November 21, 2025
Dear Saxe MS Family,
Wow, this is the last full week of November (already!). As the season of gratitude and thanksgiving is upon us, we do our best to weave reminders of all that we have to be grateful for into our daily practices. Whether it is through announcements, activities with our students, opportunities to connect with colleagues, or from a broader sense throughout our community, we are truly fortunate to be surrounded by the amazing people of Saxe Middle School (and, New Canaan as a whole). I am certainly grateful, and honored, to serve this community and be part of many of the special moments that take place within our school on any given day. Thank you for taking a moment to scroll through or read all that makes Saxe MS special!
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at the latest Saxe MS podcast, Nat’l Education Support Professionals Day, Food Services, building “community”, Science, Physical Education, Art, Saxe spirit wear holiday store, Native American Heritage Month, a gratitude display (& tons more gratitude), outdoor spaces, seasonal scenes, pickleball, recess, a pizza party, ELA, Social Studies, Saxe Think Space, a happy birthday, our mascot, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
11/26 Early Dismissal -Thanksgiving Vacation (no homework)
11/27 Thanksgiving Vacation – enjoy!
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“The middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardour and diligence.”-Abigail Adams
“Always work hard and have fun in what you do because I think that’s when you’re more successful. You have to choose to do it.” – Simone Biles
“Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson
“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”-Beverly Sills
Saxe Jokes of the week:
What’s a Pilgrim’s favorite dance? The Turkey Trot.
How do teachers go swimming? First, they test the waters.
What’s blue and doesn’t weigh very much? Light Blue!
What does an escalator say when it stops working? Nothing, it just “stares”!
Why don’t turkeys play hide and seek? Because they’re always too stuffed
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!
Note: We have been using Notebook LM to create our podcast for the past couple of months, and recently, noticed the “create an image – infographic” option. It’s a pretty neat representation of the latest Saxe Weekly and may become part of our weekly update – enjoy!
National Educational Support Professionals Day
The following poem was shared with staff, by our Saxe Hospitality team. Thank you to all involved in recognizing these important folks, and to each of them for the important role they play in our greater school community – you are appreciated!
What If ?
Let’s suppose just for a moment, what if there weren’t any ESP
What would become of our schools and where would education be
If not for the dedication of each Education Support Professional
How could our schools ever survive or even function at all
For the bus driver wouldn’t be there to pick up children along the way
The doors wouldn’t be unlocked, the lights on, or the buildings heated each day
The aides wouldn’t be there to help those children with a special need
Or the cooks wouldn’t have a hot and tasty meal ready for all to feed
School security wouldn’t be there to watch over the children with care
Each child’s records wouldn’t be the secretary’s load to bear
The computers would crash without the technician to keep them up to date
And not for the maintenance personnel, one can only guess the school’s fate
And there are many more that give so much, each in a different capacity
For to each ESP, education is far more than just another job or utility
Education is each child’s future, the hope and prayers of our nation
For that future, each day, ESP give their work, love, and dedication
Dave Arnold
Food Services
We’ve said this before, but we are fortunate to have one of the best Food Service staff in any middle school, I believe, in the country! Not only are they some of the kindest, friendliest folks you will come across, but they also take great pride in serving up some amazing meals to our students and staff. Thank you, Saxe MS Food Service staff members – you are appreciated!
Students were treated to an early Thanksgiving feast thanks to our wonderful cafeteria staff!
Saxe MS “Community”
It may be the latter portion of November in the Northeast, but we are still taking advantage of the beautiful outdoor spaces that we are fortunate to have at Saxe MS! We brought our learning community together & held our most recent staff meeting out in the fresh air!
During the meeting, we also dedicated time to reflect on our wellness initiative, which focused on self-care and gratitude. Congrats to the winners of our recent “Miles of Smiles” Wellness Challenge, “The Stepalicious Stuffers” – nice work!
Note: missing from the pic is winning teammate, 7Blue Science teacher, Ms. Walsh!
Science
Students in 8th grade have been learning about the structure and function of DNA as part of our Life Science unit. This week, students on 8 Red extracted DNA from wheat germ. Students carefully followed the procedure and were excited to show off their final results – DNA precipitate! This same process can be used to extract DNA from many different sources, such as fruits or raw meats.
Physical Education
Students have been showing perseverance and grit in the past few weeks in PE classes as they challenged themselves to complete the mile walk/run with their best effort. Check out the Top Scoreboard in the PE hallway when you are walking around Saxe. A special shout-out to the top milers in each grade. Way to go, everyone!
7th: Amelia Palmer and Finn Entwistle
8th: Gracie Wang and Charlie Pomrink
Art
The Annual NCPS Student Art Show is now on display. Head down to admire all the different works in a variety of mediums from grades K-12.
Saxe Spirit Wear Holiday Store
It’s time to shop for your favorite Saxe student! Don’t forget anyone on your list this holiday season. All orders must be placed by November 30th. Click HERE to visit the Saxe Holiday Store. Thank you and happy shopping!
