Hawkins Happenings

What a fun week celebrating Pink Week! We had a lot of participation throughout the week, all while supporting a great cause. Tonight is the culminating event at the BHS football game. The game starts at 7:00 p.m., and it’s always a great night. We hope to see you there!

A couple of questions came in this week, including some about when students are considered tardy. Our first bell rings at 9:01 a.m., which is when the doors open. Students should be in their classrooms and ready to go by 9:05 a.m. At 9:05, the doors will close, and families arriving after that time will need to use the main entrance to sign their child in. When you do, you’ll meet our new security officer, Officer Todd. He replaced Officer Alex, who recently took another position.

We also have some extra help inside and outside the building now that our fourth-grade safeties have started! We purchased new safety belts for them, and those should arrive Monday. We appreciate our fourth graders stepping up to help around Hawkins.

Our Recess Run started this week, too. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Recess Run takes place every Tuesday and Thursday during lunch recess. Students can choose to run laps around the playground and earn tokens along the way. We’ll keep running through mid-October. See below for more information on how you can get involved!

And speaking of running, the Hawkins Color Run is coming up! Our annual Color Run will take place Friday, October 2, 2026.

We’ll have an early start from 5:00–5:30 p.m. for students with sensory needs. The Color Run will then be open to everyone from 5:30–7:00 p.m.

The first class will take off at 5:45 p.m. We’ll start with JK and work our way up through the grade levels. Students will run with their classes, and we’re hoping to have staff at the starting line to cheer on their students and maybe even run a lap or two with them!

We’ll be grilling hot dogs during the event, and we’re asking families to bring individually packaged chips or treats to share.

DJ Wade will be on site to keep the music going, and we’ve also invited Kona Ice and Travelin’ Tom’s. They’re donating cups to our winning grade, so there’s a little extra motivation to get those laps in!

Green Oak Township is also planning to join us, pending any emergencies that may come up.

Stop by for a short time or stay a little longer. Run, walk, cheer, eat a hot dog, or just hang out. It’s a fun chance to spend some time together with other Hawkins families.

All students are encouraged to participate in the run, regardless of whether they raised money.

We will start the run with JK and work our way up through the grades. Students will run with their classes, and organizers will be at the starting line to get all of our runners lined up.

During the event, we will be grilling hot dogs and ask that families bring individually packaged treats to share. Any leftover treats will be saved for our Trunk or Treat event next month.

Last Names A–L: Please bring pre-packaged chips
Last Names M–Z: Please bring a pre-packaged dessert or cookies

What we need from you to make this event a success:

• Register your child through the FundHub site and share their fundraising page with family and friends.

• You can also submit cash or checks in a labeled envelope. Your student’s teacher can place it in our PTO mailbox, and we will add it to your student’s online fundraising total.

• Many employers offer 1:1 matching for charitable donations. Those funds will also count toward your student’s total! Please send us an email if you are submitting a matching gift, as processing timelines can be longer for employer matches.

• Plan to have your child at the run by 5:30 PM so we can keep all classes on schedule.

• Wear a white T-shirt for the best color effect during the run. Sunglasses are also recommended.

• Please note that we are using Peacock Powder, which is made from food-grade cornstarch and FDA-approved colors (FD&C). It is non-toxic, non-hazardous, and designed for outdoor social events. More information can be found here.

• We need volunteers to make this event happen! Volunteer here.

Individual Incentives

• Registration: 2026 Husky Color Run Water Bottle Sticker

• $50: Color Run Kit - Orange Sunglasses & Orange Bandana

• $100: Hawkins Squishy (NeeDoh-like) - to be delivered approximately one month after the run

• $250: White Commemorative Husky Color Run T-Shirt to wear to the event

• $400: Silly String Mr. Renner

• Top Fundraiser: Principal for the Day + Airborne Adventure Pack, which includes four 2-hour Adventure Passes and four pairs of Grip Socks

Top Classroom

“Squirrel Ball” Mr. Scheese, our PE teacher, dresses up as a squirrel and plays a game of dodgeball with the kids during their gym period

Top Grade

Kona Ice has generously agreed to provide a treat for each student in the winning grade

School-Wide Goals

Goal: $25,000
School-wide prize: Popcorn Party at lunch

Stretch Goal #1: $30,000
School-wide prize: Bounce House/Inflatables Day at recess*

Stretch Goal #2: $35,000
School-wide prize: Wonder Wheels BMX Assembly*

*Pending budget approval at the next PTO meeting.

