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Hicks Hive Hangout
April 19th, 2024
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David Hicks Elementary School
Principal Amy Gee
Weekly Updates
IMPORTANT:
Parents: If you need to speak with Mrs. Gee please call the main office to make an appointment.
Please call the office to update your phone number if it changes. It is very IMPORTANT to know what your phone number is so we can contact you in case of an EMERGENCY.
If you need to pick up your child early, you MUST be in the building by 3:30PM to pick up your student. NO EXCEPTIONS!
Reading with your Child
Literacy is always important, make sure your child finds a love for reading. Please check out EPIC to find endless books to read to your child.
Click HERE.
Mark Your Calendars!
Click HERE to see our District Calendar
Coming Up:
Tuesday, April 9th - Wednesday, April 24th - M-STEP testing. Please find the flier about IMPORTANT information regarding your child.
Monday, April 22nd - Friday, April 26th - Autism Awareness Week.
Wednesday, April 24th - 5th to 6th Grade Transition Night 6:00-7:00PM. At the middle school your 5th grader is transitioning to. Adams, Franklin or Stevenson Middle Schools.
Thursday, April 25th - PTO Meeting in the Life Skills room at 4:15-5:15PM.
Thursday, April 25th - Culture and Diversity Festival at William D. Ford Career-Technical Center from 5:00-7:00PM.
Wednesday, May 1st - PD Day for Staff NO SCHOOL.
Monday, May 6th - PTO Girl Scouts Informational Life Skills room at 4:15-5:15PM.
Monday, May 6th - Friday, May 10th - National Teacher Appreciation Week. Find the flier below if your child is interested in submitting a video to the Michigan Department of Education.
Friday, May 10th - Kindergarten Field Trip to the Bowling Alley.
Saturday, May 11th - 3v3 Basketball Tournament for 4th and 5th graders.
Wednesday, May 15th and Thursday, May 16th - 5th Grade and Mrs. Van Proeyen's classes go to EMU.
Thursday, May 16th - 2nd Grade goes to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum.
Saturday, May 19th - Girls on the Run 5k at Lake St. Clair Metro Park click the button or link below to register as a running buddy. The run begins at 9am till 12:30pm.
Thursday, May 23rd - Kindergarten Field Trip to the Farm. 2nd Grade goes to LEGO Land and Sea Life Aquarium.
Tuesday, May 28th - Hicks Art Show at Wayne Public Library 3737 S Wayne Rd, Wayne, MI 48184
5:30-7:00PM.
M-STEP Testing
Kindergarten Registration
Enroll Your Young Learners Today
Do you have a child who will be ready for Young 5s or kindergarten next fall? Enrollment is now open for the 2024-2025 school year and is entirely online.
Ready, Set, Enroll ---> https://www.wwcsd.net/kickstart
5th to 6th Grade Transition Night
Click Below for Information Regarding GOTR
Click Below to Sign Up for Summer School
Click Below to Sign Up for EBT Benefits
Click Below to See Wayne Library's Newsletter
Click Below to Learn about Autism Awareness Week
Spring Concert
Kudos to the one and only Ms. Zahor! She put on a grand spectacular with the Kindergarten and 1st Grade Spring Concert. Thank you for providing such a wonderful experience with our community.
"Moose" the Emotional Support Dog
Where's Moose? He visited 4th grade this week in Mrs. Hagen, Mrs. Salerno and Ms. Hodges's classes. Please enjoy the photographs!
Baking with Mrs. Bellanca
Kudos to Mrs. Bellanca for starting a bake club for each grade level that will have a chance to bake. The most responsible students will be picked from their classroom teachers. Recently she was awarded a grant from the Wayne-Westland Foundation to purchase a stove and cooking materials. The photographs display Ms. Hughey's classroom first to enjoy a treat baked by a classmate.
Teacher Appreciation Week
National Teacher Appreciation Week is May 6-10, 2024. The Michigan Department of Education’s (MDE) Office of Educator Excellence (OEE) wishes to celebrate teachers across Michigan for the entire month of May.
MDE invites parents to submit 15-30 second videos of their students recognizing and thanking a specific teacher for their impact. Nothing fancy is required—cell phones can capture the videos. Please follow the directions on the flyer. Videos and parental consent may be submitted via the Teacher Appreciation Video Project Google Form. Videos are currently being accepted until Friday, April 19, 2024.
