2022.10.14 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

October 14, 2022

Dear Saxe Family,

What a glorious fall week! The leaves are starting to change, the views around our campus (and, town) are beautiful, and we have much to be grateful for at Saxe Middle School. This week in the Saxe Weekly, you can get a glimpse of what our students experience on a daily basis as we take a look at Celebrate Saxe, the latest 1 Second Everyday, Hawks Talk podcast is back, Science, outdoor learning, CT Kid Governor, STEM, Latin, Fun Friday fractions, connections, new staff members, seasonal crafting club, Start with Hello, emotional intelligence, “digital wellness”, NC CARES, yearbook, ADHD awareness, Cele Saxe artwork, robotics, fall scenes, scheduling, SaxeBucks, The NCHS Courant, NCHS band, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

10/17 – Celebrate Saxe Speaker: Dr. Lanza, Planetary Scientist! – Upper Division Presentation

10/18 – Celebrate Saxe Speaker: Dr. Lanza, Planetary Scientist! – Lower Division Presentation

10/21 – Celebrate Saxe culmination!

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Walt Disney

“Every day has the potential to be the greatest day of your life.” – Lin-Manuel Miranda

“If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” – Dolly Parton

“I do know one thing about me: I don’t measure myself by others’ expectations or let others define my worth.” – Sonia Sotomayor

“Not everything will go the way you want… When this happens, you can pause, take a few deep breaths, and practice listening with your heart.” -Gabi Garcia

One Second Everyday

Back again for this week – the latest Saxe Middle School 1-Second Everyday! “Life is made of seconds.” Showcasing so much of what makes Saxe Middle School great! This will be a recurring, bi-weekly feature. At the end of the year, we will have a full version that includes every single day of the 2022-23 school year. Enjoy! (pro tip: to enjoy the video at a slower pace, change your viewing option to .75 speed).

Celebrate Saxe!

We are grateful for our Saxe PTC, volunteers, and each parent and/or family member who participates in the annual Celebrate Saxe campaign! Celebrate Saxe is in full swing and you can add to the “participation rate” for your child’s grade-level by clicking, here. No amount is too small, and every penny is appreciated and makes a difference!

Hawks Talk Podcast

Click the link above to listen in to the first Episode of the 2022-23 school year with PTC Co-President Elizabeth DeMuth. We discuss Celebrate Saxe, being Connected, and her thoughts on Innovation.

Science

This week, 6th grade Science tackled the Topple Time labs where students examine different variables and how they affect Energy. Purple Team students took the initiative to design their own topple time tracks.

The 6th Grade Purple Team wanted to spice up the way we are able to show our thinking and provide more choice. These wonderfully drawn models show us some comparison between different types of models and different distances (It’s chalk)

Students on 8 Red were able to take advantage of one of our new outdoor learning spaces and got to enjoy the gorgeous Fall weather. Students were learning about how genes determine our traits. Groups were testing how different types of locomotion, color vision, and finger dexterity impacted their ability to collect food (beads). Being outdoors allowed students to make connections about how different environments could lead to different traits being advantageous for survival.

Grade 5 Social Studies

Here are a few of our CT Kid Governor candidates reading their platforms before the Saxe primary. Thank you to Mr. P for filming. Platforms of our candidates ranged from making the environment healthier, endangered species awareness, protecting animals and cyberbullying prevention.

STEM

Mr. Chard’s 8th grade science classes continue their study of genetics through pollinating their fast plants. As they eagerly wait for their seed pods to form, students explore bean cotyledon. During STEM workshop, students are engaged in the design process using K’nex to develop prototypes.

Latin

Dies Lustricus (Roman Naming Day Ceremony) – Latin students had the opportunity to dress up as Romans, including wearing their individually made bulla (lucky locket). During the ceremony itself, students greeted each other by their chosen Latin names. This joyous occasion is one students remember for years to come!

6th grade students (Gradus VI):

Mrs. Hines Fun Friday with Fractions!

Making Connections

8 Red Team and Green Teams connect with their students!

New Staff Members

Welcome to the newest additions to our Saxe Family! Learn a little more about Mr. DiGregorio and Ms. Avergun, below.

