September 2, 2022
Dear Saxe Family,
We have much to celebrate this week! Starting the 2022-23 school year with a full five straight days right out of the gate, while adjusting to new bus routes, schedules, and start times, was a true test. Fortunately, all of the careful planning, collaboration, and teamwork resulted in a great week. Our campus and building look great, our staff were eager to welcome their new students back, and our focus on establishing positive relationships and making meaningful connections was a recipe for success. Thank you to each of you, as members of our learning community, who help make Saxe Middle School the special place that it is.
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the kickoff to the 2022-23 school year, our Saxe PTC, our newest members of the Saxe Family, grade-level meetings, Math, Theatre, The Dome project, Community Events, getting connected, campus cleanup, dogs of Saxe, and so much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
9/6 10-11:15 am Gr. 5 Parent Coffee – NC Historical Society
9/9 9:30-11 am New to NC/Saxe Parent Coffee: NC Historical Society
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change.” – Taylor Swift
“Work hard, Be Kind and amazing things will happen.” – Conan O’Brien
“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.”
– Leo Burnett
“The difference between try and triumph is a little umph.” ― Marvin Phillips
“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” ― Albert Einstein
Saxe PTC
A special “thank you!” goes out to our one and only Saxe PTC. In addition to providing amazing experiences for our students, our PTC supports every aspect of our learning community. To find out more, or to join, please check out the PTC website. Also, stay current by following along on Instagram: @SaxePTC
Happy Labor Day
Welcome Back
Thanks for a great start to the 2022-23 school year! Here’s a look at the brief video following our first day back:
This year, as part of our warm welcome back, Saxe staff were treated to a “utility pack” that contained some Saxe goods! Some random packs even got a little pick-me-up treat from Starbucks or Dunkin’ (thanks again for the support, PTC!).
New Saxe Staff Members
Please help us welcome our New Saxe Staff!
Grade Level Meetings
This week, we welcomed our students back for the 2022-23 school year with grade-level meetings. It was nice to be back together with each class, respectively, in our beautiful auditorium. It was a nice opportunity to revisit some of the rules and expectations that help make our school safe, reinforce our Charter words, connect with one another, & discuss being our best selves. You are welcome to check out a sample of the slides from our 6th-grade meeting, here.
Mathematics
Grade 8 students started the year off with some team building and problem-solving.
Grade 7 students are enjoying working collaboratively while exploring positive and negative rational numbers.
Grade 6 students started the year off by exploring and having great discussions about rational numbers.
Grade 5 students are excited for math class this year!
Saxe Theatre
We are excited to announce our 5th and 6th Grade Musical, Madagascar, A Musical Adventure JR! Performance dates are November 11th and 12th.
Our audition Prep Sessions are Tuesday and/or Wednesday September 6th and 7th (3:45 – 5:30pm) and Auditions are Thursday or Friday, September 8th and 9th. Each student interested in being in the cast will need to sign up for a 30 minute time slot on one of the audition days. Students interested in Stage Crew will need to fill out the crew registration form. Please Click HERE to check out the Show Website, Register for auditions and listen to the music!
Supporting a Community Cause
If you have not heard about “The Dome” project at NCHS, which will benefit our students districtwide, be sure to check it out!
Community Events
September 14: Free Range Kids
Saxe Middle School Auditorium at 7:00 PM
with Lenore Skenazy
After her newspaper column “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone” landed her on NPR, Fox News, and everywhere in between, Lenore wrote Free-Range Kids, the book-turned-movement. She has been profiled in The New Yorker, hosted the reality show “World’s Worst Mom,” and has lectured everywhere from Disney to Microsoft to schools across the country.
She will join us in New Canaan to share, through her unique lens, why and how we can let our kids go and help them grow.
You can learn more about Lenore here
Tweet Street
Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe middle school Twitter page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
The first buses of the 2022-23 school year rolled in this morning as we welcomed back our entire learning community! It was a wonderful launch and so nice to see our students back in the building! #WeAreSaxe
#SaxeSRO & AP Sarah Granite “bringing it!” To kickoff the 2022-23 school year!
Nice to see Saxe students and teachers, get right back into the rhythm by getting to know each a little better! #SaxeConnects #WeAreSaxe
5th-graders heading into the building after meeting with their teachers/classes on the courts this morning. Great start to the 2022-23 school year!
Thanks to @NewCanaanDPW for the terrific job on the front walkway at Saxe! Students were loving it…
It was a gorgeous morning to welcome our Saxe students back for the 2022-23 school year! And, a very special “thank you” to Ms. Jordan for helping beautify our campus. The flower pots look amazing!
Lots of signs of a “warm welcome” to our Saxe students this morning! Everyone is genuinely excited to have our students back…
Our Saxe students were welcomed back to a nice, clean building with many upgrades over the summer. Thanks to our custodian and maintenance teams for their work!
Some of our first arrivals at Saxe this morning as we kicked off the 2022-23 school year! Welcome back, everyone! #SaxeHawks #WeAreSaxe
“Good things are going to happen today…”. We believe this, everyday, at Saxe – welcome back to everyone for the 2022-23 school year!
One of my favs from today! Tshirts of Saxe!
These “signs on a stick” were great to see as our new Saxe 5th-grade students navigated the building with their teachers – very creative!
A quick view of G6 lunch and recess on the first day of school. Great start to the new school year…
Nice to see some of our classes taking advantage of being outside already!
What does it look like when approx 350 Saxe 6th-graders head to lunch for the first time? Very neat and orderly! Nice work!
Making connections with some students who have “like interests”! 🙂
We were blessed with perfect weather this week to kickoff the 2022-23 school year! 5th-graders took advantage and began each day meeting on the blacktop before heading into class.
Welcoming our students back for the 2022-23 school year with grade-level meetings. Nice to be back together with each class, respectively, in our beautiful auditorium. Reinforcing our Charter words, connecting with one another, & being our best selves!
Mr. Gusitsch kicking off the first grade 6 student assembly at Saxe with important messages around feeling connected, being our best self, and being kind.
Our fifth graders cleaning up the playground all on their own!
Dogs of Saxe
There was a good showing of 4-legged friends dropping their humans off for the first day of school at Saxe!
Dogs of Saxe were out in packs as they wished their humans well for their first week of school at Saxe!
Have a great week, see you next Friday!
Thank you to all of our Saxe Weekly contributors! Each weekly edition is an example of collaboration in action. A special thanks to Lauren Sherwood for the continuous stream of positive, optimistic quotes!
Saxe Resources (live links)
Website: https://www.ncps-k12.org/saxe
The Saxe weekly 