It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through November and we have already completed our second 9 weeks of the year.  With the Thanksgiving season upon us, we have so much to be grateful for this year. We hope that you and your family have an extra enjoyable time off.  As a reminder, there is no school on Wednesday, November 25th thru 27th. 

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”  Maya Angelou

Wishing you and yours a Thanksgiving filled with peace, joy, hope and love.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Upcoming School Events

• November 23-25: Thanksgiving Break
• December 1-Art Show
• December 16- Half Day/Class Holiday Parties
• December 17-January 9th- Winter Break

Upcoming Field Trips

• December 8 – 3rd Grade trip to the Tennessee State Museum
• December 8 – 4th Grade trip to the Clay Lady

American Heart Association-Heart Heroes – through December 7th

We are proud to announce that PPE will be participating in the Kids Heart Challenge this year for the American Heart Association. We kicked off the event on Navigator Day, November 10th and it will run through December 7th.

Please look for more information in your child’s Friday folder on how to register your child through the app or by visiting heart.org/KHC.

You will also find a page that states “I carry the torch for…” and a heart. Please talk to your child about family or friends that have been affected by heart issues and write those names on the heart before returning it to school. We will be hanging them throughout the school during the event.

Our goal is to have 100% of students register and learn hands-only CPR!

Thank you for helping your child register and participate in this important event!

Celebration of Schools Parade and Fair

Join us for a free and fun-filled Celebration of Schools Parade and Fair. Schools and students will parade down Titans Way – with lots of music and fun – and will bring us all to the Fair, where in addition to food, giveaways and activities, you will have the chance to meet educators representing their schools. The Fair is a great way to enjoy a day of community, plus learn more about our schools and about MNPS school options.

For more information, visit: https://www.mnps.org/parade

Percy Priest Annual Art Show – December 1st, 5-7pm

Mark your calendars and clear your schedule for our annual art show! Art can be viewed and ordered online HERE. You can order the framed original as well as a framed print (talk about a perfect holiday gift for grandparents!). Are you unable to attend on Dec 1? Not a problem!  Just be sure to preorder and art will be sent home with your student at a later date! We can’t wait to celebrate our artists with you!

If possible, we’re asking families to please pre-purchase art to make the check-out process smoother this year!

You can support this event by becoming a Friend of the Event here for $150.

General Announcements & Community Events

JostensPIX – Your Photos Are Ready

Good news! JostensPIX came by for make-up and retake pictures, and your student’s photos are now available for viewing and ordering!

Click on the button below to get started.

VIEW AND ORDER PHOTOS HERE

Event Code: FE134322

Also Needed: Unique Student ID

The MNPS 2023-2024 calendar has been published and is available here.

Our school board member, Erin Block, sends out regular emails with news from around the district, commentary on issues she’s working on, and much more. You can subscribe to receive those emails here. We’ve included her FAQs about 5th grade again at the bottom of this email for those who missed it last week.

GrandFriends Email 

We sent a follow-up to GrandFriends whose email addresses we have. You can see that communication here. If you want to sign-up your grandparents for our listserve, you can do that here.

Fundraisers

Holiday Flower Bulb Sale – Dec. 15 deadline to order

Purchase beautiful Amaryllis and PaperWhites as holiday gifts or for yourself! These flower bulbs are all top quality, an excellent value, and are guaranteed to grow. 50% of all orders placed using our website will go back to the school. Visit our Personalized Website by December 15, 2022: http://PercyPriestElementary.fpfundraising.com

Minted – through May 23

Help us raise money by shopping Minted all year long! You’ll get 20% off beautiful Minted products (excluding fine art prints) and Minted will donate 15% of the proceeds from every order back to us. Use our code FUNDRAISEPERCYPRIEST at checkout. Thank you so much for your support!

Roar Store – New Merchandise

The Roar Store is restocked with new merchandise! Please visit the Roar Store to check out all the new items.  Order online now at the Roar Store

Volunteer Spotlight

Volunteer: Megan Gesell

Children’s names: Celia, 1st grade; Beau and Everett, future Tigers

Volunteer Role: Grandfriend’s Day co-chair

Why Percy Priest: We are so grateful to be a part of the Percy Priest community. The teachers, staff, and parents are amazing and make this a truly special place. Grandfriend’s Day is such a fun event and it was so sweet seeing the students show off their school to their grandparents and special friends. It was clear the students have a lot of pride in their awesome school!

