2022.6.3 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

June 3, 2022

Dear Saxe Family,

Happy June! We are in full swing with events that celebrate the remaining days of the school year. Continued learning, culminating activities, celebrations of success, acts of caring, and all while having fun!

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Math, outdoor learning, Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, some soccer champs, Choral concerts, STEM, tours welcoming our incoming Saxe Class of 2026, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

6/6 – Grade 6 Fun Day @ 1:15 pm

6/7 – Grade 7 Camp Kiwi Trip, Grade 5 Field Day @ 1:15 pm

6/8 – Grade 7/8 Saxe Band Concert @ 7:00 pm

6/9 – Grade 8 Brownstone Trip, Grade 5/6 Band Concert at 7:00 pm

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” – Helen Keller

“We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.” – George Takei

“No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.” -Alice Walker

Mathematics

Students in Ms. Hubbard’s 5th grade math classes enjoy collaborating with their peers. They are working on ratio and unit rate story problems using multiple strategies. They are also using Desmos to construct expressions with numbers to determine the number of tiles that border a pool. They will use this investigation to help them write variable expressions.

Students in Mrs. Pelatowski’s 8th grade Geometry class are using technology to discover properties of circles. They learned concepts of a central angle and inscribed angle to see how these measurements compare to the length of the arc.

Important Dates for 8th-Grade

6 Blue “Outdoor” Learning

6 Blue Team is in the midst of a unit on Globalization, and have been talking about global economic interdependence. Junior Scholastic had an article recently about disruption in supply chains, which brought their discussion very close to home. Even if it is just reaching for a common item at the local grocery store, only to find the shelf empty, many members of each class had a story to tell.

Odyssey of the Mind Worlds Final

The SAXE 5th grade team has a lot to celebrate after their first Odyssey of the Mind Worlds Competition. The team placed 5th and were one of only 2 teams from Connecticut to win a placement. Teams from all over the United States, Poland, South Korea and Switzerland traveled this year to the Worlds Final in Ames, Iowa for a challenging competition.

Fifth graders Aarna Prakash, Anaya Ansh, Anushka Dave and Warren Chek used their creativity and innovation to solve a complicated problem and present it. The team worked hard to modify their solution and presentation when they found out 3 of their teammates could not travel. All their hard work paid off!

5th Grade Travel Soccer Team

The Fifth Grade girls Red soccer team attended a tournament in Fishkill NY Memorial Day weekend where they played 3 games and came out as Champions. They scored a total of 19 goals and allowed 2. They are an amazing group who have been having a terrific year.

Tweet Street

Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe middle school Twitter page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!

What lifts you up?! Our 8th-graders shared where their wings will take them in the future!

Mr. Leckie kicks off the 7/8 Choral Concert with a hugely warm welcome & much excitement about holding a concert in person for the first time in a long time! Best wishes to all involved! Great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner to kick off the 7/8 Choral Concert! (click to view)

What does the transition from 100+ 7th-graders to 100+ 8th-graders look like during a Saxe Choral Concert? Efficiency at its finest! :11, not bad! (click to view)

Wow! Seeing the Saxe 7th & 8th graders sing together is amazing! That is A LOT of students performing at one time & they sound great!

Chorus performing “Give Us Hope”. Mr. Leckie announced that 5th & 6th graders will be performing this in their concert as well and invited them up to sing with the 7th & 8th-graders. Very cool & such a special moment! Congrats to all!

Lots of spirit during the Saxe rendition of “Give Us Hope”(click to view). Great message and wonderful performance! Congrats to Mr. Leckie and all of his students!

Thank you to our incredible Access students for the birthday treat and sweet note!

Sneak peak: Our 5/6 Grade students sound incredible as they prepare for their concert! Ms. Sagerstrand leading the group with a great song to culminate the year!

Great start to the 5/6 Choral Concert this evening with a wonderful rendition of the Star Spangled Banner! (click to view) Best wishes to all!

Packed house for the 5/6 Choral Concert!

5th-graders rocking it with a little “All Star” by Greg Camp! Our 5th graders are true All Stars! (click to view)

Cool way to transition from 5th to 6th grade during the Choral Concert – crowd participation with a little Kahoot action! (click to view)

Lots of nostalgic parents at the Choral Concert while our 6th-graders sang Survivor’s, “Eye of the Tiger”! (click to view)

Wonderful, uplifting performance of “Give Us Hope” (click to view) by our 5th & 6th-graders to close out the Choral Concert. Great job and congrats to all!

5th-grade tour guides preparing to welcome our newest students as our current 4th-graders prepare to visit this week. Thanks for being great ambassadors for the incoming Saxe class!

Some more Saxe STEM creations coming out of Ms. Birdsall’s room! Nice work…

Some more #SaxeSTEM action in @VivianBirdsall’s class. A group project being creatively shared!

Saxe Welcomes the Class of 2026

@SarahGranite preps her team of @SaxeMS Tour Guides as we get ready to welcome our newest students in from @EastSchoolNC @WestSchoolNC & @South_School!

Our army of @SaxeMS Tour Guides report to duty to welcome our newest students in from @EastSchoolNC @WestSchoolNC & @South_School! They are so proud to show off their school and we are grateful for them!

@SaxeMS Tour Guides lead the way as we welcome our newest students in from @EastSchoolNC @WestSchoolNC & @South_School! They are so proud to show off their school and we are grateful for them!