2025.11.7 – Saxe Weekly (#301)

November 7, 2025

Dear Saxe MS Family,

It is my hope that you navigated and adjusted to the recent time change, and the “darker earlier” evenings that come along with it. As perspective is always important, the mornings have been beautiful, and we will enjoy that earlier daylight while it lasts. Regardless of all that, our Saxe students had another productive week and were engaged in meaningful learning experiences that continue to build the foundational skills that will serve them for many years to come. These developmental years are so important in the overall development of adolescents, and we are grateful to be part of the process that helps our students learn and grow in all domains of their lives. Thank you for taking a moment to scan through and see just a snippet of the many moments that make up the comprehensive, meaningful experiences for our students (and, staff) at Saxe MS!

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the latest Saxe MS podcast, Mandarin, Nat’l Stress Awareness Day, Thanksgiving food drive, community speaker, an “ace”, Native American Heritage Month, “Miles of Thanks”, 3D printing, staff professional learning, ELA, Social Studies, Math, gratitude to our PTC, Science, morning activities, 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:

11/19 Education Support Professionals Day

11/26 Early Dismissal-Thanksgiving Vacation-No Homework

11/27 – 11/28 Thanksgiving Vacation

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“If you care about what you do and work hard at it, there isn’t anything you can’t do if you want to.”—Jim Henson

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does” – William James

“The harder you work for something, the greater you’ll feel when you achieve it.” – Anonymous

“Action is the fundamental key to success.” – Pablo Picasso

Saxe Jokes:

What happens when winter arrives early? Autumn leaves.

Why do trees hate tests in the fall? Because they get stumped by the questions.

Why do people love November? Because they simply fall for it.

What is the cutest season? Awwtumn.

Saxe Weekly: The Podcast

Interested in getting an overview of the latest Saxe Weekly in podcast form? Using Google’s Notebook LM, we are able to offer an option to listen to all of the great “goings on” in our school community while you are “on the go”, with the Saxe MS Podcast! We invite you to give it a listen… Enjoy!

Mandarin

It was an exciting moment for the grade 7 and 8 Mandarin classes, as students made their Halloween cards in Chinese. This definitely brought a special touch to their night of Trick or Treat. Students were enthusiastic about the discussion of the cultural comparisons of this holiday in two very different cultures. Their lovely costumes made this learning experience more memorable. Let’s enjoy our students’ fun of having Halloween in Chinese.

Science

As part of their study into genetics and heredity, students on 8 Red are learning about the ABO blood groups and how they are inherited. Seen below, students had to apply their knowledge of the relationship between antigens and antibodies in order to test and determine the blood type of unknown “blood” samples.

November 5- National Stress Awareness Day

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. Playing with your pet, listening to music, taking a walk, riding a bike, watching the clouds/stars, and playing sports were some of the favorites. Students who completed the Google form were entered to win a gift card, and the winners are:

7th grade: Jack Nikas, Sydney Salvatore
8th grade: Bodhi Shah, Biel Orriols
Congrats and thanks to all who participated!

Checking in With Ourselves Through Improv

Students on 8 Red took a few minutes today to check in with themselves and one another. Students examined the “blob tree” and picked a blob they felt best represented how they were feeling and why. Some students even modeled the blobs through improv.

Last week, we featured something we called “finding the magic of middle school” as we simply showed some our Saxe MS students hard at work, in costumes, working with their hands, building monsters out of recyclables & art supplies! Here are a couple of pics of some of the finished products – nice job!

NC Cares Speaker

Save the date, she is an engaging speaker!

Thanksgiving Food Drive

The Saxe 7th and 8th-grade Leadership team is coordinating a Thanksgiving food drive to support New Canaan families in need. We are collecting nonperishable foods as well as specific items: bagged stuffing, canned cranberry sauce, gravy mix, corn bread mix, boxed mashed potatoes, canned pumpkin, pie crust, and non‑refrigerated milk. The New Canaan food pantry hopes to receive at least 100 of each item because there is a great need in the community. Donations can be dropped in food boxes at the front and back of the school, between Monday November 10th through Monday, November 17th. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Saxe After School Clubs

Students in the Sustainability Club have been hard at work the last few weeks cleaning and organizing the Saxe greenhouse and preparing the garden beds for fall planting. One of our next projects will be designing and implementing a system for capturing and reusing rainwater.

