Monday marks the beginning of the month of May and we are getting the last month of school off to a great start with Teacher Appreciation Week! Room parents have been in touch about ways to shower your classroom teachers with love and appreciation next week, and we thank you for the ways you are helping us do that next week.

Our Teacher Appreciation Committee has also planned a wonderful week for all of our teachers and staff, and they would love your help! Their plans include:

• Families are invited to send in cards to tell teachers and staff members how much you appreciate them (list of non-classroom teachers and staff here).
• Lunch will be provided to all teachers and staff on Monday, thanks to the generosity of Hattie B’s.
• Our Treat Cart will be circulating on Wednesday (sign-up here to help).
• We will have coffee & donuts for all teachers and staff on Thursday morning.

Next week will also start on the high note of Cinco de Mayo lunch on Tuesday and continue on into Field Day on Friday. Come join us as you’re able – we’d love to see you!

And lastly – we’re already working on things for next year! You can go ahead and order your 1st Day School Supplies (link to order here), we’re excited to greet our rising kindergarteners and their families at our annual popsicle party on May 7 (details below), and it’s time to start letting us know how you’d like to volunteer next year (interest form here). So many things to look forward to, even as we start to say goodbye to this year!

Upcoming School Events

• 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

• 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.

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.

Thank you to our Friends of Field Day: The Hauck Family and the Vidalakis Family

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.

Thank you to our Friends of the Spring Picnic: The Hauck Family and the Vidalakis Family

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

Be a Friend of the Event for $150 and help make our Community Events this fall better than ever! Visit www.percypriest.org/get-involved/sponsorship/ 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!

• Field Day (May 5)
• Spring Movie Night and Picnic (May 12)

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.

1st Day School Supplies – June 30 order deadline

Percy Priest is partnering again this year with 1st Day School Supplies to make purchasing back-to-school supplies easy and affordable, while benefiting the PTO. You’ll be able to order exactly what your child needs for the fall by visiting our dedicated link here. Kits will be delivered directly to the school in August so this is truly hassle-free!

General Announcements

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.

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