2024.2.9 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

February 9, 2024

Dear Saxe Family,

Interestingly, this is the only 5-day week of school in February, 2024. I am not sure if that has happened before, but it is a fun fact that you can confirm on the calendar. As we look back, it was a week filled with learning and experiences for students and staff, both inside and outside of the building. This week in the Saxe Weekly, you will see snapshots and celebrations of the 6-8 Winter Daytime Open Houses, the latest 1-Second Everyday, Extracurriculars, our School Counselors & Support Staff, Math classes, Math Team, Science (outside!), our SRO(s), yearbook, Saxe “Super Spirit”, ELA (outside!), Art, staff PL, Happy Hawks, Hawks Valley, Valentines for Vets, Pizza with the Principal, motor break stations, Saxe bdays, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

2/12 – 6-8 Winter Daytime Open House (all dates/times below)

2/15 – School Resource Officer Day

2/16 – Professional Development Day – No School for Students & start of Winter Break!

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the error that counts.” —Nikki Giovanni

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”—Malcolm X

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” —George Elliot

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” — Rosa Parks

“A true education is the intellectual growth of an individual achieved through the exercise of critical thinking, tolerance, and creativity.” –John Dewey

The Weekly Humor Highlights!

“Which is the most interesting building in the world? The library-It’s got the most stories!”

“Why doesn’t the sun go to college? Because he already has a million degrees.”

“What kind of bagel can travel? A plain bagel.”

“What do sprinters eat before a race? Nothing. They fast.”

“Why can’t football players wear glasses on the field? Because it’s a contact sport.”

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).

Winter Daytime Open House

We had a wonderful turnout this week for the first three dates of our Winter Daytime Open Houses! If you were unable to attend, please see the chart below to access the presentation by grade/team.

Monday, 2/5	Tuesday, 2/6	Friday, 2/9
8:55 a.m.G7: *Red Team*Presentation slides	8:55 a.m.G7: Green TeamPresentation slides	8:55 a.m.G7: *Purple Team*Presentation slides
10:10 a.m.G6: *Blue Team*Presentation slides	10:10 a.m.G6: *Red Team*Presentation Slides	10:10 a.m.G6: *Purple Team*Presentation slides
11:20 a.m.G8: *Red Team*Presentation slides	11:20 a.m.G8: “*Blue*” TeamPresentation slides	11:20 a.m.G8: *Green Team*Presentation slides

On Monday, February 12th, we will have our final Winter Daytime Open Houses. The schedule is below and we hope to see you there!

Monday, 2/12

8:55 a.m.G7: Blue TeamRoom #: 113

10:10 a.m.G6: Green TeamRoom #: 19

11:20 a.m.G8: Purple TeamRoom #: 219

Saxe Extracurriculars

Saxe Clubs are now open for enrollment! They begin on Monday, February 12th, and will run through Friday, June 7th, 2024. You may use this link to take you to the Saxe Website where there is a list of programs offered by day and club descriptions. Please use the links to sign up for clubs by grade.

For Grade 5/6 Before School Clubs, parents will need to provide transportation (8:05 – 9:05 am unless otherwise specified). Grade 7/8 Clubs run after school from 2:40 – 3:40 pm. A late bus is available at 4:00 pm and students will not be able to ride the Grade 5/6 buses home.

Students may sign up for one club or multiple clubs. If a club is offered on multiple days, you do not need to sign up for both. Attached below under the sign-up links is a listing of offerings which will be posted on the Saxe Website shortly.

Please contact Ms. Lisa.Jarosik@ncps-k12.org if you have any questions.

5/6 Sign-Up Link
7/8 Sign-Up Link

Celebrating our School Counselors and Student Support Professionals

A message from our NCPS Student Support Coordinator, Dr. Susan Bliss:

“Thanks to our truly AMAZING school counselors who work tirelessly to support all of our students! They listen, guide, mentor, and teach- and most importantly- they care deeply for our students. Thank you for helping our students to feel safe, supported, and successful every day. You are the best!

Please thank our counselors if you see them, and wish them a Happy School Counselors Week!”

Math

The students in Ms. DeLise’s Grade 5 Math class are working on their problem-solving skills! They are recognizing the importance of reading to identify the action and operation in a story problem. Working together, they are applying what they have learned about multiplication and division to solve multi-step problems.

The students in Ms. DeLise’s Compacted Math class are using what they have learned about multiplying and dividing fractions to find the area of rectangles, and are then using what they know about rectangles to learn how to find the area of parallelograms and triangles!

In Mr. Santoro’s 7th Grade Algebra class, students delved into the concept of systems of linear inequalities. At the beginning of the class, they engaged in an investigation task, analyzing both a system of equations and a system of inequalities. The task aimed at guiding students to identify similarities and differences between the two systems, offering insights into the components that constitute a system of linear inequalities. Subsequently, students dedicated class time to creating graphs for different systems of linear inequalities.