Please email the PTO at HawkinsPTO@gmail.com with any questions.

Thank you in advance for your support! We are excited to make this year’s Color Run a huge success for Hawkins!

Sincerely,
Angela McFadden
PTO President

We had two beautiful days for running and walking, and our volunteers saw kids smiling, laughing, and sharing miles with friends.

Together, our students logged an amazing 344.75 miles during the first week!

A huge THANK YOU to all of our wonderful volunteers who helped make the start of Run Club such a success. We couldn’t do it without you!

Toe tokens earned will come home Monday per classroom distribution.

There are still more volunteer time slots available through the end of the fall season. Volunteers make Run Club possible! Come join in on the fun!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090448A5A623A3FF2-65798195-runclub#/

We’re looking for some help in the Hawkins lunchroom during lunchtime!

The hours are Monday through Friday from 10:45 a.m.–1:45 p.m. The pay is $15.00/hour, and it just might be the best three hours of your day!

If you’re interested, please contact the Hawkins office at 810-299-3900.

At Brighton Area Schools, we believe literacy opens the door to every other area of learning. That is why we selected Core Knowledge Language Arts, or CKLA, as our elementary literacy curriculum.

CKLA is built on decades of research about how children learn to read. It combines systematic instruction in foundational skills such as phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, spelling, and writing with rich opportunities to build knowledge through science, history, literature, geography, and the arts.

Students do much more than practice reading. They discuss ideas, learn academic vocabulary, write about what they read, and connect new learning to what they already know. This combination of strong foundational skills and meaningful knowledge building helps students become thoughtful, confident readers who can understand increasingly complex texts.

Our goal is not simply to help children learn to read. Our goal is to help them become lifelong learners who use reading to understand the world around them.

We know appointments come up during the school day, and sometimes an early pick-up is unavoidable. To help us protect classroom learning time, we are asking families to let us know about planned early dismissals as early as possible.

If you know your child will need to leave early for an appointment or another non-emergency reason, please call the office in advance. Our office will prepare a pass and get it to the teacher without interrupting instruction. At the appropriate time, the teacher will give the pass to your child, and your child can report to the office to meet you.

As we get closer to dismissal, things become very busy throughout the building. For that reason, we ask that any planned early pick-ups take place before 3:30 p.m. After 3:30 p.m., we will avoid interrupting classrooms for non-emergency, last-minute dismissal changes and ask that students follow their normal dismissal routine.

This small step helps us avoid calling into classrooms while teachers are in the middle of a lesson and keeps learning moving for everyone. It also helps us get your child ready to go when you arrive—so you can make it to those pesky dentist appointments on time!

Brighton Area Schools recognizes the special added value that volunteers can provide for our students' educational experiences. All parent volunteers, volunteer coaches and student teacher interns must undergo a background check in order to work with Brighton Area Schools students.

Please click here to complete the background check for volunteering.

Brighton Area Schools is part of a consortium that supports students and families experiencing temporary living situations. Assistance may include financial support for educational needs, referrals for housing and clothing, and other resources and services.

To help ensure students receive the support they need, school staff work to identify students who may be living in situations such as emergency shelters or transitional housing, motels or hotels, cars, parks or other public spaces, or shared housing due to a loss of housing or economic hardship.

The district’s homeless liaison is Starr Acromite, and each school has trained staff members available to help families access support and resources.

For additional information or assistance, please contact Starr Acromite at 810-299-4040.

Address: 8900 Lee Road, Brighton, MI 48116

Website: https://www.brightonk12.com/schools/hawkins

Phone: 810-299-3900

First Bell: 9:01 AM

Second Bell: 9:05 AM

Dismissal: 3:57 PM