October 4, 2024
Dear Saxe MS Family,
It may have been a “4-day week”, but we still packed quite a bit in! This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Celebrate Saxe 2024, celebrating our Custodial crew, a Phone Free Schools update, Math, Saxe Spirit, an attendance reminder, Walk/Ride to School Day, Mandarin, STEM, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
10/4-11Celebrate Saxe Campaign 2024
10/8 Celebrate Saxe School Assemblies
10/9 Dr. Pressman book talk with Dr. Luizzi at the NC Library
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“You learn more from failure than from success. Don’t let it stop you. Failure builds character.”—Unknown
“Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can.” — Douglas Pagels
“The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.” – B.B. King
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” —John Dewey
Jokes of Saxe:
Why did the turkey join a band? So he could use his drumsticks
What is a Math Teacher’s favorite winter sport? Figure Skating!
What do computers like to snack on? Microchips!
What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta!
Celebrate Saxe 2024
CeleSaxe24 is officially kicking off this week at Saxe MS! Check out the lineup of events, spirit, & fun, below! Thanks to our amazing SaxePTC for planning what is going to be an amazing week, for a great cause (or students)! If you would like to participate, you are welcome to visit the Saxe PTC website (thanks again to all who help make Saxe special)!
Celebrating our Custodians
Last week, we recognized our amazing Custodial crew in advance of National Custodian Appreciation Day and wanted to acknowledge their efforts and how much we appreciate them, again!
From last week:
We are truly grateful to have one of the best custodial teams, anywhere! As we look ahead to National Custodian Day next week, we salute our “champions of Saxe”! Thank you, Tim, Darryl, Martin, Ted, Martha, Jonathan, Paul, James, Bob, Pete, and Wayne!
Phone Free Schools
The next phase of our Phone Free Schools is ready for rollout at SaxeMS! Thanks to all involved in planning, preparing, & making this process meaningful to our students (&, staff). It has been inspiring to see each phase of the design thinking process in action!
Below are a couple of slides that show “our why” for putting such a strong emphasis on Phone Free Schools. Thank you to Ms. Kleis, Ms. Schneider, and the rest of the team for their leadership in making this a successful roll-out!
Since students maintain possession of the pouches, some students have chosen to get creative with theirs! Below are a few great examples that have been shared from across the country. I am certain some of our students will be “creatively updating” their pouches to reflect their personalities and will rival (or, better) some of the amazing artwork below 🙂
If you are interested in learning more about the use of Yondr pouches in our Phone Free Schools, please feel free to scroll through the Parent Information slide deck and/or view the Parent Letter.
Math
Seventh-grade students in Mr. Santoro’s Grade 7 math class are learning how to add and subtract integers using manipulatives as an interactive number line. Students are also working collaboratively at whiteboards to reason through integer computation to determine when a sum or difference will be positive or negative. Mr. Santoro skillfully brings closure to the lesson activity by having students explain how their groups came to their conclusions regarding integer operations.
Saxe Spirit
Getting prepared for the SAXE CART as part of the Consumer Math Program! This crew was delivering goods (and, joy!), for a great cause, all around Saxe today!
They even have “staff” badges – very official!
Attendance Reminder
As we know, nothing is more important than our students being present in school. While there are certainly times that an absence is unavoidable, we have specific guidelines that we follow as a district. Below, please find our NCPS Attendance Policy and Requirements and a sample of the automated message that goes out to families if their child reaches 9 absences, regardless of the reason. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure every student is reaching their fullest potential!
NCPS Attendance Policy and Requirements
We strongly encourage all NCPS families to adhere to the school hours whenever possible when making appointments, and the school calendar when making family travel plans to maximize student time in the classroom learning environment. With that said, as we move into the cold and flu season, we request that parents of children demonstrating any signs or symptoms of illness (fever, cough, sore throat, vomiting, etc.) keep them home from school. Please communicate the reason for your child’s absence by calling our Absence Phone Line at 203-594-4500 and Press 1. Leave a message reporting your child’s name, grade, and the reason for the absence.
New Canaan Public Schools Board of Education Policy 5140 related to attendance aligns with state school attendance law. An overview of state attendance law can be found on pages 2 through 9 of the Guidelines for Excused and Unexcused Absences.
We would like to highlight the following:
- CT uses a two-tiered absence system for reporting purposes.
- The first 9 absences in a school year are considered Excused Absences.
- All absences after the 9th absence will be considered Unexcused Absences unless parents provide documentation as described in the Guidelines Document referenced above.
- NCPS generates a reminder letter to parents of students who have reached their ninth absence for the school year.
- The district sends automated letters as a means to alert parents and school staff to carefully monitor students who have hit the nine absence threshold, as we know that consistent attendance ensures fidelity of instruction which results in higher success and achievement for learners.
- A Sample NCPS Attendance Letter can be viewed here for your reference.
- Regarding daily attendance, as per the state attendance law and NCPS policy, “A student is considered to be ‘in attendance’ if present at his/her assigned school, or an activity sponsored by the school (e.g., field trip), for at least half of the regular school day.” A student not meeting the definition of ‘in attendance’ is considered absent.
- Our school day is 6.5 hours long, so a child must be ‘in attendance’ for at least three and one-quarter hours
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Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Good morning, SaxeMS! It’s a beautiful day for our fall Walk/Ride to School Day… We look forward to seeing our students & families (dogs included) out for a great way to start the day!
It was about as perfect of a morning as we could have asked for as students walked, biked, & “scooted” to SaxeMS for our fall Walk/Ride to School Day! Thank you to NewCanaanDPW & all the volunteers who help make this semi-annual event so safe & successful!
I may not have been able to understand all the words that were being spoken in Mandarin, I could definitely see some great student engagement & interactions while visiting! #SaxeWL
Our SaxeMS students were busy creating, programming, trying, & revising in #SaxeSTEM this week… It’s neat to see them learn, grow, & apply life skills throughout this process!
We always look forward to the amazing #SaxeArt pieces that go on display around SaxeMS. Thanks to our dedicated teachers for sharing with our entire learning community! Stay tuned as we will be sharing updates soon…
Our SaxeMS front courtyard got a little “freshening up” this week. Thanks to our custodial & maintenance crews who give such great care to these spaces – you are appreciated!
Dogs of Saxe
We loved seeing all the dogs out for our SaxeMSWalk/Ride to School Day this morning! Ollie & Clover were kind enough to stop for a quick photo 🙂 #DogsOfSaxe
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
