March 7, 2025
Dear Saxe MS Family,
Our first full week of March is in the books and we have quite a bit to share and celebrate! This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at a Daylight Savings reminder, Science, ELA, Women’s History Month, Math, Arts in Education Month, Theatre, Middle Level Education Month, NCHS Color Drop, professional learning, 3D printing, Library, motivational moments, recess, a peek at March Madness (middle school style), a night for 8th-graders at NCHS, Certificates of Gratitude, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
3/9 Daylight Savings – Spring forward (2:00 a.m.)
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.” – George Bernard Shaw
“Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if it’s realistic or not.” —Deepak Chopra
“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.” —Carol Burnett
“You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens.”—Mandy Hale
“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people.” – Leo Burnett
Saxe Jokes:
What type of bug is in the FBI? A Spy-der.
What do you call a well-balanced horse? Stable.
What part of a turkey smells the best? It’s nose!
What do you call a camel with no humps? Humphrey
When is music sticky? When it’s on tape.
Friendly PSA – Daylight Savings ‘25
Don’t forget to “Spring ahead” this weekend!
Full disclosure: this may be a “thing of the past” as most clocks set themselves now, but parents will appreciate thinking back to trying to set & sync all the clocks in the house and cars 🙂
Science
8th-grade student scientists are currently investigating forces and motion. As seen here, students were planning and conducting experiments in order to determine the rate at which objects accelerate due to gravity, (“g”). Students dropped similar-sized balls with different masses and used slow-motion footage in order to determine the rate of acceleration. Great example of learning in action!
ELA
Thank you to Ms. Mackenzie on 8Purple for sharing some recent highlights from her classroom. In addition to some impressive celebrations, she also included a brief overview of some of the upcoming learning opportunities her students have to look forward to!
Student Spotlight
“I am very excited to announce that we currently have six students who have finished the 40 Book Challenge! Proud is an understatement! Below is a list of each of their favorite books that they read for the 40 Book Challenge:
Avery B.– The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma
Abby G. – Lovely War by Julie Berry
Brooke M. – I Was Born for This by Alice Oseman
Aarna P. – The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Avery P. – The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden
Mateo R. – Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unraveled by Shannon Messenger
What’s Up Next: Unit 4
Art of Argument: Independent reading work- mystery or a new genre; Argumentative essay and on-demand assessment
Want to know more about the 40 Book Challenge? There are great tips and pieces of advice for students and parents alike. Check out the details below!
We are starting our 40 Book Challenge today! I am challenging you to read 40 books by the end of the school year. I know it can be done! The purpose of this challenge is to get you reading books you might not normally choose and to increase your love of reading in different genres. This can be accomplished by reading during Independent Reading time at school and spending at least 30 minutes reading daily at home. The best way to become a better reader and to build vocabulary is to read!
Some books like shorter nonfiction books or traditional literature, can be read possibly in a day or two. Some books will obviously take longer to finish. Books read in class count toward the 40 book total. If a book is longer than 301 pages, it counts as two books; if it is longer than 600 pages, it counts as three books. You just need to read!
Before/During/After Reading a Book:
Before: Read the description, check which genres you haven’t read yet, read the first 10 pages before committing.
During: Take reading notes-post its/reader’s notebook.
After: Update your reading log and rate the book out of 5 stars!
Parents/Guardians
Please help keep your child on target by providing fascinating books for them, discussing what they have been reading, and making this habit a priority…and maybe even reading the same book! They should log the books they read on the reading timeline found in their notebook.
40 Book Challenge Genre Breakdown
· 2 realistic fiction books
· 2 informational/nonfiction
· 2 fantasies
· 2 mysteries
· 2 autobiographies/memoirs
· 2 biographies
· 2 historical fiction
· 2 science fiction
· 2 poetry
· 2 traditional literature
· 2 graphic novels
· 18 books of personal choice
Women’s History Month
Throughout the month of March, we honor the remarkable women who have shaped our communities and society at large. This week, we celebrate the lives and work of Ketanji Brown Jackson, Mary Katherine Goddard, Helen Zia, Annie Dodge Wauneka, and Sylvia Mendez. Their contributions have left a lasting impact, and our world would not be the same without them!
Math
Students in Ms. Link’s Algebra class learned about sequences and worked collaboratively with their classmates to write the rules and find a specific term in the sequence.
Arts in Education Month
Arts in Education Month is celebrated in March to recognize the value of the arts in schools and communities. It’s a time to celebrate the arts, advocate for arts education, and recognize talented artists and teachers. This week, we spotlight (and, thank) our amazing Music Teachers!
Mr. Demella, Mr. Leckie, Ms. Harris, Mr. Zeiser, Mts. Frazier, Mrs. Dorfman, Mr. Reynolds, Ms. Sagerstrand
Saxe Theatre
SpongeBob Needs Your Help! They are looking for rinsed, empty bottles (soda, orange juice, milk) to use for the set. If you have any you would like to donate, please bring them to the Main Office. And tickets are currently on sale for the show! You can buy them here: SpongeBob Tickets
Social Work Week
The week may be over but our appreciation continues on!
