November 8, 2024
Dear Saxe MS Family,
It may have been a 4-day week for students this week, but our staff was in all week and we have so much to share and celebrate. This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Veterans Day, School Psychology Week, staff Charter, Math, Social Studies, Science, Music, “Parenting in a Digital World”, National Stress Awareness Day, student photos, Saxe in the news, “Know-vember”, Professional Learning, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
11/11 – Veteran’s Day
11/11-15 – National School Psychology Week
11/12 – Parenting Our Kids in a Digital World – 7:00 pm (Saxe Auditorium)
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”—Theodore Roosevelt
“Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen.” ― Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon
“Knowledge is power, and school is where you start to gain your superpowers.”–Unknown
“Knowledge is power, and school is where you start to gain your superpowers.”–Unknown
Saxe Jokes:
Where do young trees go to grow their knowledge? Elem-en-“tree” school!
If you have 13 apples in one hand and 10 oranges in the other, what do you have? Big hands!
What do you call a boomerang that won’t come back? A stick.
What do you call a cold dog? A chili dog
Veterans Day
We look forward to celebrating our Veterans on Monday (11/11) and will be sharing out the events of the day. Thank you to our Saxe staff members who have helped organize this meaningful way to recognize some of the most important members of our community, our nation’s veterans. Thank you to all who have served!
National School Psychology Week
National School Psychology Week in 2024 takes place from November 11–15. The theme for this year is “Spark Discovery”. The week is a celebration of the work that school psychologists do to help students, schools, and communities thrive.
School psychologists work with teachers, families, administrators, and other professionals to create safe and supportive learning environments. They also help to identify strategies that will best help each student, and to strengthen life-long skills.
We are grateful to our Saxe School Psychologists and appreciate their contributions to our school community – thank you!
Modeling for our Students
An important component of Saxe Middle School is our “team model”. To start this school year, our teams created team charters to identify five words that help describe how our students would like to feel while they are at Saxe on a daily basis. You can see an example from 8Green, below. One of the best educational practices is modeling what we teach. To that end, we shared with students how we chose the five words that our staff identified as how they would like to feel when they are at Saxe each day. Below is the announcement that we shared this week. Stay tuned for our very own “Staff Charter” image in the near future!
“In addition to your team Charters, did you know that our Saxe staff have “charter words” as well? These special words reflect our shared values and goals, highlighting the positive atmosphere we aim to create within our school community each day. Keep an eye out for our staff Charter words around campus: joyful, respected, safe, supported, and valued! These are great reminders of the supportive environment we’re building together (and, you may recognize some words that were chosen by our students, too!)”
Math
In Mr. Santoro’s Math 7 class, students are learning about various angle relationships and theorems and exploring these concepts through collaborative work. Students worked together to analyze different diagrams and to determine missing angle measures. They concluded the activity by sharing their strategies and explaining their reasoning.
Social Studies
8 Red Social Studies used an engaging, discussion-based tool called Parlay to explore whether the First Amendment fully meets the needs of people today. Students participated in a Socratic-style dialogue, which encourages them to listen closely to each other, ask thoughtful questions, and express their ideas respectfully. Before the Socratic, students spent time researching specific court cases regarding the First Amendment so they could provide evidence during their discourse. Parlay allows students to take notes during the discourse so they can respond to other student’s responses and allows the teacher the opportunity to see their thinking during the discussion.
Students considered these three questions, answering two during the discussion:
· Does the Bill of Rights today balance the common good with the rights of the individual?
· How does the Bill of Rights affect students’ lives today?
· Should There Be Limits to the 1st Amendment? If so, what should these limits be?
This format allows students to deepen their understanding of key civic topics while building skills in critical thinking, respectful dialogue, and collaborative learning. It’s a powerful way for students to connect classroom learning with real-world issues!
A special thanks to Ms. Freeman and Mr. Petrakopoulos for piloting this technology!
“Meet the Choirs” Festival Concert!
Last night, the NCPS Visual and Performing Arts Department kicked off their performance season with a Choir festival including singers from East, Saxe, and NCHS. Over 200 students performed for a packed NCHS auditorium of families and friends. What a fantastic night showcasing all of the vocal talent and student leadership we have here in New Canaan!
