2019.9.27 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

September 27, 2019

Dear Saxe Family,

My original intent for the Saxe Weekly was to share all of the exciting events that took place at Saxe Middle School this week… We kicked off #CelebrateSaxe (in style!). Our 5th-grade Fun Run was a huge success (and, dodged the impending rainstorm). The 6th-grade Open House was well attended and a hugely positive evening. I had the awesome opportunity to shadow a student’s schedule for a full day, which provided some terrific insight and perspective through the lens of a 6th-grade student.

However, I want the focus of this message to be on what makes Saxe Middle School TRULY special. After the events of the day, the pep rally, and all of the excitement that a normal Friday brings, one of our Science teachers stopped into the office to share that she just saw a student going down the hall saying, “I love this place! I lost something and it was turned in and now I have it back…”. No sooner did that teacher leave, I received an email that stated:

Subject: Kindness

Message: FYI – I just heard a student say:

“I can’t believe how nice the people are at this school’

“I lost something and it was brought to the office.”

I thought he was so appreciative and was so thankful!

This item clearly had significant meaning to this student. The person who turned the item in not only did the right thing, they absolutely made this student’s day, and possibly forged a powerfully positive memory into the mind of someone they didn’t even know. For the record, we will find out who it was that was “caught caring” and appropriately thank them for helping make Saxe Special.

This is just one example of so many beautiful acts that occur daily at Saxe. Thank you for raising honest, conscientious, caring children. We appreciate the opportunity to be part of their lives and their educational journey.

Have a great long weekend,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

9/30 – No School, Rosh Hashanah

10/1 – Grade 5 Open House, 6:45 pm

10/2 – Grade 5/6 Photo Day; Celebrate Saxe welcomes Kristine Lilly!; Grade 7 Open House, 6:45 pm

10/3 – Grade 7/8 Photo Day, Grade 8 Open House, 7:00 pm

10/4 – Saxe Walk to School Day

Want to check out the “Saxe Weekly” from last week? You’re one click away, here.

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

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

Replace “I can’t” with “How can I?”

“If you can’t think of something nice to say, you’re not thinking hard enough.”

“Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally. It comes from what you do consistently.”

“Someone else is dreaming about the things you take for granted.”

Celebrate Saxe Spirit in Action!

I honestly don’t think there was a middle school in America that demonstrated more spirit today. Seeing so many participate in the Red & Black Day and have fun infused to the normal learning that continued throughout their academic day was really special.

Safety Around Saxe

We are a diverse community of learners and educators with many specialized needs. This week, Mr. Petrakopoulos helped create a safety PSA for our students:

World Language

This week in the world of France…

Madame D’s 6th grade French RAPPING KARAOKE practice

Rapping in 6th grade French with Madame D

Madame D’s 7th graders collaborating

This week Madame Fraccaroli’s sixth grade French classes learned different ways to greet each other in French. They had an awesome time when they listened and practiced singing to the Salut, Bonjour rap.

They also used technology to create comics and vokis.

Madame Fraccaroli’s 8th graders have been exploring weather, temperature and locations of different cities in France and in different parts of the US. They are taking turns being weather forecasters.

8th graders discovered the geography of France by listening to authentic speakers such as Scooby Doo characters since he celebrated his 50th anniversary this month.

7th graders have been exploring the questions: Il te faut quoi pour la classe de….? And De quoi tu as besoin as they used their vocabulary to communicate.

Students are in the process of creating new lyrics for the song they listened to this week. We are looking forward to seeing their new creations!

Saxe School Counseling Department

Your School Counselors, L-R: Sarah Beltran, Tammy Nettleton, Christine Risoli, Brad Lepisto, Samantha Bachman, Karen Pausig.

The NCPS school counseling department is based on the belief that each student is important and unique. Our focus is to support the development of all students in self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, social awareness, and relationship skills. The development of these critical school and life skills will cultivate a respectful environment that supports our students in their journey to becoming productive, ethical, responsible global citizens.

7th and 8th grade School Counselors:

Sarah Beltran (Sarah.Beltran@ncps-k12.org)

Brad Lepisto (Brad.Lepisto@ncps-k12.org)

Tammy Nettleton (Tammy.Nettleton@ncps-k12.org)

5th and 6th grade School Counselors:

Samantha Bachman (Samantha.Bachman@ncps-k12.org)

Karen Pausig (Karen.Pausig@ncps-k12.org)

Christine Risoli (Christine.Risoli@ncps-k12.org)

School Counselors see all students! They are your child’s advocate. They run a variety of different groups, provide individual counseling, collaborate with parents, teachers and staff and support students in many different ways. School Counselors work to ensure that all children reach their full potential in school and in their lives.