Science

6th Purple Science took advantage of the beautiful weather and explored Saxe for signs of Weathering and Erosion!

Math Team

Over the weekend, 12 Saxe students competed against 23 other school districts at the Mathcounts competition at Fairfield University. Out of 22 teams, Saxe placed third in the team portion. Congrats to Jason Lin, Anthony Westhead, Aarna Prakash, Anthony Osadchy, Ella Chen, Emily Meng, Nathan Zhan, Medha Singhania, Ancen Wang, Aashay Parashar, Sarthak Parikh, and Danny Schwedel on a great competition! A big congrats to Anthony Osadchy who qualified for the state competition in March!

SRO Appreciation

February 15th is National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day! A special thanks to Officer Matt Blank for making Saxe a safer place for our students and staff! We appreciate all that you do for our entire learning community!

Saxe Yearbook

Twitter/X

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

We had a little “fandom fun” at Saxe today. In addition to being a Jersey themed spirit day, we invited any students/staff who were ‘repping their team who will be playing in the big game this Sunday, down to the main lobby for a “rivalry photo”. Fun for all & enjoy the game!

Hear them all “shout out” their teams in the video!

Lots of Super Bowl spirit around Saxe today! From creative fan-logos to “Swifties” all around, it’s been a fun day!

Ms. Potenza helped bring some history to life with her students as they performed some Greek Mythology scenes in our very own Hawks Valley outdoor learning space. And, pretty amazing we can bring our classes outside, in February – they did a great job!

1 more round of ELA classes out in the Hawks Valley outdoor learning space. What a wonderful space to utilize on a beautiful February day!

Saxe salutes our Student Support Professionals during National School Counseling Week – thanks to these important members of our school community!

Thank you to our Saxe PTC for spreading some joy to our SSP’s to celebrate #SchoolCounselorWeek! We appreciate you!

Incredibly grateful for this wonderful team of LD counselors! Happy school counselors week to these wonderful individuals ❤️

Some wonderful #SaxeArt was recently put on display to liven up our hallways at Saxe – nice work by all!

Enjoyed seeing the 6th-grade Science “weathering walks” as they made their way by the front of Saxe this week. So many different ways to view & learn from our surroundings!

8 Green is in the seasonal spirit and sharing moments of gratitude… Thanks for spreading the positivity at Saxe!

Saxe had some quality professional learning today as we discussed authentic student engagement… Continuing to challenge our own thinking in the cognitive, behavioral, & social emotional domains to allow us to challenge how our students think & learn!

Look at all of the Happy Hawks earned by our fifth graders for showing the charter this week! Students are receiving positive feedback daily on making good choices throughout their day!

Our fifth grade leadership team participated in Congressman Himes’ Valentines for Vets project this week! We hope the notes put smiles on our Veterans faces!

Had a great “Pizza with the Principal” with a terrific group of Saxe 7th-graders! It’s a great way to learn more about each other while also hearing about the student experience, straight from the source!

Saw some more motor break stations in the Saxe 5th/6th-grade hallway/stairwell – great opportunity for students to move when they need it most!

Great turnout for the first few rounds of Saxe Winter Daytime Open Houses – thanks to all who came out! We look forward to the rest of the team parents visiting on Monday…

Some new, amazing Saxe Art has recently been put on display for all to enjoy. Be sure to check it out! (around the corner from UD Nurse’s Office)…

The Saxe “Friday Greeting Sign” is back thanks to Ms. Orlando & one of her students who helped create it! “Have a ‘Super’ Weekend: 49ers/Chiefs 🏈”. Good luck to all the fans out there!

Birthday shoutout at Saxe arrival! Hope it was a great day!

Another #SaxeBday! Hope it’s a great day!

Happy Friday, Saxe! Thanks to our #SaxeHospitality crew, there will be a really happy staff since it’s a TGIF breakfast day! Enjoy & thanks to all involved…

SRO Appreciation Day may not be until next week, but I wasn’t passing up a chance to grab a pic of three of NC’s finest as they met briefly over at Saxe today! Thank you to Officers Blank, Deak, & Gibson for all that you do for our school communities!

Love seeing the “racks packed” at Saxe! Many students took advantage of this nice February day to get to school in the best way possible, using “people power”! 🙂

Congrats to our Saxe eSports program on their newly received hardware from the recent Vanta Super Smash Bros tourney! 🏆

Dogs Of Saxe are still making people smile each morning! Thanks to all who bring their 4-legged family members to drop off their humans at Saxe!

Dogs of Saxe were out in great numbers this week (including one of our “Saxe OGs” – Sisco!)

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)