Submitted videos may be posted on the Teacher Appreciation Month webpage and the MDE’s YouTube channel. The Office of Educator Excellence Facebook (@MIeducator) and X (formerly Twitter) social media pages will be promoting the videos throughout the month of May.
If your child has great things to say about a teacher, don’t hesitate—use the instructions found on our website to submit a video today!
Hicks PTO
Digital Citizenship and Safety
We must all be the role models and educators to our children's safety. Internet safety is more important than ever. Everyone has a duty to make sure our kids surf the web safely.
Please watch Cyber Fareedah on YouTube about different parental controls on iPhones and devices. She is brilliant in explaining different programs and apps to use to keep your child safe online. Click HERE to learn.
Please watch this video from Mr. Saunders that walks you through how to set up parental controls on an iPhone. CLICK HERE.
School Lunch Survey
Food Service Survey:
Aramark, our food service provider, is running its Student ViewPOINT survey. They invite parents and students to take this survey together. Your feedback will help enhance our food service program and better meet student needs and expectations. The survey is open until May 13, 2024. Go to www.StudentVP.com and enter passcode 2024.
Lunch Menu
Elementary Basketball Tournament
Culture and Diversity Festival
Join Wayne-Westland Community at the first annual Culture and Diversity Festival from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, April 25, 2024 at William D. Ford Career-Technical Center, 36455 Marquette, Westland.
Explore diverse cultures through food, dance and traditions.
Hicks Attendance Hotline
Reminders
- Attendance
- If your child is dropped off after 9:55am they will be marked absent for the morning
- If your child is picked up before 3:15pm they will be marked absent for the afternoon
- Please take our Attendance Survey if you haven't had the chance to yet!
- No early dismissal after 3:30pm on full days
- No early dismissal after 11:50am on half days
- If students are left at school at the end of the day, and we cannot get in contact with you or anyone on your child's emergency contact list, our protocol is to reach out to the Inkster Police Department to safely transport your child home
- Communication
- Our building uses Class Dojo to communicate with families. Please make sure that you connect with your child's teacher to sign up
- A message stating Handle with Care tells your child's teacher that they may need some extra support for the day due to something that is going on outside of the school environment.
- Please review the arrival/dismissal video for information on how to drop off and pick up your child. Click here to see it on Class Dojo!
- We have after school programs available! Click to learn more about Bright Futures and Champions
- Check out our Facebook page HERE
- Access all of our Hicks Resources HERE
- Does your child need tutoring? Click HERE to find resources to support your child!
If your student is going to be absent, please make sure you contact our attendance line at 734-419-2666. This is a different number than our regular office line! Thank you!
Regular attendance is crucial for your child's academic success. Please make every effort to ensure your child attends school on time every day and stays throughout the whole day. Consistent attendance throughout the school day allows your child to engage in learning and maximize their educational opportunities fully.
Illness: If your child is not feeling well and cannot attend school, please notify us immediately. Students who are ill should not attend school to prevent the spread of illness to others.
Excused Absences: We understand that there may be instances when your child needs to be absent due to illness, medical appointments, family emergencies, or other legitimate reasons. Please notify the school in advance whenever possible to classify the absence as excused.
Unexcused Absences: Unexcused absences negatively impact your child's education. Absences without valid reasons will be considered unexcused, and appropriate actions may be taken per district policy.
Timely reporting of absences helps us maintain accurate attendance records and ensures that your child's absence is properly documented. Absences must be reported within 24 hours.
There are two convenient methods for reporting your child's absence to facilitate efficient communication and accurate attendance records.
You can notify your child's school through the dedicated attendance line. Please leave a detailed message stating your child's name, grade, and reason for absence.
You can report absences directly through MiStar, our secure online portal for student information. MiStar provides a user-friendly interface that allows you to submit absences.
Thank you for your ongoing support in creating a positive and productive learning environment for all our students.
Parking Lot Safety
Please DO NOT enter the front loop from the exit!
It is unsafe for our Hicks students and their families. Mrs. Gee is working with Inkster Police to start ticketing parents that do these things because student safety is number one priority.
If you need to park, please enter through the driveway closest to Cherry Hill and follow traffic around the loop. Thank you for your continued cooperation in keeping everyone SAFE at Hicks!
Child Tax Credit
2024 Child Tax Credit Information from the Internal Revenue Service: The Internal Revenue Service wants to share the following information with families.
