December 13, 2024
Dear Saxe MS Family,
Happy Friday the 13th! And, since we have early dismissal next Friday (12/20), congratulations on completing our last full week of 2024! We continue to make the most of every day and we have so much to be grateful for as a school community.
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at some fun for the holiday break, PJ Day, School Counseling, Yearbook (grade 8 photos/ads), Music, the latest Saxe Spotlight (grade 7), Toys for Tots, Lost & Found, Ugly Sweater Day, Science, a Saxe birthday, Hospitality Library, Recess, Spirit, Sustainability, gratitude, holiday traditions, Scenes around Saxe, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
12/14 NCHS Football Championship Game at CCSU – Go Rams!
12/17 Winter Chorus Concert
12/20 Ugly Sweater Day
12/20 Early Release Schedule (12:00) – Happy Holiday Break!
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”–Theodore Roosevelt
“The future depends on what you do today.”-Unknown
“You have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”-Harriet Tubman
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James
“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions and the roots spring up and make new trees.”–Amelia Earhart
Saxe Jokes:
How does an astronaut pay for his coffee? With Star-bucks!
Why did Princess Elsa fall off her sled? She let it go.
Why did the horse keep falling down? It wasn’t very stable!
What kind of Math do snowy owls like? Owl-gebra!
What do snowmen like to do on the weekend? Chill out!
Hawk Tales: Travels and Traditions
As we head into the holiday break, let’s keep our Hawk pride soaring! Whether you stay home, or travel near or far, let’s have some fun by bringing our school mascot along for the adventure. Next week, stop by the Main Office and grab a favorite “Hawk Quote” to snap a photo with it to capture special moments home, away, or anywhere in between. We’ll collect our photos (please email Ms. Jarosik & Mr. Gusitsch) to create a virtual and physical bulletin board celebrating our vibrant school community. Share your Hawk holiday spirit, and let’s see where our Hawks fly this season! We will share more details in our announcements next week, too. Go Hawks!
Good People Doing Good Things
Thank you to everyone who participated as we joined schools around the state to support the CT Children’s Foundation PJ Day, which, helps raise money for children who are battling cancer. And, our school community enjoyed the spirit of wearing pajamas to support this great cause! (you will see some pics, below).
As of this post, NCPS has amazingly and generously donated $11,415 making us the second largest team contributor in the state of Connecticut! A HUGE Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this possible. It is yet another example of what makes this community truly special!
If you’d still like to donate, please click: https://give.connecticutchildrens.org/team/623282?is_new=true…
School Counseling
This week, Middle School Counselors Sarah Beltran, Brad Lepisto, and Tammy Nettleton talked with students about the stress response, how it is there to help us, and how to think about stress in positive ways in order to use it to meet a challenge. Students came up with their own stress scenarios and ways they could use their mindset and thinking to prepare for each situation. Great life skills!
8th Grade Baby Photos & Ads
The January 10th cut off date is closer than you think! We would love to add your 8th grade child(ren)’s baby photo in the yearbook. Please use the link below to add one in! It is really important that you rename the photo with your child’s last name.first name so that we make sure all the photos are connected to the right students. In addition, if you would like to do either an ⅛ of a page or ¼ of a page ad for your student at the back of the yearbook, the link is included for that as well. We started this tradition last year and the students seemed to really enjoy it! If you have any questions, you can contact the yearbook staff: Carianne.Mackenzie@ncps-k12.org or Lisa.Jarosik@ncps-k12.org.
Music
The 8th-grade band students shared the joy of music (holiday and otherwise) with each of our elementary schools this week. Not only does this showcase what our future Saxe students have to look forward to, but our students were thrilled to share such a meaningful experience.
Saxe Spotlight
A couple of weeks ago, we began our “Staff Spotlight” series to help showcase a little insight into what makes our school community special. So far, we have featured one of our teams in 8th-grade (Green) and our Health and Physical Education teachers. This week, we take a look at our Grade 7 Team teachers. We also asked them all the question: What would you like your students to take away from being on your team at the end of the year?
7 Green
“We want students to remember the relationships they built and the fun and engaging learning experiences they had in 7th grade.”
Mrs. Beltran (school counselor), Ms. Ryan, Mrs. Connolly, Mr. Devine, Mr. Santoro Mrs. Reed
7 Purple Team
“We would like our students to take away a sense of community that we built as the 7 Purple Family.”
Ms. Campbell, Mrs. Smith, Ms. Andrews, Mr. Young
7 Blue
“Blue team would like our students, at the end of the year, to have empathy and be kind to others.”
