2019.10.18 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

October 18, 2019

Dear Saxe Family,

Celebrate Saxe has officially wrapped up and we could not be more pleased (or grateful) with the results! In addition to CS, this week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at World Language, Science, Connections, our grade-level Charters, Saxe Cafeteria, a “Saxe Flashback”, a mascot update, the latest 1-second everyday, and more.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

10/21: BOE Meeting

10/23: Grade 5/6 Walk to School Day (Rescheduled)

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

Celebrate Saxe

While the image below speaks for itself (goal, “reached”!), a huge THANK YOU! goes out to everyone who participated in making Celebrate Saxe such a huge success this year. In addition to the fundraising goal being reached, the goal of increased participation was also met! We are so fortunate to have such an involved community who cares so deeply about supporting our schools and the experiences that we are able to provide our students. A special thank you goes out to our Saxe PTC and the Celebrate Saxe dream team of parent volunteers!

As part of Celebrate Saxe, we were so lucky to have NCAA, Olympic, and World Champion athlete, Kristine Lilly, speak to our community. Her message went well beyond the realm of athletics and focused on some of the most important things in life: try your best, be a good person, and believe in yourself. Here is a quick video clip from the Celebrate Saxe wrap-up. Enjoy!

“When you choose to do something, choose to do something positive to make an impact on someone’s life. Don’t do something just to do it. Think about everything you do, what you do, and how it can affect someone else, because, everything you do does affect someone else… And, be yourselves. There is no one that can be you, so don’t try and be someone else…”

~ Kristine Lilly

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“A positive attitude will lead to positive outcomes.”

“Don’t look back. You’re not going that way.”

“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive, good things & good people will be drawn to you.”

“Don’t be upset with the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do.”

“The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday.”

Back again for this week – the latest, updated Saxe Middle School 1-Second Everyday! “Life is made of seconds.” Check out a few seconds from each day of 2019 (so far), showcasing so much of what makes Saxe Middle School great. This is a recurring, bi-weekly feature. At the end of the year, we will have a full version that includes every single day of the 2019-20 school year. Enjoy!

Pro tip: want to enjoy it more? Set your youtube playback setting to play at .75 speed

World Language: Mandarin

Students in Grade 6 Mandarin have been learning the stroke orders of writing Chinese characters. We cannot emphasize more strongly how important is to know stroke order when learning Mandarin. To make it more fun, students use their body parts to learn stroke order. Then, learning to write Chinese characters leads students to learn this body part song since students have the knowledge of body parts vocabulary. Come check it out their amazing voice in Mandarin!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UUbz-DoksWtPGB9Byhz3r7kladTAWRcK/view?usp=sharing

Last week, Grade 7 learned about food. Most people in Asia use chopsticks to eat meals. At one of the learning stations, students had the experienced of using chopsticks to pick up beans. We also had a leaderboard to see who was the master of chopsticks! Students try to pick up as many beans as they can in two minutes. So far our record is held by Olivia Encinger at 76 beans! Congratulations!

Students in Grade 7 period 1 created flashcards to help them study new vocabulary. Each student created a personalized set tailored to his/her own needs. While most of the students utilized Google Slides to create electronic versions of the flashcards, some students opted to do it the trusted old-fashioned way – using paper and pencil, decorated with whimsical drawings!

Grade Six period 2 students practiced “WuShu” (the Chinese martial arts) to foster self-confidence and calmness. (Do we see one or two Bruce Lee’s in the making?)

7th-grade science:

This week students wrapped up the Magic Matter Phenomenon. Students learned various topics to help explain this phenomenon such as atoms, compounds, chemical bonding, and phase changes. At the culmination of this unit students were able to explain and answer the Magic Matter Guiding question: Why did the liquid behave the way it did? They then took all their knowledge and used it to create the final model.

INLINE_DRAWING: InlineDrawing

Final Models: Students working on creating their final model.

Saxe Connections

Saxe Connections classes met again this week for the 2nd of ten 25 minute classes. The focus was on how we can better live our “Charters,” or agreements about how we all want to feel at Saxe. Here are some photos from Sarah Beltran’s (7/8 grade counselor) group.

Following Connections, students had an opportunity to sign their “Class Charter” during lunch.

Saxe Cafeteria

Features of the week: Everyone’s favorite, tacos, and a nice selection of pasta and salade! Thanks to our wonderful cafeteria staff and the care they put into providing such great options for our students and staff.

Schools Supporting Each Other

Be sure to check out the upcoming NCHS Theatre show, “Shrek the Musical Jr.”!

Flashback Friday

Thanks to Ms. Duncan for finding and sharing this amazing photo of Donkey Basketball taking place on the floor of the “Saxe Junior High” Gymnasium! Circa, 1971…

Saxe Mascot Update

The Mascot Sub-Committee met this week to discuss results from the recent survey. Not surprisingly, it was a close race. What was surprising is how close it was! At the end of the official voting, there was a difference of 2 votes (who says your vote doesn’t count?). A few more votes trickled in, but we now have a clearer picture as to what the majority of our community feels should be our official mascot. Stay tuned for the big reveal in the coming weeks…