2020.11.6 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

November 6, 2020

Dear Saxe Family,

In true 2020 fashion, this week was filled with uncertainty and unanswered questions across the land. However, at Saxe we continued to celebrate all that we have to be grateful for as we close our first full quarter of in-person learning for the 2020-21 school year. And, to top it off, having 70* weather in November in Connecticut is a nice way to round out the week!

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Math, World Language, a special lunch thank to our awesome PTC, The Saxe Wall of Honor, a reminder from our Nurses, Dogs of Saxe, and more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

11/11 – Veteran’s Day; ½ Day – Professional Learning for Teachers

11/13 – Portal Opens for Q1 (Grades 6-8)

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” – Albert Einstein

“A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops.” –Henry Adams

“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” -J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan

“You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.”

– Emmet Fox

“Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” -Ralph Marston

Math

Students in Mr. Santoro’s Algebra class spent time studying compound inequalities. The class used these inequalities to represent different parking scenarios. Students worked in groups and collaborated to interpret different scenarios and identify the compound inequality that would best represent the situation. Students then used graphs and wrote inequalities to represent these scenarios.

Students in Mrs. Berry’s fifth-grade math class were practicing translating verbal expressions into numeric expressions. Each student had either a number or a symbol and when an expression was read, the necessary students went to the front to create a ‘human expression’. Students discussed how to determine the correct order of numerals and used their understanding of the order of operations to determine when parentheses were necessary.

Students in Mrs. Martin and her student teacher Mr. Angelo’s 8th grade Pre-Algebra class extended their knowledge of cylinders, cones and spheres by finding the volume of compound solids. We have been working on finding the exact and estimated volumes of singular 3D shapes and this was their first try at putting them all together!

Students in Dr. Paradise’s math class are working on developing their understanding of rational numbers. We have been using different applets to investigate how rational numbers work! These virtual manipulatives have been a great way to illustrate our thinking. We have also been working collaboratively with peers to build on our own thinking.

World Language

The students have been learning to form familiar commands and how to give directions in 8th-grade Spanish. As one culminating activity, the students shared their talents with classmates. Here you can see them delivering lessons on how to play various sports, how to cook family favorites, and we even heard an amazing rendition of Despacito on a viola!

PTC Staff Luncheon

A HUGE THANK YOU to the PTC for lunch on Wednesday! Faculty and Staff were so appreciative of the wonderful food – it really made their day!

(it was as delicious as it looks!)

Saxe Wall of Honor

November is a month during which we hope to honor causes that are important to the staff and students of Saxe Middle School. We asked them if they would like to honor someone special in their lives who is connected with an important cause in some way. Below, the Saxe Wall of Honor link that was created and shown during lunches and dismissal on Thursday and Friday.

Saxe Wall of Honor

Saxe Spirit

Check out this great Jack-o-Lantern that was on display in town last week. Great job!

From the Nurse’s Office:

This graphic highlights why a 14 day quarantine after exposure to a person who tests positive for Covid is necessary and why you cannot take a test to end the quarantine period early.