Parenting in a Digital World
On Tuesday, November 12th at 7pm in the Saxe Auditorium, please join us for an informative session where you’ll learn how to navigate the latest social media apps, set privacy controls, explore the positives and negatives of photo sharing, understand cyberbullying laws, and effectively communicate with your kids about safe technology use and online gaming limits. No pre-registration is required to attend.
Key Highlights will include:
- Social Media Apps and Privacy Settings
- Setting Limits and Effective Dialogue at Home
- Preventing and Addressing Cyberbullying and Digital Behavior
- Elementary Gaming Platforms and Safety
- Phone-Free Schools and Yondr Pouch Updates
- Positives and Negatives of Photo Sharing and our ‘Digital Tattoo’
About Our Speaker:
Scott Driscoll spent most of his 33-year career in law enforcement as a youth officer with a local Connecticut police department, building a rapport with youth in the community and in the school system While serving on a federal task force combatting crimes against children, he conducted undercover investigations of crimes committed by people using computers and the Internet. Scott’s work reinforced his desire to inform people how they can protect themselves from the potential dangers of technology in an ever-increasingly-connected world. Scott founded Internet Safety Concepts in 2007 with the goal of educating people with a clear message: if we don’t consider safety while we are online and using other technology, we can put ourselves and others in danger.
Additional information on Scott’s work is available on https://internetsafetyconcepts.com/
National Stress Awareness Day – Wednesday, November 6th
Students and staff had a great day practicing stress-relieving activities throughout the day! We asked students and staff to let us know what they did to help celebrate this important day and some pictures were shared below. Petting a furry creature, listening to music, being in nature, deep breathing and hanging out with friends were some of the favorites. Students and staff who completed the google form were entered to win a gift card and the winners are:
7th grade: Avery Van Dam and Biel Orriols
8th grade: Daniela Studzinski and Will Frieders
Teacher: Mr. Meyers
Congrats and thanks to all who participated!
NCHS Poinsettia Sale
Once again, the New Canaan Education Association will be sponsoring their annual fundraising poinsettia sale this year. The money that the faculty raises is used to make charitable donations to various local and state charities, including college scholarship money to a deserving NCHS senior with an interest in entering the field of education. This year, you can order your poinsettias online. If you are interested in purchasing poinsettias this holiday season, please follow this link to take you to our order form. The deadline for orders is November 26th. You will be able to pick up your plants starting December 2nd (details to follow). Thank you for your support!
Student Photos
Can’t find your student photos? Please see the information below to find your online codes.
Saxe in the News
2010/2011 Girls Premier soccer team won the league yesterday with a 3-0 win. These girls moved up to play U15 and finished the season 6-1-1
Schools Supporting Schools
Saxe Intermediate School’s 5th and 6th graders are bringing holiday magic to the stage with Elf JR., a musical based on the beloved Christmas movie. Follow Buddy the Elf as he leaves the North Pole for New York City, discovering his true identity and spreading Christmas cheer along the way. Tickets go on sale Nov 13th!
X
Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Each morning, our Saxe MS Main Office comes alive with enthusiasm as our students read the morning announcements… Thank you to everyone who plans, prepares, and helps make this such a positive experience for our entire school community!
The “Know-vemeber” board outside the #SaxeLibrary continues to expand with some great pieces of trivia and fun/informative visuals! Thank you to all involved – this is great!
Thank you to our New Canaan DPW for helping continue to improve safety around Saxe MS… Here are just a few of the many new bollards that got placed around the campus. Bonus, they can double as a solid seat for outdoor activities!
Saxe MS was busy on the outside as a polling location for voting this week, but also busy on the inside with some great Professional Learning by our staff! Thank you to our Curriculum Leaders & teams who provided such wonderful learning opportunities for our staff!
Here is a snapshot of our Saxe Math staff at work…
Here is a snapshot of our Saxe Science staff at work (&, play – looks at those custom cookies!)…
Thank you to our Saxe PTC for the amazing lunch spread. Our staff certainly felt valued & appreciated (&, it was delicious)!
Dogs Of Saxe
Some friendly faces to start the day at Saxe MS – thank you to all who share their 4-legged family members with us!
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