MLEM
As we continue our celebration of Middle Level Education Month, our Saxe Middle School staff have been “bravely” sharing their own “Middle School Era” pictures! It has been fun to see our staff collage grow and we look forward to sharing even more as the month goes on! Until then, enjoy the ones we have already collected 🙂
For more information on Middle Level Education Month, please feel free to check out the more detailed submission in last weeks Saxe Weekly.
NCHS Color Drop
This is for a great cause and benefits our current Saxe students who will eventually be NCHS Rams! For more info, check out the page on the NCSF site.
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Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
Happy March & Happy Middle Level Education Month from Saxe MS! Stay tuned for some exciting ways that we plan to celebrate some of the most important years in our students’ educational journey… We “believe” it’s going to be a great month!
Our Saxe MS staff revisited some important practices that help maintain the best learning environment possible for them, & their students, during Professional Learning on Thursday… As always, it starts with relationships! Thanks to all involved…
The 3D printers were all busy at Saxe MS this week! It is always fascinating to see our students’ creativity come to life through this medium! Saxe STEM (Click the link to watch!)
In addition to the 3D printers in the Fab-Lab, the ones in the Design Lab (click to see them in action) were also busy churning out some amazing creations!
Mr T’s Saxe Science class was busy measuring & recording data this week… It was great to see every student engaged & contributing at each table!
Our Saxe Library is definitely in the mood to celebrate this March! There are tons of choices & I look forward to seeing some of our Saxe MS students’ favs!
The “Believe Wall” at Saxe MS continues to grow! In isolation, each one is “just a sticky note with a message” but together, it is a powerful display of the boundless potential of “believing in yourself”!
8Red has adorned its March Bulletin board with positive messages from our Saxe MS students sharing some of what they are grateful for. There are so many thoughtful, meaningful reminders of all that we have to appreciate around us each day!
As we celebrate Middle Level Education Month (MLEM) at Saxe MS, we concurrently celebrate Arts in Education Month – here are a few pics from Mr. Reynold’s Music class!
Here are a few pics from Ms. Grainsky’s Art class!
And, here are a few pics from Ms. Giannetta’s Saxe Art class!
For so many of our Saxe MS students, this small window of time that we call Saxe Recess provides a great opportunity for some fresh air, vitamin D, socialization, activity, & much more. It also prepares them to be better learners in their next couple of classes!
Thanks to Ms. Orlando & Ms. Kellner for this amazing display that is going to add some madness to March & inspire our Saxe MS students to “Believe” in their goals & dreams! Stay tuned as it’s going to be so much more than “just a bracket” as we also celebrate MLEM!
These are still a work in progress, but notice the inspirational tie-in to what our students learn at Saxe… Instead of the “East, Midwest, South, and West” regions of the bracket, we have the “Encourage, Motivated, Soar, and We Believe” regions!
What an amazing experience for our Saxe MS 8th-graders as they were welcomed in to see all that NCHS has to offer as they look ahead to next year! You could feel the excitement in the air & there were rave reviews on the new “building tour” format. Thanks to all involved!
Our Saxe MS 8th-graders & their parents got to hear about the core subject areas at NCHS before heading out to see the rest of the building & hear about all they have to look forward to as the NCHS Class of 2029!
What makes our school system special? Our students! These are just a few of the NCHS volunteers who helped our Saxe MS students & parents navigate the building while answering questions & sharing all the NCHS Class of 2029 has to look forward to… They did a great job!
It was a packed house in the NCHS CT Wagner Room as Saxe MS students & parents heard about School Counseling, Extracurriculars/Clubs, Athletics, Resources, VPA, Nursing, Support Services, Technology, & more… Thanks to all involved!
In addition to hearing all about NCHS, our Saxe MS (Click the link to listen!) students & parents also got to hear the amazing talent the music program produces… Members of the chorus (including a human beatbox!) filled the hallway with beautiful sounds while the band rocked out the NCHS Cafeteria!
The NCHS orchestra (Click the link to listen!) did a terrific job welcoming everyone into the auditorium!
Congrats to our Saxe MS students who competed at Yale this past weekend in the state Mathcounts competition!
We were able to spread some joy at Saxe MS as we recognized students & staff with our monthly Certificates of Gratitude. Nothing better than seeing the smiles on the faces of recipients & thanking them for their contributions to our school community!
Happy Friday morning from Saxe MS! It’s a bright & blustery one out there today… It’ll be a little darker in the mornings for a few weeks as we get set to “spring our clocks forward” this weekend ⏰. Have a great day, All!
Dogs of Saxe
It was nice to see some Dogs of Saxe to start the day on this breezy Friday morning! We always enjoy seeing our 4-legged friends as they send their humans off to school!
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