Name: Chris DiGregorio

Position: 7th Grade Social Studies

College(s) attended: SUNY New Paltz

(Undergraduate), Mercy College (Graduate)

Hometown: Somers, New York

Hobbies: Playing drums and guitar, going to concerts and spending

time with family and friends.

Other States you’ve lived in: NY

Favorite Genre of Music: Rock

Name: Julie Avergun

Position: Grade 6 Math

College(s) attended: Quinnipiac University

Hometown: Plymouth, MA

obbies: Golfing, Hiking and Traveling

Other States you’ve lived in: Massachusetts and New Jersey

Favorite Sports Team: New England Patriots

Favorite Genre of Music: Classic Rock

Seasonal Crafting Club

This week in Seasonal Crafting the fifth and sixth graders began designing a Halloween bulletin board for the Art wing. They will work on this project for the next two classes until the masterpiece is complete. Stay tuned for the final result!

Start With Hello

School Counselor, Sarah Beltran, works with a group of students on the “Start With Hello” program. Stay tuned for more information on this week of activities to promote connection, inclusion and empathy!

6th Grade students learn about how to prevent mean behavior and bullying as part of their Emotional Intelligence lessons.

“Digital Wellness”

We are all exposed to the draw of technology. There are teams of highly educated engineers and developers who work really hard to keep our eyeballs focused on the screens in front of us. The developing adolescent brain is especially susceptible to the lure of “likes”, “shares”, or any other mode of digital recognition. We are grateful to our community partners at New Canaan CARES who have compiled a brilliant list of available resources to help navigate these challenges (thank you!). Check them all out, here.

Saxe Yearbook Update

ADHD Awareness

October is ADHD Awareness Month! Check out the myths & facts about ADHD here.

Walk/Ride to School Day

We had a few more pics come through after the Saxe Weekly went out last week. It was a wonderful fall W2SD and we love seeing students/families continue to walk and ride each day!

Tweet Street

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

Lots of Saxe Spirit around today for the official kick off of the 2022 Celebrate Saxe campaign!

Thanks to our Saxe PTC for putting up some of the terrific Celebrate Saxe artwork today!

Our newest mat will welcome everyone who comes into Saxe through the south entrance!

Enjoyed seeing the EI lesson on Communication at Saxe today! Great participation while strengthening practical life skills.

Practicing effective communication during the EI lesson at Saxe today. The end results were pretty impressive!

Ms. Birdsall leading the Saxe EI lesson on communication – great lesson!

Enjoyed visiting Ms. Birdsall’s Saxe STEM class and seeing some neat robotic creations!

Great autumn view on the north side of our Saxe Campus!

Love seeing the Celebrate Saxe spirit around our building! Always an amazing time of year!

Between the Upper & Lower Divisions at Saxe, we had over 40 staff members join in the conversation on working towards the optimal middle school schedule. Grateful for the participation & great discussion!

Not quite there yet, but this tree in the Hawk’s Valley courtyard at Saxe will be in full autumn form, soon!

The Saxe Bucks crew was back out and about bringing smiles (&, coffee and muffins) to our staff today… Thanks again!

No, it’s not MacGyver, but Ms. Meyer came close as she helped make sure the Nasa TechRiseChallenge product is ready to be shipped!

Thanks to our Dean of Students, Mr. Adams, for putting together a nice Padlet resource bank for our staff to reference (or, contribute to…).

Thanks to our friends over at NCHS for dropping off the first edition of the NCHS Courant for our Saxe community to read and enjoy! They are available in the main office if you would like to grab a copy.

Love seeing our students taking advantage of this nice weather and riding to school!

We are grateful to have a dedicated parent take such great care in keeping our entrances looking welcoming, and, seasonal! (Thank you, Ms. J)!

Loved seeing some of our Saxe alum coming over from NCHS to practice with our band students in preparation for a collaboration at an upcoming football game!

More Celebrate Saxe signage went up today – thanks to our amazing Saxe PTC and all parent participants!

Grateful for the group who was in today to spruce up our new walkway leading up to Saxe!

Fun fact #1: two of them went to school in this building when it was the high school!

Fun fact #2: some of these plantings are repurposed from the NC Library construction site!

Dogs of 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)