May 5, 2023
Dear Saxe Family,
Happy Cinco de Mayo! It may have seemed more like April with all of the rain showers, but it looks like we are turning the corner and spring will finally be here to stay, starting tomorrow. It was an absolutely packed week at Saxe Middle School, which made it seem to go incredibly quickly, and I hope you enjoyed some of the highlights that took place.
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at parent orientations, Math, Debate Club, eSports, ABCs of social media, some mindful coloring, scenes around Saxe, Emotion into Art, Teacher Appreciation Week, Colonial Day, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
5/10 School Nurses Day
5/11 Incoming Grade 6 Parent Orientation – 6:00 p.m. (Saxe Auditorium)
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“You must not under any pretense allow your mind to dwell on any thought that is not positive, constructive, optimistic, kind.” – Emmet Fox
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”-Colin Powell
“The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” -Vince Lombardi
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” –William Faulkner
Incoming 6th-Grade Parent Orientation
Reminder for current Saxe 5th-Grade Parents: We are in the midst of having a great end of the 2022-23 school year and look forward to welcoming your children back to the 2023-24 school year as Saxe 6th-graders! Recognizing the changes that take place as students advance through each grade-level, we cordially invite you to the “Incoming 6th-grade Parent Orientation” on Thursday, May 11th at 6:00 p.m. in the Saxe auditorium. We will cover relevant topics such as general school wide information, similarities and differences between 5th and 6th-grade, a typical school day/week, and much more. To provide the clearest picture, this will all be framed through the various perspectives of students, parents, and staff. We look forward to seeing all who are able to attend next Thursday (5/11)!
Incoming 6th-Grade Parent Orientation
Reminder for current Saxe 5th-Grade Parents: We are in the midst of having a great end of the 2022-23 school year and look forward to welcoming your children back to the 2023-24 school year as Saxe 6th-graders! Recognizing the changes that take place as students advance through each grade-level, we cordially invite you to the “Incoming 6th-grade Parent Orientation” on Thursday, May 11th at 6:00 p.m. in the Saxe auditorium. We will cover relevant topics such as general school wide information, similarities and differences between 5th and 6th-grade, a typical school day/week, and much more. To provide the clearest picture, this will all be framed through the various perspectives of students, parents, and staff. We look forward to seeing all who are able to attend next Thursday (5/11)!
Math
Students in Mr. Fiorillo’s 5th grade class have been learning about equations. Students have been modeling equations with manipulatives, and “balancing” their scales to make equations equal! After students have shown their understanding, they prove their model by solving with the inverse operation.
Mrs. Avergun’s Grade 6 Math Class is learning probability. The students are having fun collecting experimental data through coin tosses, rolling dice and playing rock paper scissors. They are comparing their results and the whole class results, with the theoretical probability of the event happening.
Students in Mrs. Andrews’ Grade 7 Algebra class are learning about quadratic equations. They used the vertical motion formula to do an experiment to find their initial vertical velocity when throwing a tennis ball into the air.
Students in Mrs. Pelatowski’s Grade 8 Geometry class are working in groups to create their own proofs for students to solve. They used theorems, postulates and definitions from current and past units to create a two-column proof with answer key. Students will have a gallery walk to solve other classmates’ proofs.
Debate Club
The Saxe Debate Team was invited to participate in the inaugural Connecticut statewide Reverend D. Lord Debate Tournament held this past weekend at Yale University in New Haven. Three 7th grade students participated in the tournament – Jason Lin, Stewart Goodwin, and Vivaan Powari. This tournament caps a season where the team participated in multiple middle school debate tournaments against other Connecticut middle schools. Congrats to all!
ABC’s of Social Media  This week, the PTC General Session included a panel of experts to look at where tweens are going online, and what keeps bringing them back.* NC Cares and Buck Allen of the Thriving Youth Taskforce walked us through which sites draw the most tween eyeballs (spoiler alert, it is not Facebook!)* Matt Salvestrini (NCPS’s Director of Digital Learning) and Mary Hanna (K-8 Social Studies Coordinator & Digital Citizenship leader) sharee how the schools teach digital wellness and what guidelines and controls are used at school.We learned how a tween evolves in their internet use over the course of middle school, and how we can try to keep up with our internet-savvy students. And, what is Chat GPT, anyway?If you were not able to make it and would like to check out the video, you are welcome to do so, here!(note: the presentation begins at approximately 7:00 minutes)Below are the handouts that were available following the informative session!   Note: for print-worthy copies, please feel free to reach out to our Saxe PTC… |
Being “Present”
Thank you to Ms. Orlando for sharing a few pictures of students applying the stress management technique of mindful coloring. You could’ve heard a pin drop!
