2023.11.3 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

November 3, 2023

Dear Saxe Family,

Happy November! It is hard to believe that we are closing out our first quarter of the school year today. It has been an exciting first 25% of the school year and we look forward to making the next 75% just as great. Each edition of the Saxe Weekly is just a snapshot of some of the wonderful experiences that our students are having in our learning community and we appreciate you taking the time to join in the journey each week, even if it is just a scroll through the pictures. 🙂

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Daylight Savings, National Stress Awareness Day, Chorus, Social Studies, Saxe in the News, Science, Yearbook, Spiritwear Shop, a state record, lots of Halloween fun, Shark Tank, EI, Pizza Parties to Celebrate Saxe, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

11/5 Daylight savings – set those clocks back and enjoy the extra hour!

11/7 Election Day – No School for students

11/9 Veteran’s Day assemblies at Saxe

11/10 Portal Opens Grades 6 – 8

11/10 Grade 5/6 Musical – 7:00 pm

11/11 Grade 5/6 Musical – 1:00 pm; 4:00 pm

11/11 Veteran’s Day

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”— Nelson Mandela

“The purpose of life is to believe, to hope, and to strive.”-Indira Gandhi

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”–Mark Twain

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”– Leonardo Da Vinci

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

Daylight Savings

Just a quick public service announcement to remember to set your clocks back and enjoy that extra hour (and, brighter mornings) on Sunday at 2:00 a.m. – Enjoy!

National Stress Awareness Day – Wednesday, November 1st

Students and teachers had a great day practicing stress-relieving activities throughout the day! We asked students and teachers to let us know what they did to help celebrate this important day and some pictures were shared below. Petting a furry creature, listening to music, taking a nap, deep breathing and calling a friend were some of the favorites. Students and teachers who completed the google form were entered to win a gift card and the winners are:
5th grade – Francis Jones
6th grade – Juliette Greene
7th grade – Fiona Dilday
8th grade – Mary Ellen Dolan
Teacher – Mrs. Reed

Thank you to all for participating!

Chorus

Students in 6th-grade chorus skills class have been on the move and working on learning how their whole body is used to effectively sing! We do a physical warm-up each class that consists of stretches and then focus on vocal warm-ups. We then use movement while we are singing to continue to warm up, energize our bodies and minds, and of course, have fun!

Social Studies
In 6th grade Social Studies Mr. Gillan’s Class has started to look at the Lost City of Petra. While completing a DBQ to determine if the physical landscape of Petra helped or hindered the people in this land, Blue Team students were able to take a virtual tour of this city built in the midst of rock and cliffs in what today is the country of Jordan. Using the Oculus VR Headsets, students developed a new appreciation of magnificent buildings that were carved directly into the cliffs of stone.

Interview with News Channel Fox11 LA
About the Project:
During the 2021-2022 school year, five of our 7th-grade students at Saxe Middle School took the opportunity to enter a national competition held by Future Engineers and NASA. This challenge was open to all U.S. schools, grades 6-12, and had 57 winners, including our team from Saxe. Students were invited to create and design experiments that would be placed on one of NASA’s high-altitude balloons during a 4-hour flight carrying the experiment up to 70,000 feet into the atmosphere. For their submission, the Saxe student team designed an experiment titled “The Effect of High Altitude on Color Perception,” which collected visual data of various colors using a high-definition camera to record different colored paint samples at sea level and on the high-altitude balloon journey. The team then retrieved the visual data from their experiment’s camera payload and is currently in the process of recording their observations to see the impact that high altitude has on the perception of color.

Click below to see more photos/videos:
Fox11 Interview – NASA TechRise Project
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ACGkp644qpntv8Xj9
Viewing:
The interview will be available on Sunday, November 5th on the Fox11 LA website (foxla.com), or on LA’s Channel 13 at 12pm PST (3pm EST).

Grade Science

Students in 8th grade Science Workshop designed hats to meet the needs of people in various roles (police officer, farmer, magician, student, etc.). Students took some time to gain perspective and came up with a needs statement before brainstorming ideas for their design. The next step was to build a tangible prototype using the materials available to them in the design lab. Finally, students presented their hats and received feedback on their designs. Some of the hats even went well with their Halloween costumes!

Science

This week, 6-Purple is “heating up” by putting their energy knowledge to the test by showing their understanding with chalk markers and being able to model on their tables. Over the next week, they will explore the components to what makes an excellent “cup” for hot chocolate – just in time for the season!

Yearbook Student Recognition Ads for Grade 8

New this year for 8th grade families – A unique space in the yearbook to honor your student! Please use the link below to find out more!

https://www.jostens.com/yearbooks/students-and-parents/yearbook-ads

Treble Choir

Students are working hard on their music for upcoming performances. But this week students also took a “break” to have some musical fun and a little bit of competition. Students played singing games that taught students self confidence in their voice, cooperation in a group, collaboration, and team work!

Saxe Spiritwear Shop

Winter Spirit Wear Shop – Limited Time Only – Open Now through November 9th, by midnight! The PTC has created a small holiday collection with items that make great holiday gifts or stocking stuffers. Shop NOW through November 9th, by midnight. All items will be shipped and ready for pickup by the second week of December. Click here to order.

Student Spotlight

Congratulations to Vanessa Devel on breaking the Connecticut state swim record for 500 freestyle, short course. She beat the previous record by almost 10 seconds! Way to go, Vanessa!

Twitter/X

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

Our Saxe Library staff do such an amazing job keeping our display boards relevant & engaging – thank you!

Thanks for the special visit for Halloween, L! That’s the best pumpkin I saw all day! 🙂 🎃

Saxe students were in the Halloween spirit – such a fun day!

Halloween spirit was in high gear all around Saxe! 🎃

Which emoji would you be!? 😃😍🤩😎🧐😂😜🤭🤔#fifthgradeteachersrock

“Cleaning Companion” & “Crazy Kitty 2000” were the Saxe Q1 Shark Tank finalists. What an amazing experience for our students to creatively collaborate, design, problem solve, & so much more! They did an amazing job making their vision come to life & should be very proud!

A view from the “waters of the Shark Tank” at Saxe – our student did an incredible job with their design thinking projects! #SaxeSharkTank

There seems to be strong support for outdoor recess at Saxe in a well-designed discussion in Ms. Harrington’s class!

Nice crowd at Saxe for the New Canaan community presentation on EI by Dr. Marc Brackett. It’s always a work in progress to build toward being our “best selves”, but work that is well worth it!

Finally got to snap a pic of my favorite “sign bench” in New Canaan… This month is, “Say hi to the new kid at school” – great message & relevant all year long!

Had the first Celebrate Saxe pizza party with this great group of Saxe 8th-graders! It was nice to sit down, chat, & learn more about them. The pizza was pretty good, too! 🍕

Another great pizza lunch to celebrate the success of the recent Celebrate Saxe campaign! In addition to getting to know our students better, it was a fun conversation & insight on the student experience at Saxe. Thanks again to our ever supportive Saxe PTC!

Not to be outdone, the Dogs of Saxe were having fun this week as well!

Cold weather at Saxe morning drop off? No problem, add an extra layer and our Dogs of Saxe can still wish their humans a great day!

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)