2024.1.12 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

January 12, 2024

Dear Saxe Family,

It was quite a week at Saxe Middle School. We had some snow, some unseasonably warm weather, and tons of great learning experiences! This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the latest 1-Second Everyday, a safety message from our SRO, Winter Grade-Level Meetings, Social Studies, Science, ELA, STEM Workshop, the 8th to 9th Transition Coffee, Saxe Trout, scenes around Saxe, a Saxe birthday, “Emotion into Art” on display, some robot action, Chorus, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful long weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

1/15 Martin Luther King Day; No School (No Weekend Homework)

Save the date: Grade 6-8 Winter Daytime Open Houses will be held between February 5 – 13. Stay tuned for more information and specific dates & times by grade-level and team…

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”― Dr. Seuss

“Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow’s reality.” — MalalaYousafzai

“The healthiest response to life is joy.” — Deepak Chopra

“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” — Babe Ruth

“True abundance isn’t based on our net worth, it’s based on our self-worth.” — Gabrielle Bernstein

The Weekly Humor Highlights!

“Which sea creatures work out at the gym? Mussels”

“What kind of sweaters do tortoises wear? Turtle-necks”

“What did the carpenter say when he finished building his house? I nailed it!”

“I just saw a guy whose toe is made of rubber; guess what his name is? Roberto!”

“Why did the stadium get so hot after the game? Because all the fans left.”

One Second Everyday

Back again 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 is a recurring, bi-weekly feature. At the end of the year, we will have a full version that includes every single day of the 2023-24 school year. Enjoy! (pro tip: to enjoy the video at a slower pace, change your viewing option to .75 speed).

Saxe Safety – A Message from Officer Blank

Crazy to believe but, the mid year is upon us. With that, it is worth taking a moment to remember our pick up and drop off procedures. All drop offs happen in the rear of the building and pick up is in the front. Adherence to this is vital to the safety of all members of our Saxe family. Additionally, please be aware of your speed on and around campus. Unless you’re driving a DeLorean, that extra speed won’t make you go back in time, but it could cause dangerous accidents. Please work with us to keep everyone safe. Thank you!

Note: not the actual Saxe parking lot. DeLoreans only used to grab your attention 🙂

Grade-Level Meetings

Saxe held “New Year Grade-Level Meetings” this week. Each grade met with its respective grade-level administrator in the auditorium during a Workshop period to go over relevant, timely items/reminders. It was a great opportunity to celebrate successes & revisit keys to success for the second half of the year! Linked here, is a copy of the slide deck that was used for each grade, if you’d like to check it out…

Social Studies

As a part of their Challenges and Compromises unit, 8th graders learned about the Battle of Gettysburg through the diaries and letters of people there. They then welcomed rangers from Gettysburg National Park (via zoom) to answer their questions. Below are some pictures of their preparation and live session.

Science

In 5th grade science, we took a Manatee Rescue learning journey. The current event was highlighted in our December Science World Magazine. Students used Canva (digital), or poster paper, to create posters that inform the Saxe community on how they can help save the Manatee. I’ve attached our hallway bulletin board presentation.

ELA

7th Grade ELA students began their dystopian novel adaptations this week. Students had the choice of adapting a scene from their book club novel into a video, audio recording, live performance, or graphic novel. Students were able to record their video adaptations in the Design Lab. They used the whiteboard tabletops to plan and even created their own props. Once they were ready, they filmed in front of green screens. Once they are finished recording, they will begin editing their movies on their Chromebooks.

STEM Workshop

Over the past few weeks, Mr. Pacicca’s 6th grade STEM workshop class has been exploring electricity and the design process. Students first built their knowledge of circuits and electricity by building simple circuits with Chibitronics, LEDs, switches, and recycled holiday lights. They then used that knowledge to create their own game or toy.

Bringing their ideas to life required immersion in the engineering and design process as well as creativity, collaboration, application of electrical knowledge, and problem solving. We now move on to improving our designs by using Arduino microprocessors and C++ coding to try and automate our products. From brainstorming, to sketching, to prototyping, the students worked together to solve the multitude of problems to create some innovative products!