Scenes Around Saxe
We always love celebrating a good birthday at Saxe – I hope it was the best day ever!
Stormy skies seemed to swirl around our area most of the week. Here is a neat shot captured on Tuesday afternoon by one of our students.
Photo credit: Kathleen Langford
Being “Present”
Thank you to Ms. Orlando for sharing a few pictures of students applying the stress management technique of mindful coloring. You could’ve heard a pin drop!
Scenes Around Saxe
We always love celebrating a good birthday at Saxe – I hope it was the best day ever!
Stormy skies seemed to swirl around our area most of the week. Here is a neat shot captured on Tuesday afternoon by one of our students.
Photo credit: Kathleen Langford
Tweet Street
Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe middle school Twitter page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Good morning, Saxe! After a rainy weekend, it is nice to see the sun out… Some of our “morning regulars” took advantage with some hoops to start the day. Have a great day, All!
Our Saxe PTC is the best! Thank you for helping our teachers feel the love!
Thanks to our Saxe school climate committee team for planning an opportunity to “care for #1”!
Tweet Street
Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe middle school Twitter page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Good morning, Saxe! After a rainy weekend, it is nice to see the sun out… Some of our “morning regulars” took advantage with some hoops to start the day. Have a great day, All!
Our Saxe PTC is the best! Thank you for helping our teachers feel the love!
Thanks to our Saxe school climate committee team for planning an opportunity to “care for #1”!
Emotion into Art
And, we are off! It’s a full house in the Saxe auditorium for the Emotion Into Art performance for our 6th & 7th graders! Thank you, Tom Varano!
What an inspiring morning with Tom Varano and our Saxe 6th & 7th graders. Thank you Saxe PTC for sponsoring this dynamic program!
The message of the “power of one”! A message of character, virtue, courage, & inspiration to give back to others. BIG Dreams – B: books; I: individuals (inner-circle); G: goals that you set! “Reach for the shelf” Amazing Presentation! What a talented professional!!
Amazing! Not only is the talent amazing, but the messages that go along with them are inspirational and aligned with our school culture…
This tribute & message to our first responders is unbelievably moving! Life lessons for our SaxeMS students to carry with them for years to come… Thank you to our NC first responders – you are appreciated!
Grateful that we were able to share the Emotion Into Art experience with our Saxe 6th & 7th graders this week! Thank you to our Saxe PTC for the opportunity to reinforce our values & hear some great life lessons! Thank you Tom Varano!
Saxe Esports were back at it this week with a strong showing in the Smash Bros Championship Round. Out of 40+ teams from multiple states, it was a successful season – congrats to all & thanks to club advisor, Mr. Petrakopoulos!
The skies opened up over Saxe this morning (even reports of hail!), but the Bubble and Brew crew found a nook to serve up some deliciousness to our staff. Thanks again, Saxe PTC!
Good morning from Saxe! And, for any Star Wars fans out there…
Our 5th grade leadership team is excited to welcome all of our incoming 4th grade parents tonight! See you at 5:30!
Great turnout for our incoming Saxe 5th-grade Parent Orientation! Awesome to see our current 5th-graders here to help share their perspective – “through the eyes of our students”!
Important dates for incoming Saxe students… Looking forward to our Class of “Saxe 2027” joining our Saxe Family!
Best part of the evening? Hearing from our Saxe 2026 students sharing their experiences with the incoming class, Saxe 2027… Very informative and extremely well spoken – Nice job!
Great advice for our Saxe parents, in any grade! (just for the record, phones are expected to be powered down & stowed away during school hours)…
Thank you to our ever-supportive Saxe PTC! They help Saxe be the best we can be…
Thank you to the “Saxe 2027” families who came out this evening. It was an amazing turnout with well over 100+ people in the crowd!
It was a terrific day for the 2023 Saxe Colonial Day! It was a little bit of “live history” in action at Saxe… Thanks to everyone who was involved in the planning & operations and to all of the parents who came out as well!
Thanks to C. Rastner for these great pics from Colonial Day today!
What’s better than muskets & cannons (with a little rain sprinkled in) to close out the week at Saxe?! Congrats to everyone involved in another successful Saxe Colonial Day! (please feel free to click Twitter link to watch the videos!)
Cinco de Mayo
We got to celebrate in style thanks to our PTC – thank you!
Dogs of Saxe
Monte & Maria we’re out & about at Saxe this week!
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 Melissa DiMeglio for the continuous stream of positive, optimistic quotes!
Saxe Resources (live links)
Website: https://www.ncps-k12.org/saxe
Saxe Middle School
Celebrating Our Learning Community Through Caring, Communication, & Commitment
The Saxe weekly 