April 5, 2024
Dear Saxe Family,
We thought we had a busy week between Kindness Week, a field trip, assemblies, Colonial Day, celebrations, and more. And then, we got to experience a 4.8 earthquake today! For many of us who have never experienced an earthquake, it may have been “cognitively confusing” for our brains to process what was occurring. Was that a class upstairs? Helicopters or airplanes? Wind? The Revolutionary War Enactment? (all actual comments)… Nope, an actual earthquake that was felt right here in New Canaan! Our students and staff were terrific and for those who felt it, will most likely remember the memorable experience for many years to come (I just saw a quote that read, “This is one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast to occur in the last century.”). Now, we get to look forward to a 92% eclipse on Monday! For the few who mentioned they will be traveling to the path of totality, we look forward to hearing about your experiences!
Now, back to our regularly scheduled newsletter… This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at a social media presentation, door decorating, CT Voices of Hope, Colonial Day, World Language Week, Math, Music, ELA, National School Library Month, Chelsea Piers, our dedicated Campus Monitors, Kindness all around, celebrating our Assistant Principals, Pets of Saxe (staff), Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
4/8 Eclipse-related events!
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”-Michael Jordan
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it’s right.” — Rosa Parks
“Success is focusing the full power of all you are on what you have a burning desire to achieve.”–Wilfred Peterson
“Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.”-Virat Kohli
Jokes that brought a smile to our faces this week:
“Why should you avoid the stairs on April Fools’ Day? Because they’re always up to something!”
“How does the man in the moon cut his hair? Eclipse it.”
“Why did the moon burp? Because it was full.”
“Why did the teacher bring solar eclipse glasses to school? She had bright students!
“What did the sun bring to the solar eclipse party? A light snack!”
Social Media Presentations
On Thursday, New Canaan Cares sponsored presentations by Max Stossel, a social media expert, on “Social Media and Your Kids”. He spoke to almost 700 students & staff during the day and well over 300 parents at night. The sessions were good reminders of how we are all navigating the challenges of the balance between the physical and digital landscapes that we live in, daily. In case you missed it, here are some of his tips:
Thanks to NC Cares and we look forward to continuing the conversation!
v
Did you attend the presentation and are interested in providing some feedback? We would love to hear what you thought of the presentation and welcome any feedback you may have by accessing the Max Stossel Assembly Reflection.
In case you missed it last week, we featured our own cell phone policy/rules for Saxe students. Feel free to check it out, here.
Door Decorating
How can you not smile walking through the halls and passing these amazing displays of color, creativity, kindness, and spirit?!
Not to be outdone, our Library staff is ALWAYS in the spirit of making a warm, welcome, encouraging, environment!
Technically, not a door, but still an awesome message…
CT Voices of Hope/Hero Center Speaker Bureau
On Thursday, March 28th we welcomed Susan Unrad to our school to share with our 8th graders. A former English teacher and school counselor, Mrs. Unrad shared her parent’s story of Holocaust survival. She comes to us via an introduction from the CT Voices of Hope/Hero Center Speaker Bureau.
Colonial Day
Please ask your 5th grader about their learning at our annual Colonial Day today. We thank the 5th Connecticut Regiment of the Continental Line for engaging our students in learning more about life in the late 18th century in Connecticut. Students heard from reenactors including soldiers, civilians, men, and women as well as Patriots and Loyalists. We thank all the parents who helped out and want to especially thank Mrs. Jen Berry for all of her work in coordinating this event this year for our students.
We even got to show one of our favorite retired custodians, Carl, the photo that is named after him – he thought it was a hoot!
Grade 5 World Language Week
5th Grade participating in our first-ever World Language Week hosted by our 8th grade and HS language students! During this presentation, students were exposed to all four World Language offerings (Spanish, French, Latin and Mandarin) and had an opportunity to ask questions about each choice to help prepare for their decision on which language to choose for 6th grade and for the rest of their time at Saxe. Each student went home with a reflection sheet as well. Be sure to ask them about it! Directions on how to make a language choice was sent via email last week. Choices are due by Friday, 5/10 with a reminder email going out on Wednesday, May 8th.
Math
Students in Mrs. Harrington’s 5th Grade Math class used tiles to simulate sharing chocolate bars so that they could explore the meaning of a fraction as division and to predict what happens if there are fewer chocolate bars than people and/or fewer people than chocolate bars!