Volunteer: Jennifer Brown

Children’s names and grades: Nicolette (“Nico”), 2nd grade; Maya, future tiger (2023)

Volunteer Role: Grandfriends Day Co-chair

Why Percy Priest: Percy Priest is so special because of the love and dedication from teachers, staff, parents, grandfriends, and the all-volunteer PTO. It takes a village, and we are so lucky to have such a dedicated community who works so hard to give our children the best education and experiences in some of their most formative years. I give my time to Percy Priest because this village needs us all to contribute in order to keep thriving. I also make new friends during every event, and I’m forever grateful for that!

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 at https://schools.mealviewer.com/school/PercyPriestES

Join the PPE Green Team

Do you have a passion for environmental stewardship? Join PPE teacher, Mrs. Hartsock, and PPE parent, Denise Bahil, on the green team. No experience or expertise necessary. Please contact Denise at denise.bahil@gmail.com for more information or to sign up.

Green Tip

Update: We’re so sorry to report that the candy wrapper recycling box we ordered has gone missing. If you happen to know where it is, please let us know. Otherwise, we’ll move on to the next initiative. Thanks to everyone who has been saving those wrappers. We’re sorry it didn’t work out this time.

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.

Just Glass will donate $3 per month, per subscription, to the Percy Priest Elementary PTO. Subscribe by clicking the link and receive bi-weekly pick-ups of your recycled glass, while supporting our school!

5th Grade FAQs

5th grade transition for J.T. Moore feeder schools

Principals at our four Hillsboro cluster elementary schools that feed into J.T. Moore communicated in early October with families in those schools that through Metro Schools ReimaginED, those schools – Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, and Waverly Belmont – would transition to have 5th grade in the 2023-24 school year. Below are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions about this transition.

Will all the Hillsboro cluster elementary schools that feed J.T. Moore transition to grades K-5 in 2023-24?

Yes. Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, and Waverly Belmont will all have grades K-5 beginning in the 2023-24 school year. This also means that J.T. Moore will only have grades 6-8 beginning in the 2023-24 school year.

If my student is currently enrolled (either in-zone or out-of-zone) as a 4th grader at Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, or Waverly Belmont, will they continue to be enrolled at their current school for the 2023-24 school year? 

Yes. Students that are currently enrolled in 4th grade at Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, and Waverly Belmont will maintain enrollment at their current school for the 2023-24 school year. This includes students that are enrolled in these schools from outside the school zone.

Will the middle magnet and optional schools – Meigs, Head, Rose Park, and John Early – still have 5th grade enrollment in 2023-24?

Yes. The middle magnet and optional schools will continue to have 5th grade students enrolled until all MNPS elementary schools have transitioned to K-5, which will occur in the 2024-25 school year. If you are interested in an academic magnet or other optional middle school, the district has suggested that you consider applying for 5th grade seats in the 2023-34 school year as MNPS cannot guarantee 6th grade seats will be available in the 2024-25 school year. The optional school’s application process will open later in January 2023.

Will Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, and Waverly Belmont have enough physical space for students in grades K-5 starting in 2023-24 without the use of portables?

Yes. The principals at Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, and Waverly Belmont have worked with the student assignment and facilities offices at the MNPS support hub to ensure that the schools will have enough physical space to accommodate grades K-5 without the use of portables.

Will there still be a new Percy Priest Elementary building? Will there be a need to change zoning for any of the elementary schools that feed J.T. Moore – Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, or Waverly Belmont?

Percy Priest will remain on the capital needs list for the district and pending the allocation of capital needs funding, there will be a new building at Percy Priest. The district does not currently anticipate any need to change the zoning for Glendale, Julia Green, Percy Priest, or Waverly Belmont. As the district is continuously evaluating enrollment, capacity, and facilities needs across all schools, there is always a possibility for zoning and facilities updates, however there does not seem to be a need in the near future.

Erin Block’s Office Hours

Where: Community Room, Green Hills Library

When:

Tuesday, November 15 – 5:30-7:00 pm

Monday, December 5 – 5:30-7:00 pm

Tuesday, January 17 – 5:30-7:00 pm

(February – May dates TBD)

What: Anyone with questions or concerns is free to come join Erin in person, or if you can’t make it in person, email Erin – erin.block@mnps.org – to set up another time to talk

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