2019.11.8 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

November 8, 2019

Dear Saxe Family,

This week we take a look ahead to Veterans Day and a look back at Math, English Language Arts, Art, building Community through our 5 C’s, our wonderfully supportive Saxe PTC, and more…

Enjoy and have a great weekend,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

11/11: Veterans Day

11/15: Lifetouch Photo Retake Day/Saxe Frozen Jr. Musical (7:00 pm)

11/16: Saxe Frozen Jr. Musical

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

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desire to reach their potential.”

“You can do anything…………but not everything.”

“If you’re helping someone and expecting something in return you’re doing business, not kindness.”

“The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”

Around Saxe

The Saxe PTC graciously hosted a luncheon for staff members on Tuesday, November 5th for their Professional Development day. While there was tremendous professional learning taking place across all disciplines around the building, our wonderful Saxe PTC was setting up a terrific lunch for our staff to enjoy. As you can see from the pictures, it was an amazing array of foods both catered and homemade by the parents. Thanks to all the parent volunteers who helped make everyone’s day! You are, and help make us all feel, appreciated!

Veterans Day

Saxe Middle School students will participate in the Twelfth Annual Veterans Appreciation Day. Veterans will be speaking to students throughout the day. Grade five and six students will meet in smaller venues to hear veterans share their stories. Whereas, grade seven students will hear Police Chief Leon Krolikowski, who served as a member of an infantry company from 1987-1995, speak in an assembly style format in the Saxe auditorium. He served in Operation Desert Shield/Storm and his unit was one of the first units to enter Kuwait City. NCPD Officer Matthew Blank, who serves in the Connecticut National Guard and holds the rank of Sergeant will be speaking to eighth-graders. Furthermore, veterans will be honored by the music department as a team of students will be performing a welcoming medley of patriotic songs.

All Saxe students will be able to make thank you cards that will be delivered to the West Haven Veterans Hospital and the New Canaan Veteran Homebound Human Services Division. Students will serve as escorts for the visiting veterans. This Veterans Day at Saxe Middle will be a day to remember because all of the students will have an opportunity to hear history first hand from our visiting veterans. This is a day for the Saxe Learning Community to take the time to honor those heroes who have sacrificed so much for the United States.

In honor of our visiting Veterans, we would like to encourage all students and staff to wear Red, White, and Blue on Monday. We look forward to welcoming our guests for Veterans Day.

Art Department

New Canaan’s Art Department is proud to announce its 2nd Annual Student Art Show at Upper Crust Bagel Company (UCBC) at 11 South Ave. in town. The work is on display from November 5th through mid-January 2020. Come and see how our students find their personal voices through creating, producing, responding, and connecting to visual art.”

English Language Arts

Our ELA classrooms are ALIVE with independent readers! Students in 5-8th grade are reading texts independently, in partnerships or in book clubs, and they are “holding their thinking” and “making thinking visible” through sticky notes, character maps, charts, and visual representations. Students are asking deep questions to think about symbolism, characters, dystopian worlds, and power through the author’s craft and theme. Ask your child what they are reading, who they are reading with, and what they are loving about their books! Enjoy the pictures below showing our students actively engaged in the independent reading and thinking here at Saxe!

Math

Math After School Club: The Fairfield County Math League, run by Mrs. Graham and Ms. Link, meets weekly and hosts students in Grades 5-8. Students work collaboratively to share a variety of strategies for solving challenging math problems. They are currently preparing for their first competition later in November. We look forward to great things for the team this year! New team members are always welcome. Information about the math team is available in all math classrooms and on the math team bulletin board, in the hallway leading to the cafeteria.

In 8th-grade math classes, students worked on an activity using technology to practice the work they have been doing in class. The students in pre-algebra worked on volume and angle pair relationships. In algebra, the students practiced work with functions and function notation. Students in geometry practiced work with three-dimensional figures and angle pair relationships.

7th-grade students in Pre-Algebra were applying their knowledge of translations, reflections, rotations, and dilations to create emojis! Inspiring students to see math can be used everywhere.

Respect & Safety Lunch

Students raised awareness at lunch this week on “How do they feel Safe and Respected?” & “How do they make others feel Safe and Respected?” at Saxe. Connecting our grade level charters and 5 C’s in partnership with the New Canaan Youth and Family Services, New Canaan CARES, and school guidance counselors is a winning combination.

November: A Month of Causes

In the spirit of living our “Cs”, Saxe staff are participating in a “Month of Awareness” for causes that important to members of our Saxe community. Please feel free to check out more about it, here, and stay tuned for updates as we go through No Shave/”Mo”vember.

In addition to the month-long event, we welcome you to join in recognizing November 14th as World Diabetes Day. We have several students, and some staff, who have Type 1 (T1D) or Type II Diabetes, many of whom will be wearing blue to show support for each other and spread awareness about this challenging disease.