5th Grade Workshop Offerings:

Stress Less Workshop– Stress-Less Workshop provides an opportunity for students to learn skills to help with attention, stress management, anxiety reduction, emotion regulation, and academic performance.

6th Grade Workshop Offerings:

Assertive Communication Team (“ACT”) Workshop– Communication and collaboration are 21st century skills that are essential to student success. The Assertive Communication Team is a Workshop for sixth grade students which focuses on enhancing interpersonal skills.

Wellness Workshop– Research demonstrates that emotional intelligence skills are essential to better academic performance, better relationships, greater empathy, better decision making, and better physical and mental health.This Workshop will focus primarily on emotion regulation, one of the skills of EI.

If you’re interested in your child participating in any of the above Workshops and you have not yet signed them up, please CLICK HERE to give your child permission to attend.

7th and 8th Grade Workshop Offerings:

If you’re interested in your child participating in any of the 7th or 8th-grade Workshops, and you have not yet signed them up, please CLICK HERE to give your child permission to attend.

Science

In order to better understand our Earth’s place in the Universe, grade 5 science classes are collecting data of the length and direction of their shadows. Students will collect data throughout the year and use the information to reveal patterns of daily changes in the hopes of enhancing their knowledge of the position and motion of the Earth with respect to the Sun.

Music

Mr. Leckie is proud to announce that the Yale Whiffenpoofs performed for the seventh and eighth grade choir students on September 25th. Mr. Leckie has been trying to bring the Whiffenpoofs to Saxe for several years so he was happy to hear that they had availability early in this school year!

The Whiffenpoofs is the oldest (1909!) and one of the best known collegiate a cappella groups in the country. The members represent a wide range of college studies, including African American Studies, Architecture, Biomedical Engineering, Economics, Music, Neuroscience, Physics, and Psychology. The Whiffenpoofs have performed for over a century, traveling the globe sharing their love of music while demonstrating to audiences the importance of having a balance in life. The Whiffenpoofs’ concert repertoire had something for everyone; it included pop, musical theatre and jazz standards, all infused with the Whiffs signature sense of humor!

Health & Physical Education

Students started off the year getting to know each other and quickly began building relationships while participating in different games and activities. Some classes have transitioned into a focus on fitness or some team games such as volleyball. There is always an emphasis on the importance of working hard, trying your best and setting personal goals. Students are learning about the six components of health related fitness. Ask them at home and see if they can name all six! (Hint) During class discussions and fun games that introduce different ways to get their heart rates up, students learned about their aerobic endurance. A common practice used throughout physical education is setting realistic/achievable goals for ourselves as we begin to explore and grow our physical literacy. Outside of school, students should be thinking about moving and participating in any activity that gets you moving for 20-60 minutes 3-5 days a week.

Getting a chance to observe Miss Goodman spend time preparing Sophia for her physical education class was truly inspiring on all levels.

Skills. Build. Health. The slogan and foundation of our health education program. We hope you have seen this being promoted outside one of the health classroom windows as you drop your child off by the lower division office. We are striving to equip students with the skills necessary to improve their health literacy, fostering the capability to make informed decisions in order to lead a healthy lifestyle. Students have started to engage in their health classes recently. Our 5th grade“Happiness Wall” is being transformed into this year’s “Happiness Hall”. We are excited to see this positive experience grow throughout the year. Grades 6-8 have started to experience meaningful lessons impacting their health.

Just a reminder: We hope to see the 5th grade parents on October 17th…Invitation below:

Town Hall Meeting

Today our 7th grade Blue Team led by Mrs. Korman, Mrs. Thomas, Mr. Vigliotti, and Mrs. Walsh held their first town hall meeting. Each month they are planning to recognize and celebrate their students that have embodied the principles of the 3C’s. They have focused on a specific character trait and chosen a famous quote that pertains to that trait.

During today’s meeting, they recognized Blue Team students that have best represented each of the month’s character traits. The teachers spotlighted the fact that their charter underscores how they want to feel while they are at school-happy, included, respected, safe and accepted. This approach allows them to reinforce positive behavior while at the same time connecting to the EI initiative by allowing students to receive recognition from their teachers and peers.

Welcome to Saxe!

This week, John Carrozza joined our staff as a Supervisory Aide. John is a graduate of Syracuse University where he earned a degree in Child and Family Studies and was a member of the 2008 National Championship lacrosse team. After graduation, he played professional lacrosse and coached at the high school and collegiate level. Most recently, John was the head lacrosse coach at St.Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkhill, New York. He also is an accomplished writer, having created the world’s first Lacrosse Comic Book Series “String Man”.

Around Saxe

Grade 5 Fun Run!