and 9th 

Our annual GrandFriends Day is around the corner and we have some new and exciting additions to this year’s program.  This year, we will have a small patriotic musical performance to honor Veterans Day.  Each morning will be spent listening to our children sing, a visit to their classroom and to the book fair in the library.  Be on the lookout for detailed schedules for the day.

• November 8th (kindergarten, first, second grades)
• November 9th (third, fourth and fifth grades)

We know there are many grandparents, family and special friends of PPE students who would like to be involved. You can keep up with the latest news by signing up for the PPE Grandparents, Family & Friends List here.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: A big event can only be pulled off with our wonderful volunteers.  If you are interested in helping out on this exciting day, please click here and select the GrandFriends box.

https://www.percypriest.org/connect/grandparents-family-friends/

PPE Fall Parent Parties

Storyteller Series

We kicked off our Storytellers series with PPE parent Negar Ahmadi and her daughter Narya, who shared their Kurdish culture with our students.  They taught Kurdish dancing and told us about Kurdish food, language and storytelling.  It was a wonderful morning and we are grateful for their visit.

Prospective Family Open House-November 2nd

Do you know of someone interested in attending Percy Priest Elementary?  We will be hosting a Prospective Family Open House.  Please help spread the word so more people can know about this wonderful school.

Small Fundraisers

Family Skate Night- October 24

Join us for Family Skate Night on Tuesday, October 24th from 4:30 pm-7:00 pm!!

Brentwood Skate Center

402 Wilson Pike Cir, Brentwood, TN 37027

Admission fee: $8.00

Skate fee: $4.00

Entry fee for non-skating adults: $3.00

**NO OUTSIDE SKATES ALLOWED**

(A percentage of all admission fees goes back to the PPE PTO.)

Dine Out Spirit Night at Shake Shack-October 30

Let Shake Shack take care of dinner on October 30th.  Feed the whole family while helping support our wonderful school.

Charleston Wrapping Paper Sale

General Announcements

ALS Walk- October 21st

Green Team Halloween Costume Sale:

Still looking for a Halloween costume for your kiddo AND want to support sustainability at PPE? Stop by the Green Team’s Halloween Costume Sale at 1213B Goodloe Dr. on Saturday from 9-11. Donations from costumes sold will help fund sustainability projects at PPE.

Order your Yearbook TODAY!

School pictures are now available for parents to view and order online.

School Pictures are Ready!

View and order at https://shop.jostenspix.com/login

• PERCY PRIEST ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
• Event Code: FE87323
• Also Needed: Infinite Campus Unique Student ID

*Class Pictures and Makeups are scheduled for October 25th

Future Burros Night-October 26th

Día de los Muertos at Cheekwood- October 28th & 29th at 9:00 a.m.

El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, is one of the most important celebrations in Mexico and Latin America. The festival is known for colorful decorations, energetic music, and elaborate displays that demonstrate the culture’s strong sense of love and respect for ancestors while celebrating the continuance of life.

Spanish news from Senora Trujillo

Forest Hills Pathway Party-November 2nd

The PPE community is invited to the 3rd 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 Carla Radford at carlaradford@gmail.com.

JTM Prospective Parent Open House-November 6th

You can also schedule your tour of JT Moore HERE.

Unicycle Donations

As you clean out your closets, please keep Unicycle in mind.  You can donate any too-small shorts, shirts, dresses and pants.  Remember, Unicycle collects and uses “outgrown, not worn out” school clothing to help cloth other MNPS students, we’re ready to receive them. The donation basket is located on the PPE Front porch.

Counselors Corner:

If you and your family have been affected by recent global events, please know our School Counselors are here to help. Please be mindful of conversations and comments when our children may be within listening range. For those of us with older children, please be aware that graphic and distressing pictures and videos are circulating online and it may be appropriate to monitor or limit their use of technology and media.

If you’re having conversations in your home about these events, here are a few resources:

• Helping Children and Adolescents Cope With Traumatic Events (nih.gov)
• Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Families and Educators (nasponline.org)
• Helping Young Children Cope After Exposure to a Traumatic Event | ZERO TO THREE

For additional resources, please reach out to our School Counselors: Kristin.Keiper@mnps.org or Diana.Baxter@mnps.org.

Throughout October & November, the Counseling Department will be leading required safety training in your child’s classroom. The curriculum can be previewed here: Home – Fight Child Abuse

Artsonia:

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

1stDay School Supplies

If you ordered your child’s school supply boxes through our PTO fundraiser, it was not only super helpful to have all the supplies in the classroom at the start of school, BUT you also helped raise money for the PTO.  This year, this fundraiser tripled the amount given back to the school compared to the previous year.  Our goal is to organize fundraisers that provide a service, need or product that you will use while also giving back to the school.

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

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: 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