2021.4.16 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

April 16 2021

Dear Saxe Family,

It has been an eventful, productive week as we returned from our April break. As we prepare to head “down the stretch” from April to June, it is my hope that your break was filled with relaxation, enjoyment, and some time to spend with those that you care most about. The school year will continue to move quickly as the weather warms up, but we have much to look forward to each week!

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at celebrations within our community, Saxe Geography Bee, World Language choices, Mandarin, Virtual Daytime Open Houses, Library, Saxe spiritwear, a safety and wellness reminder, emotional intelligence, Science, EI in action, Saxe PTC General Meeting, Saxe Hawks (real ones), Dogs of Saxe, some spring scenes around Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

4/19: Virtual Daytime Open House: 8 Blue (9:09 am), 7 Red (11:38 am), 6 Blue (12:28 pm)

4/20: Virtual Daytime Open House: 8 Red (9:09 am), 7 Blue (11:38 am), 6 Red (12:28 pm)

4/21: 1/2 Day for students, Professional Learning for staff; Virtual PTC Meeting (9:30 am)

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Safety brings first aid to the uninjured.” – F.S. Hughes

“Safety isn’t expensive. It is priceless.” – Author Unknown

“The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don’t give up.” -Robert Tew

“Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging.” – Joseph Campbell

Life isn’t easy. All your life you have to strive to make yourself better. It’s a full-time commitment. To be your best, you have to work your hardest. – Anonymous

Celebrating our Community

We may have been on break last week, but we have some members of our learning community who deserve to be celebrated! Thanks to our library staff, Ms. Biondi, Ms. Herron, Mr. Hensley, & Ms. Randall for all you have done to transform the library during this past year. Our students have benefited from your commitment!

Also, I am beyond grateful for our awesome Assistant Principals. They are leaders who build and foster positive culture and make a huge difference in the lives of our students (and, staff)! Thank you, Mr. Bedard, Dr. Clapp, and Dr. Ferreira for all that you do for our Saxe Community!

Geography Bee Comes to Saxe

The Geography Bee Preliminary Test will be on Tuesday, May 4th at 2021 at 4:00pm via Zoom. **You MUST sign-up BEFORE April 26, 2021! In order to be eligible to take the Preliminary Test**. All Saxe students in grades (5-8), in-person and remote, are encouraged to participate! Top 10 scorers will be invited to the 2021 Saxe Geo Bee Finals! Test your knowledge of world cultures, regions, climates, governments, politics, & economies against your friends. See your team’s Social Studies or Challenge Teacher to Sign Up!

Mandarin

Grade 6 volunteered to perform a Chinese song called “ What’s your nationality? ” Check it out!

World Language Choices for Grade 5 to 6 Students

The New Canaan Public Schools offers a choice of language study beginning in grade 6. Students are given an opportunity to continue their study of Spanish or begin to learn French, Mandarin or Latin. Since proficiency is the goal, the same language MUST BE studied in grades 6, 7 and 8. Please indicate your first choice. We do our best to adhere to your child’s first choice but at times, due to enrollment, we must defer to a second choice. If this happens, we will contact you directly. If you have any questions, please contact me directly: Lizette D’Amico the K-12 World Language and English Language Learner Administrator at the email below: lizette.damico@ncps-k12.org

Please log into the PowerSchool Portal and click on the ecollect form on the left hand side to complete the Entering Grade 6 World Language Form on or before April 23, 2021. Thank you. (Gratias !! Merci !! Gracias !! 谢谢 !!)

Grade 6 – 8 Virtual Daytime Open House – April

Reminder for Saxe Grade 6-8 Parents/Guardians:
You are invited to attend a Virtual Daytime Open House during the week of April 19th – 27th. The schedule below depicts the specific day, date, and time for each respective grade/team. Similar to the January/February Virtual Open House, grade 6-8 teams will host their entire program in one single zoom session, respectively. You may access the team “classroom” by using the link that will be shared on the morning of the scheduled session.

