The Countdown is on for INVEST!!!!

Thank you to all who have supported PPE through the INVEST campaign so far! To date, 75% of our families have joined the effort and we hope to get to 100% by October 6th!  If you haven’t supported already, please click HERE . If you can’t give at this time, please still sign on and click “I support PPE” so your child can be counted in class participation and school wide totals! Each class that gets to 100% participation will get a popsicle party. See below for the classes that are getting close!

If we get to 100% school participation then there will be a special surprise with Dr. Young!

Another big shoutout for last night’s Songs Under the Stars!  The music, food, laughter and community is what makes this event one of the best!  Thank you all to the wonderful volunteers, vendors, and talent for pitching in and helping us move the event out to Franklin.  We are grateful for each of you!

Important Dates

• October 4– Walk to School Day & Navigator Day
• October 4 – Zio Matto Gelato Fundraiser
• October 6 – No School-Teacher In Service
• October 9-13 – Fall Break
• October 17 – PTO General Meeting, 6:00 pm in PPE Library
• October 20 – Kindergarten Parent Party
• 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 31 – Harvest Celebration-Classroom Parties
• November 2 – Open House for Prospective Families
• November 3 – 1st Grade Parent Party
• November 8-9 – GrandFriends Day
• November 10 – Veterans Day-No School
• November 17 – 2nd Grade Parent Party

The construction team will be placing a work trailer on the side of the building in the area where the bike racks are currently located.  This will impact parking on this side lot.  We will also be designating spots for the construction team in the side parking lot.  The trailer should be on site when we return from fall break.

All workers on site will have completed background checks.  They also will be wearing hard hats that clearly identify them as members of the American construction team.  There will be a new fence around the construction area.  This should clearly separate our school space from the construction zone.

Invest Update

It’s Time to INVEST!

We’re on an exciting journey to reach 100% participation by Fall Break, which is just a week away!  Every class that achieves 100% participation will earn a super cool popsicle party – who doesn’t love a sweet treat?  So, your participation, no matter how big or small, makes a HUGE difference!   If you haven’t supported already, please click HERE.  Let’s rally together and show some awesome class pride by donating today!  And here’s the cherry on top: All families that give or pledge through the site by October 6, 2023, will receive a coupon for a FREE FROZEN DRINK from Twice Daily’s Granny White Market. Each class that has 100% participation will have a popsicle party to celebrate!

Don’t miss out on the fun – let’s make this campaign a blast and reach our goal together! #INVESTforPPE.

DID YOU KNOW?

Your Invest contribution may be matched by your employer.  This matching feature enables your donation to go even further.  Please consider contacting your company to inquire.  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

INVEST NOW

Upcoming Events

Save the Date for GrandFriends Day, November 8th and 9th 

Save the date for this year’s Grandfriends Day on November 8th (kindergarten, first, second grades) and November 9th (third, fourth and fifth grades)! More information to follow in the coming weeks.

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.

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

Small Fundraisers

Pumpkin and Mums Fundraiser Sale – September 8-29th

Support Percy Priest Elementary PTO Budget while getting Fall Festive with mums and pumpkin stacks from Market Fresh Produce. These are the prettiest, most impressive mums and pumpkins around, and all proceeds go back to the PTO to provide additional staff and materials to the school which impacts every child.

Mums (variety of colors) $21 Order HERE

Pumpkin Stacks (three pumpkins) $25 Order HERE

Pick up is at the PPE Playground during dismissal until 4PM on 10/04. Ziomatto Gelato will be selling gelato the day of pickup and % going to PPE PTO.  If you are unable

to pick up that day during that timeframe please email marcy.stringfield@gmail.com to make alternate arrangements.

Zio Matto Gelato- October 4th 2:30-4:30

General Announcements

PTO General Meeting- October 17th at 6 p.m.

Please join us for our PTO General meeting in the PPE Library.  The MNPS facilities and construction team will be giving us an update on the construction process and scheduling.

A Letter From Mary Twitchel:

Trying to put into words what Percy Priest has meant to me over the last 20 years is an impossible task. This is a special place and I am proud to have been a part of it. Your children bring me such joy and it has been an honor to walk alongside them. I will always be in their corner. Thank you for all of your kindness and support. I can’t wait to see the next chapters in the Percy Priest story.

All my love,

Mary Twitchel

Walk to School Day – October 4th

This is a city-wide event coordinated by Walk Bike Nashville.  Families are invited to join us on the pathway at the corner of Otter Creek and Robert E. Lee at 7:30AM.  We will walk together as a group along the pathway to the school.  More details will be coming, but please mark your calendars for this fun community event.

Navigator Day- October 4th.