Students in Mrs. Harrington’s Compacted Math 5 class used the Geogebra platform on the computer to simulate making green water so that they could explore why and how ratios can be equivalent when quantities change and also what happens when you double the blue but triple the yellow!
Students in Ms. Kiley’s Pre Algebra class are using vertical whiteboards to practice solving systems of equations. This format allows students to work collaboratively, communicate their thinking and critique the reasoning of others.
Music
Fifteen Saxe band and orchestra students auditioned and were selected to participate in the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) Western Region Honor Band and Orchestra Festival on March 22nd and 23rd. We are so proud of their hard work and dedication and thank them for representing our school so beautifully. The students that participated were Felipe Fuentes, Emily Meng, Kaleb Tan, Emma Biegel, Michael Cantu, Ella Catherwood, Arlo Cohen, Payce deMarco, William Duffee, Joseph Diamantis, William Ely, Abigail Greenhut, Yuqing Jiang, Anca Jordan, and Olivia Seo!
ELA
In their Historical Fiction book clubs, fifth grade readers have worked together to conceptually map out the characters, setting, conflicts and themes of the book/time period in a group “tablecloth”. Students make their thinking visible by working to make mind maps and connect each others’ ideas visually.
National School Library Month
April is National School Library Month! The Saxe Library is celebrating with trivia questions each week. Students can stop by the circulation desk to take a guess. This week’s question was “How many books have Saxe students and teachers checked out so far this school year?” The answer? 14,164. That’s a lot of reading!
Grade 6 Chelsea Piers Trip
Cloudy weather and rain didn’t stop the games as 6th-grade students headed to Chelsea Piers for team-building activities. It was awesome to see our students persevere through tasks, and it was a great opportunity to build unity and reinforce our school’s values!
Saxe Spotlight
We continue to highlight some “behind the scene” staff members that we could not function without…
This week, our Spotlight is on our Campus Monitors. Their contributions are invaluable, and your dedication does not go unnoticed. Your presence on campus provides a sense of security that allows our students to focus on learning and growing. You all are the silent guardians who ensure that every corner of our school is a safe haven for exploration and education. Thank you for your dedication, your vigilance, and your kindness. You are an indispensable part of the Saxe Middle School family, and we are truly grateful for everything you do.
Quality Team Time
6Green spends some quality time together collaborating with one another and their teachers in Ms. Veach’s room!
Odyssey of the Mind
Saxe 5th Graders competed in the Odyssey of the Mind competition in New Haven. Their problem was “Rocking World Detour” where they were different crayons in a band called “OUT OF THE BOX”. The team included Francis Jones, Gino Monaghan, JP Satzinger, Sofia Canoro, Nicole Lobashova, Mina Ciolli, Will Campbell and was coached by Michael Canoro.
Pizza with the Principal
This week, Mr. Gusitsch got to enjoy some pizza and conversation with the great group of 5th-graders. Thanks to everyone for the good company and for sharing about your experiences at Saxe Middle School!
Traveling Treats
Saxe SRO, Officer Blank, gets a visit from one of our favorite crews. This is just one stop of many as they spread joy around the school – thanks to all involved!
Morning Arrival Fun
Ms. Veach and Ms. Rende are decked out in Kindness gear!
And, a birthday selfie!
Twitter/X
Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
We are so grateful at Saxe to have an amazing team of APs! Their commitment to students, staff, and parents is shown every day through their kindness, caring, and positive relationships. Thank you Ms. Granite, Mr. Bedard, and Dr. Ferreira!
And, thank you to our PTC for treating our APs to some delicious treats!
This week we celebrated World Autism Awareness Day. We are proud of our Saxe community & the support they show for everyone – seeing tons of t-shirts being worn!
Colonial Day has arrived at Saxe! Nothing to see here, just a few Revolutionary troops reporting for duty…
Saxe 6 Green & 6 Purple are loaded up on the buses & ready for their trip to Chelsea Piers! Looking forward to a great opportunity to build team, community, & reinforce our values as a school!
Team circles to warm it up & discuss safety(Click the link to watch!), teamwork, integrity(Click the link to watch!), & FUN!
Pets of Saxe (staff)
A few weeks ago, we began featuring the pets who reside at the homes of some of 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… If you are a staff member and would still like to participate, you are welcome to access the slideshow and enter your pets. Enjoy!
Ms. Wasserman
Ms. Stilwell
Ms. Baranyar
Mr. Gusitsch
Dogs of Saxe
We enjoyed seeing quite a few pups brave the colder than normal weather this week. Here are just a few!
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 