2023.3.17 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

March 17, 2023

Dear Saxe Family,

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It was an eventful week filled with snow, adjusting to the time change, and enriching experiences from all around the building… This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a closer look at the latest one-second everyday, St. Patty’s Day, Social Studies, STEM, Science, StringsFest, Student Leadership, Seussical the Musical, Math Team, community support, Saxe spritwear, Middle-Level Education Month, School Counselors, eSports, scenes around Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

3/24 – Suessical, the Musical – 7:00 pm in the Saxe Auditorium

3/25 – Suessical, the Musical – 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm in the Saxe Auditorium

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“It’s amazing what happens when we allow the flower that is us, the flower that is them, to become part of the bouquet.” ~ Laurie Buchanan

“Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

– Henry Ford

“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our differences. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and being included.” –Max De Pree

“Your smile will give you a positive countenance that will make people feel comfortable around you.” – Les Brown

“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.” – Andrew Carnegie

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).

Celebrating March 17th

Social Studies

Our fifth graders have been working all year on their mapping skills. Several of our classes put this geography knowledge to good use and participated in the Mystery Skype program. Classes were partnered with another class in a different location in our country. The two classes then, via Zoom, took turns trying to figure out where each other was located. The students then learn about each other’s schools and states. Here are a couple of photos from Mrs. Harrington and Mrs. Berry’s classes.

Grade 6 STEM Workshop

Students in Ms. Collins’ STEM Workshop are currently building marble roller coasters out of paper.

NCPS StringsFest

Congratulations to our orchestra students who performed in the first-ever NCPS StringsFest at New Canaan High School last night! The program included all of the orchestra students from all 3 elementary schools, Saxe and New Canaan High School. In addition to pieces performed by each school’s groups individually, the finale featured ALL of the students performing two pieces together. What an incredible sound! If you would like to watch the program, you can view it using this link: NCPS StringsFest LiveStream.

Grade 5 Student Leadership Fundraiser

Our 5th grade leadership team is preparing for a fundraiser to benefit Kids In Crisis CT. Donation boxes built and wrapped (check!). Posters made (check!). Announcements written (check!) Thanks Ms. Garnett & Ms. Greto for your help! (more information about Kids in Crisis can be found here).

Starting Monday, March 20th, donations of new sweatshirts (any size), new sweatpants (any size), new socks and new towels (any size) will be welcomed and appreciated! Donations will be accepted until Thursday, April 6th. Boxes will be in the 5th and 6th grade hallways and near the main office for the collection of items. Please make sure to drop off your items in the box labeled for your color team. The 5th and 6th grade color teams who collect the most items will earn extra recess with Mrs. Granite and Mr. Adams! Thank you in advance for your support!

Saxe Theatre

We are so excited for the 7th and 8th Grade Musical Seussical Next Friday, March 24th at 7:00pm and Saturday, March 25th at 1:00pm and 5:00pm! The Cat in the Hat tells the story of Horton, an elephant who discovers a speck of dust that contains the Whos, including Jojo, a Who child sent off to military school for thinking too many “thinks.” Horton faces a double challenge: not only must he protect the Whos from a world of naysayers and dangers, but he must guard an abandoned egg, left in his care by the irresponsible Mayzie La Bird. Although Horton faces ridicule, danger, kidnapping and a trial, the intrepid Gertrude McFuzz never loses faith in him. Ultimately, the powers of friendship, loyalty, family and community are challenged and emerge triumphant. Seussical is fun for the whole family! Get your tickets HERE!!

Mathcounts

Saxe students competed at the MathCounts state competition at Hartford University last weekend. Jason Lin and George Wang placed in the top 25% of the state. Unfortunately, none of our students made it to nationals, but their coach, Ms. Bohlmann, was extremely proud of their hard work.

Student Spotlight

Congratulations and thank you to Dermott Hendry, Grade 5, who raised over $5,000 to support St. Baldricks! St. Baldricks helps raise funds for childhood cancer research. Dermott, we’re so proud of your commitment to helping others!

Student Photography Winners

Congratulations to Zachary Weiss and Jack Ericson for winning awards in the Youth Division (though 8th Grade) at the Wilton Arts Council 23rd Annual Photography show – Focus 23! Their photographs will be on display until the end of the month. Zachary won first place for his photograph “The Misty Woods” and Jack won second place for his photo “At The Cloudline” which is included below!

Saxe Spiritwear – Spring Shop

The Saxe Spiritwear store is now open! Shop the new spring collection curated for students and adults. All orders should be placed on or before March 19 by midnight. All items will be shipped or ready for pickup in mid-late April. Click HERE to shop now. Go Hawks!

Supporting our NCPS Schools

Ram Jam at NCHS:

Ram Jam is a musical fashion show (with an awesome live band, skits, and other performances) put on by 100+ NCHS Seniors in order to raise funds for Post-Prom. This event is for everyone- but the middle-schoolers especially love it! Please encourage your kids of all ages to attend.

Details: Friday, March 25 from 7-8pm | NCHS Auditorium
Tickets: Online $20/ At door $25
www.nchs-pfa.org/ramjam2022

NCSF Color Drop

For more info: https://www.nchs-sf.org/colordrop

Sites around Saxe

Winter is hanging on into March!

Photo credit: Saras Sukhani

Tweet Street

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

March is Middle Level Education Month. We celebrate, and are grateful to be part of, this tremendously important phase of our student’s lives!

Neat to see the Saxe gymnasium rocking last Saturday with the grade 5 championships being held here. Congrats to our own Saxe 5th-graders who played an amazing game right down to the wire… It was a true March Madness environment!

6th Grade Leadership students planning another exciting Kindness week in collaboration with Middlesex MS students as we unite through kindness once again.

Thank you to our NCHS students (Saxe alumn!) and Saxe counselors for meeting with 8th grade students this week!

Saxe Esports was back in action today! Awesome to hear, see, & experience the enthusiasm from our students each session… Thanks to Mr. Petrakopoulos for providing this opportunity!

Some snowy scenes from around Saxe this week… Not quite the superstorm that it was hyped to be, but the flakes were HUGE & it left a pretty coating…

Some freshly groomed “beaches” are ready for the “rainstorm” in the Saxe Science erosion unit… Here comes the “rain”! Neat that Saxe students get to experience a scaled down version of real life occurrences…

Some freshly groomed “beaches” are ready for the “rainstorm” in the Saxe Science erosion unit…

Saxe Celebrates St. Patrick’s Day!

Supporting two of our very own Saxe “Wish Ambassadors”, this is a great cause (&, “good eats”)! It is an opportunity to give 100% of proceeds to Make-A-Wish CT for purchases at any Jersey Mike’s on 3/29 – enjoy & thanks!

Not too many people like the spring time change, but it does reset the clock on seeing some amazing sunrises! Have a great day, All…

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)