Newsworthy Accomplishment

We typically share about events that are directly related & happen at Saxe MS, but this one has “what it takes” to share about one of our current students. As an on-again, off-again lifelong golfer who has experienced the joy and frustration of many golf courses over the years, I have been close to a hole-in-one a couple of times, but still waiting to feel the elation of actually sinking one, because it’s a really big deal and a moment that most, if not all, golfers remember for the rest of their lives (at least us “recreational” golfers would!). When our 8th-grader, Jack Lavigne, casually shared with me that he sank a hole in one recently, I asked if he would mind me including this in the Saxe Weekly. Fortunately, he didn’t mind, and here you go – congrats to Jack on his first hole-in-one! (to see his and his friends’ reactions, click here)…

Stats:

Woodway Country Club
Hole 3: par 3 – 203 yards
Club of choice: 6 iron

Special note: Jack also casually shared that his Dad got a hole-in-one within the last couple of weeks, too… Congrats to Mr. Lavigne, too!

Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month—a time to celebrate and recognize the many contributions and rich traditions of Native Americans across our country. This week we celebrated Nicholas Galanin, Tara Houska, & Dr. Adrienne Keene.

Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!

Thanks to Ms. Kleis & Dr. Ferreira for taking this idea & “running with it”! It’s going to be fun to see our Saxe MS community come together in the spirit of wellness, gratitude, & fun over the next couple of weeks!

These photos represent the flexibility & adaptability of our Saxe MS staff… While the Saxe Library is having some work done, our Library professionals pivoted to this remote space right down the hall. Nice work & thanks!

Our Saxe MS students may not have been in school on Tuesday (Election Day), but the 3D printers were still churning out their projects!

Saxe ELA had a productive PL session in the Saxe MS Design Lab this week. We are grateful for our dedicated professionals across our school community & all they do for our students (&, each other)!

Progress is being made in our Saxe Library space as the Upper Mez gets an upgrade to the work space. These glass panels will not only look nice, they will add to the functionality of this area where Saxe MS students gather to collaborate, ideate, create, & present, & more!

While chatting with some of our Saxe Science teachers during the PL Day, it was interesting to hear how some AI has been thoughtfully incorporated as a tool to dive more deeply into dominant & recessive gene traits. Our Saxe MS students never cease to amaze!

It was a productive Professional Learning day at Saxe MS on Election Day this week! It was inspiring to see our Tech Integrators, Librarians, & STEM Specialists come together from across the district to discuss the latest in AI, Computer Science, & more! Thanks to all involved…

It was a productive Professional Learning day at Saxe MS on Election Day this week! It was a real treat to see the Saxe Science & Saxe SS departments come together for a collaborative session on inquiry & engagement! Congrats to all involved…

Some more revisions & edits to personal narrative stories in Saxe ELA. So interesting to hear the topics & the thought process that goes along with the creative writing process at Saxe MS! Looking at some revisions, “Commas LIES”, & more creative writing components in Saxe ELA this week…

A peek into some Saxe SS classes this week. In addition to the important content/learning, it’s great to see students up, moving about, & interacting with each other, utilizing the entire classroom space…

Reviewing corresponding angles & sides this week in Saxe Math. Great discussion!

The gratitude is mutual! What a great spread for our PL Day this week… Thank you to our Saxe PTC for taking such great care of our Saxe MS staff – we appreciate you!

Love visiting classes at Saxe MS when you can see the learning that is taking place, immediately… So fun to see students ask questions & engage in such meaningful ways!

Getting to know our Saxe MS students, & their activities outside of school, is part of building strong relationships within our school community. Recently, JL humbly shared about his 1st “Ace” (Click to watch)! Congrats & maybe this will be good luck for me to finally get one! Very cool…

Post-Halloween “show & tell” (Check it out!)… Thanks to our Saxe SRO, Officer Blank, for sharing this unbelievable, 3D printed, functional helmet that he created & his son wore last weekend – wow!

What a great duo for morning announcements at Saxe MS – thanks again!

Fall colors, cooler temps, more daylight (post-daylight savings), & the morning crew is still at it into November at Saxe MS!

Scenes around Saxe

We are fortunate to have such beautiful views around our Saxe MS campus & every once in a while, a member of our community will capture a moment to share… Thanks to Mr. O’Leary for sharing this amazing sunrise this week for all to enjoy!

Dogs Of Saxe

It’s hard to pick favorites when it comes to Dogs Of Saxe, but when we get visits from new puppies, it makes it even more difficult! Regardless, we love when all pets visit Saxe MS!

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)