2021.1.22 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

January 22, 2021

Dear Saxe Family,

It was another productive week at Saxe Middle School. Each day is a gift and we are grateful for the opportunities that come with being able to interact, teach, learn, grow, socialize, and more while we are in school, in person. The pandemic has taught each of us quite a bit about perspective. Day to day events that may have been taken for granted before, are now recognized as being an important part of our lives. I am continually reminded of this as I see our learning community in action and could not be more proud of our students and staff for their flexibility, adaptability, and perseverance.

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Virtual Daytime Open House, World Language, EI at Saxe, some canvas prints, positive quotes, student community service, Saxe clubs, Spirit Day, random facts, some seasonal weather, Dogs of Saxe, and more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

1/25: Virtual Daytime Open House (8Red, 7Purple, 6Purple); NCPS BOE Meeting – 7:00 pm

1/26: Daytime Open House (8Green, 7Blue, 6Green)

1/27: 1/2 Day for students; Professional Learning for staff

2/1: Daytime Open House (8Blue, 7Green, 6Blue)

2/2: Daytime Open House (8Purple, 7Red, 6Red)

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” – Stephen Hawking

“Happiness is not about getting all you want, it is about enjoying all you have.” – Anonymous

“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

– Jane Goodall

Grade 6-8 Virtual Daytime Open House

Save the date/time! Grade 6, 7, 8 parents, you are invited to attend a Virtual Daytime Open House during the week of January 25th – February 2nd, 2021. The schedule below depicts the specific day, date, and time for each respective grade/team. Grade 6-8 teams will host their entire program in one single zoom session, respectively. You will be able to access the team “classroom” by using the link embedded in the schedule that will be sent out on the morning of the scheduled meeting.

Teachers will review team progress made thus far in regards to meeting local and state curriculum standards, address initiatives that have promoted an emotionally and physically safe learning environment, provide updates as they relate to how our operations have “covid-evolved”, and offer an academic introduction to the 3rd marking period.

If you have any further questions regarding our parent communication program, please feel free to contact your grade-level administrator.

*Please note: these links are not live. Live links will be sent out the morning of the each meeting.

Dressing up our Offices

Thanks to our PTC, we were able to get some great canvas prints to hang in our lobby, Main, Upper Division, Lower Division offices, and in other parts of the building. They turned out great and will add to the spirited feel of our building. Thank you to all who contributed!

World Languages

Grade 7 Linkin Wong drew these mysterious Chinese creatures to share with his classmates. The pictures are phoenix, dragon, and fire phoenix accordingly.

Spanish

Our 7th Grade Spanish students have begun a restaurant unit. This week, the students created original menus, including vocabulary and pricing that we have studied. The students then broke out into groups via Zoom and practiced their speaking and writing skills with classmates in class as well as at home. ¡Buen provecho!

EI at Saxe

Our Emotional Intelligence work continues as our Charter words are printed out and ready to be deployed to each classroom. This year, with almost 1,000 submissions, our students chose words that they would like to feel while they are here at Saxe. They are: Comfortable, Happy, Included, Respected, and Safe. Great choices! Stay tuned for more information on how these words are applied in school and what they mean to our students.

Saxe Spirit

Student Leadership Team (#SaxeSLT) “dressing up” the cafe/LD lobbies with some seasonal snowflakes. It’s like they knew it was going to snow today!

Saxe is a fairly large middle school. While we can’t see everything that goes on around the building each day, the signs of our positive #SaxeCommunity are all over. Enjoy (I know I enjoyed reading each one)! #SaxeCares #BeKind

Grade 5 Positivity

Here is the story behind the signs: During a Workshop period one day, Ms. Anderson gave each of her students a piece of paper and told them their job was to create an inspiring poster to be displayed at Saxe. She gave some examples of inspiring quotes they could use or allowed them to use ones they already knew and loved. fter that, it was up to them to be creative with markers and colored pencils. They inspired her students when they made them and she hopes they continue to inspire students and teachers when they walk by and read them. She said they definitely inspire her!

Here is another example of some wonderful messaging on display at Saxe…

And, some amazing quotes on Ms. Adrian’s door. Great job by her students!

Student Community Service

We could not be more proud of this group of Saxe students who spent part of their long weekend caring for our #SaxeCommunity! In a little more than an hour, they collected over 40 lbs of trash (masks, chip bags, bottles, bottle caps, & lots of pencils). Thank you! #SaxeCares

Saxe Clubs

Mr. Hearty and some of his students enjoy a rich conversation in this session of the Mythology Club!

Spirit Day

“After celebrating Saxe for being a comfortable place with Pajama Day, we wanted individuals to put on display any commitments they might have to playing and/or watching sports! The goal was for students and staff to rock out whatever extra-curricular activities make them happy on Friday, 1/22 for SPORTS DAY!” Students and staff were also invited to Zoom in for a live, grade-wide Sports Trivia Kahoot game during available times. There was a great turnout and fun had by many today!

I saw many students representing my favorite team and caught up with a few for a quick photo-op. It was a fun (sort of) season to watch – maybe next year… 🙂

Our SRO, Officer Deak, never misses an opportunity to join in the spirit!

Random Facts

Wednesday kicked off ten straight days of “palindrome days”…

Around Saxe

Wednesday brought that winter feeling back with a little bit of snow to start the day…

Unified Arts and Special Areas classes may look a little (or, a lot) different, but we are proud of our students and staff for their adaptability!

Dogs of Saxe

The colder weather has kept the car windows rolled up, but we still catch some of our four-legged friends at arrival and dismissal patiently waiting for their middle school aged humans! Thanks to everyone who brings their dogs through and shares their joy with us at Saxe.