For this Navigator Day we will be partnering  with the ALS Foundation.  In preparation for this day, students in House Isibindi will be teaching our school about the work of the ALS foundation.  We have also created a Percy Priest Tigers team to participate in this year’s Walk to Defeat ALS event in Nashville on Saturday, October 21st, and all of our Percy Priest families are invited to walk with our team.  If you choose to register for the event, please remember to select “Join A Team” and search for our Percy Priest Tigers group.

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

PPE Cross Country Team

The Cross Country Championship will take place on Saturday, September 30, 2023

Race Location: 4373 Hermitage Road/Old Hickory, TN 37138

Cross Country State Meet Information

Date: Saturday, September 30, 2023

Time: Varsity Girls: 8:30 a.m./Varsity Boys: 8:50 a.m./Junior Varsity (Girls & Boys): 9:10 a.m. with the awards presentation to follow.

Green Team News:

Lessons from the Advocacy Coach:

One of the greatest joys I have this year is teaching your students on a regular basis during their Related Arts time in the library. Miss Stuart teaches three weeks each month and I teach the other one. We collaborate on all our lessons to ensure your child is receiving wholesome and unique lessons. On the weeks that I teach, I continue with whatever theme or topic that Miss Stuart has introduced and weave in lessons on social emotional learning, behavior and neuroscience while still promoting a love of literacy.

During the week of September 18-22, we focused on Responsible Decision-Making. Students learned that before they act, they need to think: Is it safe? Is it good for me? Is it good for others? Is it helpful?

Kindergarten: Ryan T. Higgins

We continued our study on the amazing author Ryan T. Higgins by reading Bruce Swap and Norman Didn’t Do It. We discussed the responsible and irresponsible decisions that the characters in each story made. They students also listened to several chapters of the audio book, The Magic Treehouse Dinosaurs before Dark while building blocks and practicing responsible decision making.

1st Grade: Libraries

Our first graders have been focusing on libraries around the world while reading Biblioburro, a story of Columbian school teacher, Luis Soriano. We continued with the library theme using the book Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library and our students learned how to be responsible in the library. The students acted as our “library assistants” by fixing books that were shelved incorrectly (backward, sideways, shoved back, etc.), left out of place, or were damaged due to carelessness.

2nd Grade: Jon Klassen

Second Grade has been studying books illustrated by the fabulously creative, Jon Klassen. We continued our study of him by using the chapter book Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake. Based on the book trailer, students predicted who would be more responsible, Skunk or Badger before we dove in to find by listening to the audiobook. During this time, students were able to build quietly using rock blocks, study rocks, and geodes with magnifying glasses.

3rd Grade: Roald Dahl

Third grade had an absolutely scrumdidilyumptious time while continuing their study of author, Roald Dahl. This week we listened to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. During their time in the library, we practiced responsible decision-making while creating a new “sweet” to present to Mr. Willy Wonka. Students were thrilled when they realized the Oompa Loompas (a.k.a. Miss Stuart and me) had dropped off actual candy for them to use in their creations.

4th Grade: National Parks

The fourth graders are beginning their research projects on National Parks, so we used this opportunity to discuss what responsible decision-making looks like when visiting these glorious parts of our nation. In contrast, we also talked about what it does not look like based on a Washington Post article about the top eight ways to be the worst National Parks visitor. Additionally, the students listened to the book What if Everybody Did That? which gave us multiple reminders of responsibility. Lastly, we started listening to Bear Bottom by Stuart Gibbs.

5th Grade: Greek Mythology

As we continued with Greek Mythology, we studied Pandora and how her irresponsible decision had chaotic consequences. The students were tasked with writing down ways they could be more responsible and placed them in their own anti-Pandora’s box. Next, they decorated these boxes so they can keep them beside their beds at night. Before going to sleep, they were asked to read the list from their box to activate their hippocampus and store this information in their long-term memory.

Please follow the library (@pecypriestlibrary) and Advocacy Center (@percypriestadvocacy) on Instagram to see these lessons in picture form!

Artsonia:

PPE Parenting Series wants your input!

Our Counseling Team is already planning this year’s PPE Parenting Series!  Please take a moment to let us know your Parenting Series preferences here: https://forms.office.com/r/hXUpRHcsVj

Counselors Corner:

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

Unicycle Donations

Families, we’re a UniCycle School! That means you can donate your students’ outgrown school clothing items in the collection basket on the PPE front porch, and we’ll fill our UniCycle Closet so that it’s ready to be used by any student here who’s had a summer growth spurt or could use an extra shirt or two. If we collect more than we need, we send it to @Unicycle.nashville and they get it to another school closet or direct to a student experiencing homelessness in the @mnps_hero program. Keep your closets cleaned out and we’ll make sure your items go on to live their next best life – it’s a win-win for all!

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.

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.

The funds raised from this event will be used to support the PTO budget which provides our school with additional staff, software and supplies to our school.

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