Community Event
This week, Saxe was proud to host both a staff and community event to hear from nationally recognized speaker, Lenore Skenazy, and her message about developing independence and confidence in our children (and dare I say, parents). The message about free play, exploring, resilience, time management, self-advocacy, and so many more life skills that we value was great to hear, and she was not afraid to weave in some fun and laughs along the way! Thanks to all involved in bringing Lenore into our community to speak.
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. Today, we celebrate Susan La Flesche Picotte, Dr. Everett R. Rhoades, Vincent Schilling, Nicholas Galanin, and Deb Haaland.
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Below are photos and phrases that were included on our Saxe Middle School page (@SaxeMS) this week. Enjoy!
It’s still a work in progress, but the “gratitude display” is starting to take shape! I am grateful for the amazing Saxe school community that we are fortunate to be part of each day! Here are just a few of the notes… Thanks to all involved in helping pull this together!
Amazingly, this picture does not do the size of the display justice – it turned out great!
Shout out to 8Blue students – keep up the great work!
Sometimes, the best ideas come from simple brainstorm convos… What started out as a “hey, wouldn’t it be nice if…” turned into “let’s do it!”. Soon, we’ll have our recent Saxe aerial photo surrounded by “notes of gratitude”. And, students (&, staff) like to find themselves!
Notes & signs of gratitude are popping up all around Saxe… Love seeing people spread the joy!
Our courtyards got their last cut of the season this week! A special thanks to our Building Manager, Mr. McCrae, (& his team) for keeping our Saxe campus looking so nice, all year long!
8 Purple is in the holiday spirit with their updated bulletin board… Not only is it filled with positive messages, it represents this season of thanks & gratitude! Thanks for brightening up ourSaxe hallways!
One of our most dedicated clubs on our Saxe campus – pickleball club! Always fun to see (&, hear) them in action!
It may be mid-November in CT, but our students still love to get out for some fresh air, activity, socialization, & FUN during Recess!
Thanks to our Saxe PTC for sponsoring a “Celebrate Saxe Pizza Lunch” for each grade-level! They are a great opportunity to spend some time with students in a different way & hear more about them & their experiences. Always a great time with interesting topics to discuss!
Students in Mr. D’Alton’s Science classes were into their roles as they presented their carbon cycle, climate change skits that they created as a group. They were all original & showed great depth of knowledge & perspective!
A lot of the discussion topics, guiding questions, & useful images from previous classes were also on display around the room to help reinforce the learning!
Whether it’s buses running their morning routes, students walking to school, the a.m. activity crew starting their day out on Hawk’s Court, or jamming some tunes at the entrance doors, the start of each day a Saxe is filled with energy & enthusiasm!
Students in Ms. Connolly’s Science class were “all in” as they presented their skits on the carbon cycle, climate change, & the impact on each “character” in the group… Nice job all around!
Students in Ms. Reed’s ELA class worked in their book groups as they created interactive, engaging slides to explain/describe their learning – can’t wait to see the finished products!
Students in Mr. Young’s ELA classes were collaborating w/their book club groups, negotiating being accountability partners, ensuring full engagement, & setting goals, topped off with a little role play to reinforce understanding of different perspectives. All great life skills!
Students in Ms. Craw’s ELA class were discussing effective discussion questions & reflecting on the revision process to continually improve… Great discussion all around!
Nothing like hearing the melodic chorus of “Happy Birthday” in the Saxe cafeteria – hope it was the best birthday, yet!
As we approach this “season of thanksgiving”, it is so fulfilling to see our Saxe MS students come together to help give back & do selfless, altruistic acts. This is quite a haul they collected to donate to a local organization to help others… A special thank you to the Grade 7/8 Leadership Team and their advisors, Mrs. Nettleton and Ms. Perretti. Congrats & thanks to all involved!
Students in Ms. Campbell’s Saxe Social Studies class took advantage of the newly updated Saxe Think Space to brainstorm ways to solve the “Cooper’s Point Dilemma”. It was a full immersion experience where they used real-life, practical skills to understand, problem solve, & propose solutions!
Love that the thinking of each group is visible all around the workspace, for all to see!
It was neat to see different perspectives on the Carbon Cycle & Climate Change in Saxe Science as students in Ms. Smith’s class discussed & “charted” the cycle.
Great way to review, learn, & experience different perspectives about the Carbon Cycle & Climate Change in Saxe Science. Students did an excellent job researching, collaborating, & designing meaningful skits with their group mates!
Grateful to our building manager, Mr. McCrae & his team for getting the new decals on the Saxe MS Hawks Court this week. They are a little smaller, but have a good, textured, all-season surface that is sure to last for quite some time!
Saxe Hawks
Always good to see our mascot looking over our Saxe campus!
Thanks to Ms. Jarosik for this great pic!
Dogs Of Saxe
Teddy, George, & Max were just a few of our Dogs Of Saxe who wished their humans well at
Saxe MS drop-off this week!
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
