2024.3.8 – Saxe Weekly – The Saxe weekly

March 8, 2024

Dear Saxe Family,

Our first full week of March was filled with unique learning experiences and ended with some sunshine and getting classes outside! Thanks for checking out our latest edition of the Saxe Weekly where we take a look at a Daylight Savings reminder, Math, Saxe/NCHS Orientation, a Social Studies & STEM collaboration, French, Automation & Robotics, a giant map, Science, Sustainability Club, Spirit Wear, some Saxe-related athletic celebrations, gratitude, the new NCPS Facebook page, pizza with the principal, Band, Chess Club, an update on the Hawk’s Court project, a new feature: Pets of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch

Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

3/10 Daylight Savings – spring forward!

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“Success is Where Preparation & Opportunity Meet”-Unknown

“When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” – Elon Musk

“Success isn’t Always about Greatness. It’s about Consistency.”-The Rock

“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.”- John Wooden

“Take the challenge of your life. Reach out to your goals. There is no limit to what you can achieve.”―Lailah Gifty Akita

Jokes that brought a smile to our faces this week:

How do you get straight A’s? Use a ruler!

What did the left eye say to the right eye? Between us, something smells!

Where do you go if you get hurt while playing peek-a-boo? The ICU

Why do magicians do so well in school? They’re good at trick questions.

Daylight Savings 2024

Don’t forget to “spring those clocks forward” Saturday night before going to bed!

(I love sleep, but will gladly forgo that hour for those longer days!)

Math

In Mr. Fiorillo’s 5th grade math class, students have been diving into the world of decimals. They are actively comparing, adding, and subtracting decimals using hundredths grids as visual tools. They are using these experiences to support their understanding of the standard algorithm for adding and subtracting decimals. This week, the class engaged in the game “Fill Two,” a fantastic way to reason with decimals in the tenths, hundredths, and thousandths places.

6th-graders in Ms. Utter’s Class had an opportunity to apply the concepts of indirect measurement in a real-world scenario. What a perfect day to get outside and apply their learning!

Saxe/NCHS Orientation

Saxe students got their first official taste of NCHS as they participated in the annual 8th-9th grade orientation on Thursday evening. It was wonderful to see our students, and their parents, navigating the halls and experiencing a snippet of what their future holds! Thanks to the NCHS staff and students who help make this such a special, welcoming evening for all.

Social Studies/STEM Collaboration

This week, the culmination of a terrific 6th grade Social Studies and STEM/Innovation collaboration was on display. The Cultural Hearths Gallery Walk was a showcase of innovative design thinking projects that aimed to address contemporary challenges, stemming from historical legacies. The Gallery Walk provided an engaging platform for our talented students to present their design thinking solutions, which were centered around the exploration and resolution of issues deeply rooted in those historical legacies. Each project reflected a culmination of creative thinking, research, community outreach, and collaborative problem-solving. And, students had a great time checking out each others finished products!

Very “timely” for Daylight Savings this weekend! 🙂

French

Grade 8 French students were fashion models for the day! Students practiced describing clothing this week in the ‘Prêt-à-Porter’ unit. They imagined they were in Europe for Paris Fashion Week, ‘Semaine de la Mode de Paris,’ and put together original outfits that they brought in from home. Dressed in at least 5 items of clothing, they walked the catwalk to their choice of music while ‘le commentateur’ introduced the model to the audience, described the weather in Paris, then described what the model was wearing using different adjectives and colors, all in French!

Automation and Robotics

Last week, 8th-grade students competed in our quarterly robot race (click on the link to check it out!). Students were tasked with building the fastest robot that:

starts with the push of a button and,
has a crash detector.

Students used the engineering and design process to develop an array of robots. After many iterations, we had 3 categories of winners:

head-to-head race champions,
time champions, and
most innovative.

Students used creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills to overcome the many obstacles that occur when designing, building, and coding robots. Check back for the results of our second challenge: autonomously navigating a maze.

Social Studies

What do backpacks and shoes outside of Ms. Campbell’s room mean? Giant map time!

These 7th-graders were able to “learn through movement” as they studied countries in Africa on this enormous map. Students will definitely be able to recall important facts as they think back on walking, sliding, sitting, and moving all around the “continent”!

Science

5th-graders were practicing with their Vex Robotics creations this week. Here we have a couple of students navigating the halls with the impressively agile, “Curt”!