8th to 9th Grade Transition Coffee

If you missed the 8th to 9th Grade Transition Coffee on January 9th, you can find the video link on the main page of the Saxe Website or you can use the link below:

Checkers Challenge in Mrs. Hines Class

Schools Supporting Schools

The NCHS Color Drop is right around the corner and you will once again have a chance to win some amazing prizes (including, a truck!) while supporting NCHS students through the NC Scholarship Foundation. Thanks for considering and good luck to all who participate!

Click here to purchase your golf ball.

Trout Club

Not to be outdone by the arrival of the “Saxe Salmon” last week, the “Saxe Trout” arrived this week and have settled into their new tanks. Over the course of the winter/spring, they will be cared for by the Trout Club and used as an instructional tool for Science classes, before being released into local waterways!

(More Trout Club pics, below in the Twitter/X section of the Weekly)…

Fun in the Snow

Here’s a pic from our recent snowstorm. If the long-range weather report proves to be accurate, we may have an opportunity for some more fun in the snow and a chance to share some more pictures!

Principal Gusitsch takes the time to help 7th graders prepare for their LA Dystopian skits by showing this student how to “tie a tie”.

Twitter/X

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

It was nice to see a little winter weather as we returned from the weekend at Saxe! ❄️ Thank you to our tremendous custodial & maintenance team, and New Canaan DPW, for having our campus clear & safe for all – you are appreciated!

What an interesting weather week! Snow one day & 50* temps the next… Love seeing our Saxe

staff & students take advantage of our outdoor spaces any opportunity they get! #SaxeOutdoors

Another #SaxeBday at drop off this week! Hope it was the best one yet!

Thank you to our Saxe PTC for helping us bring Tom Varano into Saxe for the “Emotion Into Art” assembly last spring. The artwork of Malala, Jordan, & Lady Liberty has been framed & will be on permanent display in our building for all to enjoy & appreciate!

Using some Playdoh & blocks to simulate tectonic shifting in #SaxeScience this week…

Amazing to see the creations of our creative Saxe students! #SaxeScience #SaxeSTEM

This robot (Click the link to watch!)included a 3D printed (Click the link to watch!)“spatula” to accomplish their goal (Click the link to watch!) of scooping/capturing pieces – very cool! #SaxeScience #SaxeSTEM

This was pretty amazing – the robot in the hall, moving the plastic “puck”, was being controlled remotely from a student in the classroom! These robots are created from scratch by our Saxe students as they are tested, revised, & ever-evolve. Great life lessons!

The Saxe Trout have arrived! We look forward to these eggs hatching & growing in our tanks until their release this spring. Such a great learning experience for our clubs & classes! #SaxeTrout

A couple more pics from the arrival of the #SaxeTrout eggs!

Can’t wait to see some of these videos that are being produced for #SaxeELA. Some great ideas & creativity around the building this week!

It’s a team effort creating interesting plot lines & telling the most persuasive story for the upcoming Saxe ELA project! Even our Saxe SRO is in on the work!

Dr. Ferreira kicked off our Saxe “new year grade-level meetings” with grade 8 on Wednesday. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate successes & revisit keys to success for the remainder of the year!

Mr. Bedard holds the Saxe “Grade Level Meeting” for G7 to celebrate successes & go over how to make the start of 2024 the best it can be! #WeAreSaxe

Ms. Granite addresses our 5th-graders for the “new year reset” in our SaxeGrade-Level Meetings this week. 2024 is off to a great start & we look forward to carrying the momentum forward! #Saxe2027

The Saxe Lower Division Choral program was putting on the final touches before the winter concert performance this week. Looking forward to the show!

Great rendition(Click the link to watch!) of the Star Spangled Banner to kickoff the Saxe grade 5/6 Winter Concert!

Congrats to the Saxe 5/6 Treble Choir on a wonderful set of “Winter Wonderland” & “Somewhere in my Memory” – sounded great!

Congratulations to the Saxe 6th-graders on a fantastic set in the Winter Concert which included some solos, a “4-handed piano” piece, & terrific singing by all!

Packed house in the NCHS Wagner Room for the Grade 8 to Grade 9 Transition Meeting. We look forward to our students getting excited about HS, while also providing the best experience possible in the final months at Saxe! Thanks to all in attendance!

Excellent turnout for the Saxe Grade 8 to 9 Transition Meeting at NCHS! Couldn’t make it? No problem! Check out the 8-9 Transition page on our website. Thanks to all who came out!

January 12th & it was a beautiful day to be outside at Saxe!

Have a great long 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)