October 25, 2024
Dear Saxe MS Family,
The beautiful fall weather has continued for us all to enjoy! Not only do we have some tremendous scenery around our campus, but we have also been able to take advantage of being outside longer than many other years. This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at our new Nurse, a Halloween reminder, Latin, Music, Science, Art, ELA, a visit to NC Nature Center, Pickleball, Lost & Found, some creative pouch decorations, some “team spirit”, a very special birthday celebration, staff PL, scenes around Saxe, an actual Saxe Hawk, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
10/31 – Halloween (please see the costume guidance, below)
11/1 – Photo Retake Day
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“Kind words don’t cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” – Blaise Pascal
“Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.” —Dalai Lama
“For success, attitude is equally as important as ability.” – Walter Scott
“Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.” —Chinese Proverb
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” -Henry David Thoreau
Saxe Jokes:
What’s a good name for an oyster? Pearl
What is the witch’s favorite school subject? Spelling!
Why did the frog take the bus to work today? His car got toad away
What do you call two witches trick or treating together? Broommates
How do bats know how to fly? They just wing it.
New Saxe MS Nurse
Saxe Middle School would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest addition, our MS Nurse, Ms. Lori Faust! We are lucky to have her join our team and we are grateful to the rest of our NCPS Nursing crew for helping throughout the entire transition – thank you! If you have any medical-related questions, please feel free to call Ms. Faust at 203.594.4573 or email at lori.faust@ncps-k12.org.
Halloween ‘24 Reminder
As we look ahead to next week, we recognize that Halloween is a fun time of year for our middle school students. While we do not plan anything formal as a school, many students choose to “get in the spirit” by dressing up. For those choosing to wear a costume to school on Thursday (10/31), please be sure to follow the guidelines below:
- Appropriate school dress protocols still apply as outlined in the “Personal Appearance” section of our student handbook, found on page 13.
- Please arrive at school dressed in costume. Students will not be permitted to change or apply makeup or hair products in school.
- Costumes are not permitted to include anything that would be considered a weapon (or toys representing weapons).
- Costumes should not include handheld props, noisemakers, restrict movement or vision, or consist of anything that would prevent students from full participation in any/all classes.
- Costumes should not be distracting to classmates or teachers or be overly graphic, suggestive, or depict violence, blood, or gore.
- If costumes do not follow the above guidance, are considered inappropriate, or compromise safety in any manner, students will be asked to contact home for a change of clothes.
We look forward to enjoying the spirit that Halloween brings for many and appreciate you helping us follow our charter when planning for a fun day!
Speaking of Halloween, the Saxe Cart has a special decorative item this week!! Meet Jack-O-Rock!
Latin
The 7th and 8th celebrated their annual ‘Dies Lustricus.’ It is our Roman Naming Day and our students dress in a toga or tunic for the ceremony. They also made a Roman Bulla that symbolizes their new Roman name and Roman clan while keeping away evil spirits.
Music
8th grade orchestra students rehearsed with the NCHS orchestra this week in preparation for their joint concert being held on Wednesday, December 4th at 7:00pm in the NCHS Auditorium. It was great to see so many of our former students back in the building!
Science
Over the past week, 8th graders on the green team investigated different reproductive strategies used by various living things. Each student had the opportunity to explore one organism more closely and create a poster describing their methods of reproduction. After a gallery walk where students were able to learn from each other’s work, they brainstormed lists of both advantages and disadvantages for species that use sexual or asexual reproduction to better understand the connection between reproduction and natural selection.
Art
Our 7th grade students are currently in the process of their visual pun project in our drawing unit! Emphasizing the importance of value in our graphite observational drawings, our students also get to combine their knowledge from language arts in this unit! Students choose a compound word that has multiple meanings and turn it into a visual pun! See if you can take a guess at what some of these in process works are!
ELA
8th grade ELA students making personal symbols out of pipe cleaners for writing inspiration!
Special Education
Our ACCESS students visited New Canaan Nature Center and Rising Starr Horse Rescue in Wilton, CT this week!
Pickleball
The Pickleball Club enjoying some round robin match play on a beautiful fall day!
Lost and Found
Has your child come home minus a coat, lunchbox, hat or water bottle? Then please have them take a look at our very extensive collection in Lost and Found! Our custodians, who take such good care of the Lost and Found (even organized items by color!), had to add more hangers to the 115 that they already had…and it’s only October! If you would like to come and take a look yourself, sign in with our Campus Monitors and we can show you where Lost and Found is located. Thanks for helping us rehome our lost items!
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Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Just a few of the amazing designs as our Saxe MS students personalize their personal tech pouches… So creative & love seeing the new ones that come in each week!
We have all heard the old adage “the dog ate my homework”… Here is an actual case of “the dog ate my personal device pouch”! And, another terrifically decorated pouch! Our students & staff are doing a nice job maintaining a healthy environment as it relates to tech. Thank you!
Saxe ELA students have begun crafting their stories by working through universal themes & central ideas. It was neat to hear their topics & see some samples from previous years. They are off to a great start & I look forward to seeing their finished products!
Themes, observations, statements, & more to support writing in ELA. The personal stories are coming along nicely & we look forward to seeing the end product!
Saxe Math students use a combo of tech (Desmos), and pencil/paper to work through parallel & perpendicular line problems independently, with partners, & checking in with their teacher… Great balance in learning all around!
Every time I leave a Saxe SS class where they are conducting a Socratic seminar, I leave inspired. Our students do such an amazing job of preparing their stances, respectfully exchanging ideas, & truly having a civil discourse. Great life skills!
Saxe Math students working through Functions, Domain, Range, & much more… Great to see the independent, partner, & group interaction!
Working through some linear equations in Saxe Math! Good checks & balances with the packets & tech…
This display in the Saxe MS 8 Green hallway is a great representation of how individual & unique each member of our teams are. This is all part of what makes our learning community so special!
The Saxe MS 7 Blue Town Hall was a great display of “community” as they signed their team charter & had some fun along the way. And, this student created image is terrific – nice work!
Can you think of a better way to celebrate a birthday?! Wow! Thanks to Ms. Dorfman & her orchestra students for making Ms. Benware’s birthday (Click to watch/listen!) one of the best ever!
The Saxe MS Main Office is a hub of activity, especially when our talented students are speaking to the entire school community with announcements, updates, & the Pledge of Allegiance!
Thanks to our Saxe staff for their sincere engagement in our PL session this week. Reviewing group dynamics, who we want to be as a learning community, & sharing actionable ways to do it = time well spent! Thanks to our EI members for coordinating such a meaningful session.
A very special “welcome” to our new Saxe MS Nurse, Ms. Faust! We are excited to have you join the team & welcome aboard!
Thank you to the Saxe MS NCEA Hospitality crew for putting on an amazing “TGIF Breakfast”! It was so nice to see some familiar faces & the food options were beyond great!
Scenes around Saxe
Some beautiful fall scenery around the Saxe MS campus… This has been an amazing “autumnal season”!
Hawks of Saxe
Here is a pic of our Saxe MS Hawk “in the wild” – pretty neat!
Photo credit: J. Leffers
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