6th-graders got to experience the Erosion Phenomena: Cape Cod Car Mystery as they applied a real world scenario into their learning process!

Sustainability Club

The Sustainability Club had their latest harvest this week, & what a haul it was! Most was gone by the end of the day as Saxe staff are able to grab some healthy greens on the go!

The sustainability club is also working on programming an automatic watering system for our seedlings we’re sprouting for planting in a few weeks. Students used microprocessors, soil moisture sensors, water pump, and more to code their project. Amazing work by our students and staff!

NCHS Color Drop

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.

Cinderella project

Jules Alexander, a seventh grader, is partnering with The Cinderella Project to collect prom dresses for the upcoming season. This year Jules is helping students at Westhill High School and Stamford High School. She has a dropoff box located outside the entrances near both the lower and upper division offices. If you have any dresses that are appropriate for prom to be donated to those in need, please drop them off in the boxes by March 22nd.

Pre-Order your Saxe Spring Spirit Wear

PRE-ORDER THE SPRING COLLECTION

Leap into spring with a fresh, new look from the Saxe Spring 2024 Collection. Our Saxe Spirit Wear store is now open for preorder! Shop our new spring collection for students and adults. All orders should be placed on or before March 12 by midnight. All items will be ready for pickup in mid-April.

Click HERE to order.

Saxe in the News

“The team with the most state championships in Connecticut high school girls ice hockey history has added one more.” Congratulations to our very own coach Bulan and the New Canaan Girls Ice Hockey team for winning the state championship this week! Many of those familiar faces are our former Saxe students (some as recently as last year) – congrats to all!

Gratitude

8Red has updated their bulletin board for March by sharing why they feel “Lucky”… Way to have an “attitude of gratitude”!

A Note for Saxe/NCPS Parents

Exciting news! NCPS has a NEW Facebook Page! Our official NCPS District Facebook is now: www.facebook.com/newcanaanpublicschools. Follow + give them a like for an inside look at student activities, upcoming events, and all the happenings at your #NCPS School!

New Canaan Public Schools Facebook:

www.facebook.com/newcanaanpublicschools

Pizza with the Principal

We had a terrific group of 8th-graders join Mr. Gusitsch for a lunch gathering to learn more about each other, share about their middle school experiences, and provide suggestions for how we can continue to improve the student experience at Saxe. Thanks to everyone who joined/particpated, and of course, the PTC for sponsoring!

(we had a few more, but they were able to sneak out before we snapped the picture)! 🙂

Morning Announcements

Our students take their job seriously and do a terrific job keeping our school community informed as they read announcements each morning!

Twitter/X

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

Congrats to the 8th-grade girls’ basketball (click the link to watch!) team who won their league championship this week on their “home court”! A schedule change resulted in the game being played at Saxe during the week and staff, students, & parents all enjoyed seeing them win big at home!

The Saxe gym is rocking as the crowds (click the link to watch!)(parents, peers, & staff) came out to cheer on our 8th-grade girls in the championship game!

Rainy morning at Saxe?! No problem! Ms. Rende takes her a.m. duties seriously, & has got you covered!

Our #SaxeBand students are sounding good even when they are tuning/warming up…

March 3-9 is School Social Workers Week! “Shout out” & a huge “thank you!” to our Social Work team: Ms. Wasserman, Ms. Miceli (Social Work Intern), Ms. Greto (Teen Talk Counselor) & Ms. Pesce. Saxe is grateful for you!

Some serious focus, concentration, & brainpower on display during Chess Club today at Saxe!

Want to stay informed on “all things” NCPS? Check out the new New Canaan Public Schools Facebook page!

It’s here! March is Middle Level Education Month. Tell us more about how you are celebrating #MLEM! Keep an eye on AMLE’s landing page for resources and continue sharing all the amazing ways you and your middle school is Leading from the Middle!

Exciting progress & grateful for all of the time/effort that has gone into this project that will benefit our entire learning community. Thanks to all involved! ⁦

⁩ ⁦

Check out the “Outdoor Basketball Courts at Saxe To Get Major Upgrade” article by clicking on the link!

Pets of Saxe

That’s right, it’s not just “Dogs of Saxe”! For the next few weeks, we will be featuring the pets who reside at the homes of some our staff members. Thanks to Mr. Gillan who coordinated this effort to provide this opportunity to get to know each other a little better and further unite our school community! Thanks to all who have contributed as well 🙂

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)