2021.4.23 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

April 23, 2021

Dear Saxe Family,

I hope your week has gone well and you look forward to a well-deserved weekend after an action packed week. This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at our Saxe Charter, Science, “Clean your Mile”, Shadow Man, Mandarin, Health Education, Virtual Daytime Open House, Saxe PTC General Meeting, Art and Student Leadership collaboration, “virtual” Saxe, the greenhouse (almost), outdoor learning, Saxe spiritwear, celebrating our Administrative Assistants, our resident raptors, Dogs of Saxe, and much more!

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend.

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

4/26: Virtual Daytime Open House: 8 Green (9:09am), 7 Green (11:38am), 6 Purple (12:28pm)

4/27: Virtual Daytime Open House: 8 Purple (9:09am), 7 Purple (11:38am), 6 Green (12:28pm)

4/28: 1/2 Day for students, Professional Learning for staff

*Quotes that resonated with us this week. Please note, our theme of “Included” reflects our bi-weekly Saxe Charter focus:

“Remember what it felt like to be excluded so that you can help build a community where everyone is included.” – Lisa Friedman

“At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include than included for who I exclude”. – Rev. Eston Williams

“Sometimes the greatest gift you can give another person is to simply include them” -Anonymous

“Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance.” -Verna Myers

“No matter how inclusive we are working towards being, we can always do more. We can always do better.” – Victoria N. McGovern

Science

6th-Grade Clean Your Mile

Members of the Red & Blue Team participated in New Canaan’s Clean Your Mile initiative. They cleaned around Connor Field and the property around the Lower Division at Saxe. As they safely picked up litter, students tallied the types of trash collected on data sheets. The Red Team STEM class will be analyzing the data to identify patterns and develop theories about how the patterns formed. In science, students will study the impact of the litter on the local ecosystem and attempt to problem solve the issue. This is a great example of thinking globally and acting locally!

Shadow man was back and helping students learn the different seasonal phases of shadows!

Mandarin

Grade 6 students produced conversations based on given props to show what they can do in the target language. They did a great job!

Health Education

6th graders completed their Self-Esteem/Mental health unit while enjoying some beautiful weather this week!

April Virtual Daytime Open House (Grade 6 – 8)

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.

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

Saxe April PTC Meeting

Did you miss the April Meeting with the PTC? Click the link below to view discussions about transitions, school safety, EI, and more. Thank you to all who joined on Wednesday and to anyone who watches using the link below!

Art and Student Leadership Team Collaboration

Great messaging and collaboration by our Art teachers and Student Leadership Team! Yes, we have all “grown” quite a bit over the last year..

Here are some action shots of the boards being created:

Virtual Saxe

Ms. Gagliano was “transported” to different parts of the world as she experimented with the Oculus goggles in the main lobby this morning. Another experiential opportunity brought to us by our great PTC!

It’s hard to see through the reflection, but others got to join in the journey on the laptop screen as well!

Saxe Greenhouse

Progress on the “soon to be “Saxe Greenhouse” (& some nice tree blossoms). Grateful for our maintenance team and the ever-present support of our Saxe PTC! We look forward to seeing this project grow, which will allow so much more to grow 🙂 Stay tuned for more…

Outdoor Learning

As the weather becomes more favorable, more classes are heading outside to take advantage of some of our wonderful outdoor learning spaces!

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!

Celebrating Our Administrative Assistants

Administrative Assistant Day was Wednesday and we celebrated our amazing crew of professionals at Saxe! We are grateful for Ms. Benware, Ms. Calandrelli, Ms. Campbell, Ms. Carmichael, Mr. Hensley, Ms. Jarosik, Ms. Randall, & Ms. Sherwood. Thank you for ALL that you do to help make Saxe special!