Ms. Prinz, Mr. Myers, Mrs. Korman, Mrs. Walsh, Dr. Ferreira
Note: bonus points for the PJs today!
7 Red
“We want students to take away a deeper understanding of empathy, preparedness, and effort.”
Ms. Evensen, Mrs. Kiley, Mr. D’Alton, Mr. DiGregorio, Ms. Craw
Over the course of the next few months, we will be capturing, highlighting, and featuring elements of our structure and systems at Saxe Middle School that help make our learning community the best it can be. For example, our team structure allows are large school to become a number of smaller, tight-knit communities that our students feel connected to. Over the course of the year, the learning, experiences, and fun create lasting memories that help make this critically important developmental period in their lives as meaningful and productive as possible. To learn more about why teaming is so important in middle-level education, please feel free to check out more details and resources through our national organization, AMLE (Association of Middle Level Education).
Toys for Tots
The 7th grade Leadership Team is working with Toys for Tots to collect new and unwrapped toys for children in need ages 12 and younger. We are asking students throughout the school and members of the school community to consider donating a toy to help a child in need. Please help us to reach our goal of 100 toys. If we reach our goal we will be able to have a fun spirit day in January. Thank you for your participation!
What: New and unwrapped toys for children up to age 12
When: December 9th – December 19th
Where: Drop off at the main entrance in the Toys for Tots box
Friendly Reminder
Dear Saxe Parents: Our Lost & Found is still overflowing with awesome items that would like to find their way home again! Please have your child check on their way to lunch to see if they can find anything they may be missing. You can also feel free to come and visit our lost and found by checking in with our Campus Monitors who will show you where you can view our items. A reminder that if they are not claimed by Monday, December 16th, they will be donated to a local charity. A big thank you to our custodial staff who has taken such wonderful care of these items. Thank you for your help!
Ugly Sweater Day
Join in the fun and rock your ugliest sweater next Friday, 12/20!
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Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Students in Mr. Ekstrom’s Saxe Science class were working through “Turkey Genetics” to better understand certain traits, how they are passed through generations, & what that means for “fitness/evolution”. Terrific student engagement & a fun way to learn!
We love to hear “Happy Birthday!” out the car window as we celebrate these special days at Saxe MS! I hope it was the best day ever – enjoy & Happy Birthday!
Thank you to the Saxe Hospitality crew for the amazing “TGIF Breakfast” today… It’s a great was to start the day & round out the *last full week of 2024 at Saxe MS! (*1/2 day on 12/20)…
The board outside the Saxe Library is gearing up for its latest iteration… Can’t wait to see it all come together, the library crew always does such an amazing job!
A bit brisk outside today, but 100+ Saxe MS 8th-graders chose to get out and get some fresh air, physical activity, & social interaction during Saxe Recess… Good choice & nice work!
Congrats to our Saxe Music program for sharing some of what our future Saxe MS students have to look forward to as they traveled to each of our elementary schools this week spreading some holiday cheer!
Thank you to our Saxe MS Friday afternoon crew for spreading some holiday joy with the Saxe MS Treat Cart! (&, there was a back to back height challenge – Josh has some lofty goals to be as tall as Mr. Steele!)
The Sustainability Club at Saxe MS is on a roll with some *early plantings, recycling reminders, & showcases of how our school community is environmentally friendly! (*stay tuned for some opportunities to purchase some plants in the near future!)
We used some creative prompts to produce some AI generated images to promote our upcoming Saxe MS “Hawks over the Holidays” program… We look forward to rolling it out & encourage all of our Saxe Hawks to participate!
Ours Saxe Hawks are getting ready to soar into the holiday break & 2025 with the “Hawks over the Holidays” program… We look forward to rolling it out & encourage all of our Saxe MS students to participate! Thank you to everyone who helpedn brainstorm and prep the program…
The main stairwell at Saxe MS is getting a fresh coat of paint & we look forward to seeing the finished product!
Scenes Around Saxe
The latest 8Red board looks great with some positive messaging & important reminders to be successful, good people as we head into 2025! “Your candle does not dim by helping someone else’s shine”…
The 8Blue board looks great with the winter theme and positive messaging! It’s great to see some nice seasonal traditions & all they are grateful for!
Thank you to our “Holiday Helpers” for making our Saxe MS main entrance look so festive & welcoming – you are appreciated!
The pics don’t really do it justice, but there were some amazing morning “Scenes around Saxe MS” this week!
Photo credit: Mr. James O’Leary
Dogs of Saxe
We had some friendly Dogs Of Saxe at arrival this week, including an 8-week Weimaraner! Such a fun way to start the day, thanks to all who share their pets with us – we love it!
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