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 any “covid-related” updates as they relate to our continued response and evolution this year, and offer an academic introduction to the 4th marking period.

4/19 Monday	4/20 Tuesday	4/26 Monday	4/27 Tuesday
9:09 amG8: Blue Team	9:09 amG8: Red Team	9:09 amG8: Green Team	9:09 am G8: Purple Team
11:38 amG7: Red Team	11:38 amG7: Blue Team	11:38 amG7: Green Team	11:38 amG7: Purple Team
12:28 pmG6: Blue Team	12:28 pmG6: Red Team	12:28 pmG6: Purple Team	12:28 pmG6: Green Team

PTC Grants Saxe Library New Playaways~Digital Audio Books in Your Pocket

Students at the Saxe Library love to check out our collection of digital audio books on the go called Playaways. These portable, pre-loaded audiobooks allow students to listen anywhere on the go. Thanks to the Saxe PTC, the library now has 19 new titles with multiple copies for student circulation. When matched with the same print book, Playaways can be a fun and effective way to boost vocabulary, comprehension, reading speed and retention. Thank you PTC! Please see our new granted library Playaway collection HERE.

Saxe Spirit

Saxe Spiritwear is available for Order until Sunday, April 25th! Check out the cool new offerings. You can use the Saxe Spiritwear website link to view and order. Let’s see that Saxe Hawks spirit!

Safety and Wellness Reminder

In order for us to maintain the safest environment possible for every member of our learning community, please remember the following:

if you have a Covid test pending because of travel, or because of not feeling well, please stay home until after you have the test results.

For a more comprehensive list of updates, trends, and guidance, please visit our NCPS Charting our Course Forward website. Following our safety guidelines and protocols has allowed us to continuously operate for the majority of this school year and we feel grateful to be able to continue operating in this manner. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our School Nurses:

Lower Division: Ms. Joelle Graham
Upper Division: Ms. Sara Paine

This team effort is important to every person who walks through our doors each day and we appreciate the role that each of you plays in this collective effort!

EI at Saxe

Next week is the second in a series of five bi-weekly themed celebrations of our school charter, focusing on being “Included”. Earlier this year all students helped to create our school-wide charter and told us they wanted to feel Comfortable, Happy, Included, Respected, and Safe. In recognition of these feelings and our ongoing meaningful emotional intelligence work, we are embedding these words into lessons, presentations, announcements, quotes of the day, and occasional spirit days. Digital badges, like the ones below, have also been designed for teachers to distribute and raise awareness.

Science

Students in grade 6 Science are creating aquatic ecosystems and learning water testing. Below are some students participating as well as zooming in with their remote partners to include them in the fun!

Around Saxe

A look at Ms. Margiotta’s “Progressive Bulletin Board” outside of her classroom. Postings represent relatable items, happenings around Saxe, or anything that may come up in class. A special thanks to Ms. Sherwood for her assistance with it as well!

It’s great when parents let us know, “it’s their birthday!” at dropoff and every once in a while, we get to snap a pic. Hope it was a great birthday, Jack-Oliver!

Bee Your Best Self!

Some wise words from our Saxe students on how they can “Bee” their best selves! Thanks to the 8Red team for showcasing these important reminders…

Saxe General PTC Meeting: April 21, 9:30 AM

Please join the upcoming Saxe PTC General Meeting to hear updates on school safety, grade-level transitions, the latest and greatest about social and emotional intelligence in our schools, and more.

(zoom link will be sent on Wednesday morning via email)

Saxe Hawks

This week was one of the most “hawk-filled” weeks, ever. Below are a few pictures that were captured by various staff members and show one of our resident raptors proudly showing why we are, THE Saxe Hawks!

Photo credit: Ms. Veach

Photo credit: Mr. Bedard

Photo credit: Ms. Berry

Photo credit: Ms. Chard

Dogs of Saxe

Roxy made sure her humans got safely to school on Wednesday…

Scenes Around Saxe

It may not feel like it today, but spring is trying to take hold! Below are a couple of shots from around our campus this week (and, from a fun sign on East Ave)…