2022.11.11 – Saxe weekly – The Saxe weekly

November 11, 2022

Dear Saxe Family,

Today, as we honor our nation’s veterans on Veterans Day, I am grateful for all who have served to keep the freedoms that we are afforded. Thank you. We were fortunate to be in session to honor veterans by discussing “what makes a veteran”, viewing veteran videos and having conversations in Social Studies classes, and hearing from community veterans in grade-level assemblies. To top it all off, there was a tremendous amount of red, white, and blue spirit around our school today!

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Veterans Day, a special thanks to our PTC, Start with Hello, Educational Support Professionals Day, an SRO Safety Tip of the Week, community events, “WDD”, “town hall” celebrations, recess, Dr. Stuart Ablon, Madagascar, Dogs of Saxe, Saxe scenery, and much more.

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

11/14 – World Diabetes Day

11/17 – Effective Services in Saxe Auditorium (6:30 – 8:00 pm)

11/18 – Trimester 1 closes for Grade 5

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“You’ll never find a rainbow if you’re looking down.”― Charlie Chaplin

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill

“We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.” – Dakota

“Honoring the sacrifices many have made for our country in the name of freedom and democracy is the very foundation of Veterans Day.” – Charles B. Rangel

Veterans Day

Saxe held its 15th Annual Veterans Appreciation Day Celebration. Throughout the day our students had the opportunity to hear from Veterans from multiple generations. Thank you to Ms. Baltz, Mr. Petrakopoulos, Mr. Bedard, and all staff who helped make this Veterans Day a tremendous learning experience for all of our students. And, thank you to all those who have served, and those who continue to serve, our great country! In the message that was sent out to our community earlier, you will find veteran profiles, questions for our veterans, reflections, discussions, and more. Enjoy the video and photos from today, below…

Congrats and thanks to students, Emmy and Teddy, who read “What is a Veteran” and warmly introduced our feature Veterans Day speaker for each grade-level assembly. You did a great job representing yourselves & Saxe MS very well!

Thank you to our very own, Saxe MS veterans, Mr. Wiese, Mr. Hearty, Mr. Ellett, & SRO Blank! We are grateful we got to show our students members of our very own community who have served, on this important day! We salute you and thank you for your service!

Thank you to our New Canaan Police Department Chief, Chief Krowlikowski, for presenting to our Saxe MS students! We are grateful they got to hear directly from community Veterans (&, some via video) on this important day! Thank you for your service and for fielding so many great student questions!

Thank you to our #SaxeSRO, Officer Blank, for presenting to our SaxeMS students as well!

Thanks to our Amazing PTC

Saxe Middle School is fortunate to have one of the best PTCs on the planet. During our PL day this week, our staff we greeted with a welcoming buffet of seasonal offerings at lunch. Thanks to all involved, your acts of kindness make our day (and, beyond)!

Start with Hello

After much planning and collaboration, next week Saxe Middle School will be bringing back the program, “Start with Hello”, which is a yearly national initiative, created by Sandy Hook Promise. Its purpose is to decrease loneliness and social isolation and it fits nicely with our school charter. We will be joining the almost 15,000 schools and 7 million students who have celebrated “Start with Hello” Week this fall. Thanks to Ms. Risoli, Ms. Beltran, and Dr. Bliss for their planning and coordination of this series of events!

Feel free to check out the Start with Hello kickoff slides & video as well…

Congrats and thanks to Sally Ferris & David Emeagwali for creating this neat video!

Grade 6 – 8 PowerSchool Portal Open for Grades

At 4:00 pm on Friday, November 11th, the PowerSchool portal will be open for 1st Quarter Grades for students in Grades 6 – 8. If you need assistance with the portal, you can find support on the Saxe Website.

November 16th is Educational Support Professionals Day!

A big THANK YOU to our Instructional and Supervisory Aides, Cafeteria Staff, Custodial Staff, Nurses, Bus Drivers and Administrative Assistants! You all help make Saxe the caring community that it is and your dedication is recognized and appreciated.

SRO Safety Tip of the Week: Situational Awareness

While we live in a wonderful, safe, incredible town, it is always important to be aware of your surroundings. With the uptick in foot traffic around the center of town for the holiday season, it is important to be mindful of all those around. A good tip is to have a buddy wherever you go. Be careful when crossing the streets in town (see last weeks safety tip, here). Keep an eye out for one another and if you’re approached by anyone you don’t know, find an adult or store employee to explain the situation. We are all here to help one another and have a wonderful safe holiday season.

Executive Functioning Presentation

Please join us on Thursday, November 17th from 6-8:30pm at the Saxe Middle School Auditorium to welcome guest speakers Allison Tables, MA, NCC, LPC and Susan Chandler from Effective Services as they discuss the importance of executive functioning skills in students for academic and social-emotional success. During this lecture, they will review some of the challenges faced by students identified with different difficulties, such as anxiety or ADHD, and how we can support and lead them to success through the implementation of specific learning strategies.

World Diabetes Day

World Diabetes Day is Monday, November 14th. The purpose of this one day is to raise awareness of a condition that millions of people all around the world (and, several people at Saxe), live with every day. It has been 100 years since Dr. Banting incredibly (and, fortunately) discovered the use of insulin to help those with this disease. To learn more about WDD, or the discovery of insulin, please check out the WDD website.

Tweet Street

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

Great way to start the week and new marking period, reflecting and celebrating the accomplishments of our 7 Purple students!!

In case there was any doubt, it was a beautiful day to be outside today at 75* on November 7th?! Yes, please & thank you!

7Purple took an opportunity to hold a Town Hall meeting to recognize students exhibiting traits of our Saxe Charter (Comfortable, Happy, Included, Respected, Safe)… It was filled w/lots of positive moments – congrats to all & keep up the great work!

We were so grateful to have Dr. Stuart Ablon, Associate Professor at Harvard University Department of Psychiatry, join us for the day to teach faculty, administrators, student support staff and parents about the the importance of understanding that “Kids do well if they can” and that challenging behavior can best be understood through the lens of “Skill not Will”. Dr. Ablon presented on the topic of collaborative problem solving. His presentation was filled with facts, humor, and strategies that kept everyone engaged!

The weather definitely cooperated this week as our students enjoyed many activities outside during recess! This is an important part of their day, for many reasons…

Got an early start to Veterans Day at Saxe in Ms. Reed & Mr. Devine’s classes as Ms. Reed’s nephew, who is serving overseas in Italy, joined their classes via zoom. Thanks for your service (&, to all who have served!)

Great PL with our staff to reflect on our amazing day of learning with Dr. Stuart Ablon this week! Great discussion, questions, & collaboration to help guide our next steps…

Prep work for the 5th/6th fall play, Madagascar, has transformed our school! We have almost 200 students participating in the cast & crew (amazing!)… Good luck to everyone this weekend & break a leg!

Happy Veterans Day from Saxe! Thank you to all who serve/served our great country!

Lots of USA spirit at Saxe today as a salute to our veterans! (&, a classic “photo bomb”… Nice one, Gracie!)

After the final dress rehearsal for Saxe Madagascar, our cast & crew are ready to rock and roll! Good luck to all and “break legs” this weekend!

Always impressed by the amazing talent of our students (&, love the Saxe Spirit)…

Dogs of Saxe

Eidi made a visit to Saxe to help with the setup for Madagascar!

Some nice autumn scenery around Saxe!

With our American flag as a backdrop, two of our Saxe students read the morning announcements, &, honor our Veterans!

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!

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