Child Tax Credit (CTC): The CTC is a credit that may reduce your tax by as much as $2,000 for each child who qualifies you for the credit. To qualify, the child must be a U.S. citizen under age 17, have a Social Security number, be claimed as a dependent on the taxpayer's tax return, and more. Use the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant tool to determine eligibility: Does My Child/Dependent Qualify for the Child Tax Credit or the Credit for Other Dependents? For more information, please see: Child Tax Credit | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)
Other Dependent Credit (ODC): The ODC is a credit that may reduce your tax by as much as $500 for each eligible dependent. The person is claimed as a dependent on your return; the person can’t be used by you to claim the CTC or Additional CTC; the person was a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien. Again, use the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant tool to determine eligibility: Does My Child/Dependent Qualify for the Child Tax Credit or the Credit for Other Dependents?
Note: The credit amount for family’s CTC or ODC may be reduced if their modified adjusted gross income (AGI) is more than $400,000 for married filing jointly filing status or $200,000 for all other filing statuses.
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): One refundable tax credit for moderate- and low-income families is the Earned Income Tax Credit. The IRS estimates there are millions of workers who qualify but don't claim the EITC - missing out on thousands of dollars every year. The EITC is as much as $3,995 when claiming one child, $6,604 when claiming two children, and $7,430 when claiming three or more children. Use the EITC Assistant to learn if you're eligible for the tax credit. For more detailed information, see Publication 596, Earned Income Credit.
Note: Adjusted gross income limits are used to qualify families for EITC.
Child and Dependent Care Credit: Taxpayers who paid someone to care for their child, spouse, or dependent so they can work, be a full-time student, or look for work may be able to reduce their tax by claiming the Child and Dependent Care Credit. The total expenses that you may use to calculate the credit may not be more than $3,000 (for one qualifying individual) or $6,000 (for two or more qualifying individuals). Use the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant tool: Am I Eligible to Claim the Child and Dependent Care Credit? For more information, please see: Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses or Topic no. 602, Child and dependent care credit | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov).Here Comes the Bus App
Wayne-Westland Community Schools has partnered with Here Comes the Bus to offer families an app that will help avoid students and parents from waiting too long for the bus. Here Comes the Bus allows parents to see where their child’s bus is along the route and when it will be at their bus stop.
Wondering where the bus is? Now you’ll know.
- See real-time map locations for your student’s buses
- Get push notifications when the bus gets close by
- Get everyone to the stop at the right time, every time
Sign up for Here Comes the Bus™
- Visit herecomesthebus.com
- Click the “Sign Up” button
- Enter school code 87839 and click “Next” followed by “Confirm”
- Complete the “User Profile” box
- Under “My Students,” click “Add.” Enter your child’s last name and student ID number
- Once you confirm your information, you’re ready to begin using Here Comes the Bus!
Download the App
Here Comes the Bus video: https://youtu.be/5JOukHCmbhk
Volunteers Wanted
Family Resource Center at WWCSD
Wayne-Westland Community Schools has a Family Resource Center (FRC), which provides services to any student/family enrolled in our District, free of cost. Some of the services they provide are: basic need assistance, access to over 700 local resources, Laundry Assistance Program and material items for those unable to afford them (emergency toiletries, socks/underwear, hats/gloves/scarves, etc.) They are also able to supply school supplies and backpacks year round for any WWCS student. Please contact our Family Resource Center at: 734-419-2709 or FRC@wwcsd.net. Our FRC also has a Digital Request for Services Form, which can be used to request assistance by filling out a simple form. Please contact the Family Resource Center directly with any additional questions regarding their services.
Hicks Free Laundromat
Just a reminder to ALL Hicks families that our washer and dryer are open and available for you to use 9:10 am-4:00 pm! We will supply the laundry soap for you to use. All you need to do is call to make sure it isn't being used at the time you plan on coming up to Hicks!
Wayne-Westland Mobile App
There's an app for that! Wayne-Westland Community Schools has a new mobile app that enables subscribers to quickly access information from our district website. You can view lunch menus, access parent and student connect, save events to your phone from our school calendars and much more. There are also quick links to our district Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube channels.
On your device, connect to the Android Play store or the iOS App Store and search for Wayne-Westland Schools, then upload the app.
Contact Us
Hicks Elementary School 🐝
100 Helen Street
Inkster, MI 48141
Main Office: 734-419-2660
Fax: 734-419-2658
Attendance Line: 734-419-2666
Student Hours
Full Day: 9:10 am - 4:00 pm
AM Half Day: 9:10 am - 12:20 pm