2019.6.7 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

June 7, 2019

Dear Saxe Family,

As the end of the school year rapidly approaches, we recognize how much we have to be grateful for and the wonderful opportunities that we have to offer our students. Just today, we took a tour of the building with members of our district staff who had not recently been “behind the scenes” while school was in session. As we made our rounds and pointed out some of the exceptional facilities, the team was able to drop in and witness some classes in action.

We began in the auditorium, onto The Arts wing, into the gymnasiums, past core academics and Health Education, through the library and innovation/design lab, by the hallway breakout spaces, and finally into an art class and the STEM class/lab. The look of amazement, wonderment, and awe made me proud to show off our teachers teaching and our students learning. To hear adults say, “I wish I was back in middle school” is profound. Thank you, New Canaan, for all you allow us to provide for our students.

This week we take a look at a few of those offerings as we focus on Social Studies, VPA, Physical Education, Math Interns, The 8th-grade trip, Trout Club, surprise visitor(s), and more!

Enjoy and have a great weekend,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

6/10 BOE Meeting

6/11 Saxe 5th/6th-grade Chorus Concert

6/12 Grade 6 Fun Day

6/13 Grade 5 Field Day; Grade 7 Brownstone; Grade 8 Dinner Dance

Want to check out the weekly from last week? Click, here.

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Look for something positive every day….even if some days you have to look a little harder.”

“When life puts you in tough situations, don’t say ‘Why Me’ say ‘Try Me’.”

“Talk about your blessings more than you talk about your problems.”

“Failure is nothing more than a chance to revise your strategy.”

“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”

Surprise Visitor to Saxe!

Mr. Patrona surprised his classes with an impromptu visit on Tuesday. The students had some time to ask him questions and he had a chance to catch up on their progress. He reports feeling well and progressing through his treatments as expected. He starts his last round of treatments next week! The students were thrilled to see him and there is no better medicine than the love and appreciation of 45 fifth-graders! We are all thinking of him and send him our best wishes (#PatronaStrong).

Social Studies

Grade 5 would like to thank the PTC for generously providing us with a workshop led by the CT Women’s Hall of Fame. The presentation was titled, Founding Mothers: Women who shaped our nation from the Colonial Era to the Civil War. Students learned about several women from Connecticut who helped shape our state and nation. It was a wonderful way to enrich and support the learning in social studies. Thank you!

Physical Education

Way to go to all the students at Saxe who have been working hard on building and maintaining aerobic endurance by walking, jogging and running outside on our mile track during PE classes. Students have been learning the importance of moving everyday and reaching a goal of at least 10,000 steps daily. Students have been goal setting all year during class and were able to see some growth and achieve personal bests and then plan exercise routines as we move toward the summer.

Special congrats to those top runners in each grade who really got their feet moving…

5th-grade: Rogan Lowe and Emma Grzymski

6th-grade: Sajan Shah and Annie Gilliam

7th-grade: Teddy Cooney and Emerson Culliss

8th-grade: Ethan Xia and Polly Parsons

Summer is great time for your family to get moving and work on aerobic endurance for at least 20-60 minutes a day. Go for a walk after dinner, catch some waves at the beach, or go swimming in your pool. “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you”!

Grade 5 interdisciplinary creatures coming to life!

NCHS Interns at Saxe

We are grateful to the high school interns for helping paint the math manipulatives that will help our students in grades 5-8 learn how to: solve equations, understand the equals sign, use the distributive property, understand the meaning of variables and their coefficients, combine like terms, perform operations with integers and fractions, and LOVE MATH!

Saxe Middle School

This week, the trout club released the young fish that they have been raising all year into the Norwalk River. These students have been learning about ecosystems and taking great care of these fish since they were “small fry”. Thanks to Ms. Poidomani and Ms. Veach for providing these opportunities for our students!

Saxe Middle School Choral Department

On Tuesday, June 4th the spring concert was held in the auditorium. Directors Trevor Leckie and DeDra Sagerstrand led the 7th and 8th grade choirs along with Accompanist Joe Gergle. Following “The Star-Spangled Banner” the 7th grade chorus performed “Won’t You Sit Down”, “What a Wonderful World”, and “ABC”. The 8th grade select chorus took the stage to perform “Shallow”. During the interlude, 8th grader Monty Maynard performed “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. The 8th grade chorus then took the stage and performed “Give Us Hope”, “Africa”, “Seasons of Love”, and “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Congratulation on an amazing performance!!

8th Grade Class Trip

On Thursday, June 6th, 8th grade students and staff traveled to Lake Compounce in Bristol, CT. They enjoyed roller roasters, the water park and catered picnic.

Another type of surprise visitor

Onyx the *service dog was here for a visit today! Many schools have begun using service dogs to add to their positive school climate and service the needs of students, and we got to see why firsthand. The pictures, quotes, and poem at the bottom speak for themselves. Quotes from kids today: “this is the happiest day of my life having a dog at school”; “if we had Onyx at school every day I would never need another stress ball”; “can she come every time we have tests? She makes me feel so much better”; “this is all I need to be happy and not stress”. Thank you, Onyx!

*(fully certified, insured, vaccinated, & trained through Guiding Eyes for the Blind)