2025.11.26 – SAXE WEEKLY (#304)

November 26, 2025

Dear Saxe MS Family,

Amazingly, today is the last school day in November. Upon our return from Thanksgiving break, we will be officially into December as the school year marches on… Until then, I wish you the best for a fantastic long holiday weekend, doing whatever it is that brings you joy, with those you care most about. I look forward to heading out to the rural area of Mansfield, PA to visit my father, where our family will be joined by my brother’s family from Hanover, NH, and several other cousins, relatives, and friends from the local area. Each year, we enjoy gathering, relaxing, having fun, and making memories together.

Whether you are hitting the road, enjoying time closer to home, or simply taking things as they come, I encourage you to carve out some time for a few important things:

Give yourself permission to rest
Do something that makes you genuinely happy
Find moments of peace and relaxation
Step away from the usual hustle and bustle (in the physical and virtual world)
Be present with family and friends (there are some ideas/reminders below that may be helpful)

This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at Thanksgiving, “tech-free” reminders, Wall of Gratitude, the latest Saxe MS podcast, STEM, Science, Math, Design & Fab Labs, a safety reminder, recess, scenes around Saxe, Clubs, Certificates of Recognition, spreading gratitude & joy in Advisory, and much more. Enjoy, and I wish you all a relaxing (and, grateful) Thanksgiving break!

Be Well,

Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School

Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:

11/27 Happy Thanksgiving!

*Quotes that resonated with us this week:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu

“Knowledge is power, and school is where you start to gain your superpowers.” – Unknown

Saxe Jokes of the week:

Singing in the shower is all fun and games until you get shampoo in your mouth…Then it becomes a soap opera

Why did the turkey have to go to the principal’s office? Because he was using fowl language!
Did you hear about the scarecrow who won first prize? It was outstanding in its field.

Happy Thanksgiving

In preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday, we experimented with some AI to create some images to “capture the season” and see how the technology has progressed. There are still some glitches, misspellings, and examples of “missing the mark”, but the progress is promising, and impressive.

Note: image created through prompts in Microsoft Copilot, with a request to provide a “Norman Rockwell” vibe…

Note: these images were created using a Google Gemini AI prompt asking it to capture the below message.

Before we hit the “scramble” of the holidays, we wanted to share some important messaging that we have used in the past about making a concerted effort to appreciate every moment over the upcoming Thanksgiving break.

Thanksgiving is a time for friends, family, and gratitude. And yet, many will be tempted to continue checking their phones, texting, and posting on social media during your time to connect. Of course, some technology may be used to keep you “present” in positive ways to create and remember memories (pictures, videos, etc.), so not all tech is “bad”. If you would like to try a “Tech-Free” (or, “tech-reduced”) Thanksgiving, here are some suggestions:

Mention it ahead of time. Invite your guests to participate in a “tech-free” Thanksgiving, and ask them to bring a “tech-free” game everyone can enjoy. Play “Salad Bowl” (Google it!), Taboo, or another fun large group game.
Request no phones at the dinner table. Of course, if someone has an urgent need to be available by phone, they may keep their phone on vibrate.
Turn off the TV during dinner. This can be tough if your favorite team is playing, but try to schedule dinner around the big games, or simply turn down the volume and leave it on in the background.
Provide fun games and crafts for young children. Think ahead about some crafts that children can engage in so they won’t be asking for the ipad or remote. Creating festive decorations for the dinner table can be a perfect Thanksgiving craft.
Give Thanks. Involve everyone in writing down what they are grateful for this year. Everyone can write on a “feather” made of construction paper and then the” feathers” can be added to a paper turkey. Keeping everyone engaged will cut down on their need to go on the phone.

If this sounds appealing to you, your family, or even a select few relatives/friends, please let us know how it goes. A Tech-Free Thanksgiving may reduce stress and make it easier for everyone to connect and enjoy their time together. It may very well end up being the best Thanksgiving you have ever had! Regardless of the choice that best fits your family, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Wall of Gratitude

Our “Wall of Gratitude” continues to grow as staff & students add what they are grateful for heading into this season of Thanksgiving. Thanks again to all involved!

Want to see some action from the day we captured this awesome pic? Check out the video! A special thanks to our SRO, Officer Blank, for the footage, and to Mr. Petrakopoulos for the video editing! Thanks again to all involved!

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!

STEM

In case there is any question about what a middle school student’s experience should include, they are captured in these pictures from the “Design & Fab Labs”. Inquiry, teamwork, innovation, resilience, hands-on skills, exploration, problem-solving, & just plain FUN! Thank you to our Science and STEM teachers for making these opportunities available to our students.

Math

It is always a pleasure to stop into a Math class & see students (&, teachers) working in various ways, using the ENTIRE space! This is “Building Thinking Classrooms”, in action…

In the News…

As a follow-up to Lenore Skenazy’s community event last week, we came across an article that was posted in USA Today this past weekend, in which she was referenced, and thought it was worth sharing. We are proud of the work we have done as a school system, and across the community, to ensure we do our best to provide the best for our children. For those interested in reading it, enjoy!

No TikTok, no iPhones and retro landlines. These parents are raising kids like it’s 1995.

Navigating a new childhood playbook: Many of the parents leading these changes have read Haidt’s book, listened to Lenore Skenazy’s advice about free-range parenting, and are familiar with the psychologist Peter Gray’s research on free play. But they say these shifts only work if entire communities and schools get on board.

This is a photo taken during Lenore’s visit to Saxe MS/New Canaan, last week.

Interested in more info? You can check out her website, here.

Safety Reminder

Just a friendly reminder to all members of our school community: all outside doors must remain closed at all times. Please refrain from letting anyone into the building through any entrance other than the main entrances at Saxe. Thank you for your cooperation and for being “safety aware”.

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

Good morning from Saxe!

We had some terrific weather to get outside this week at Saxe, both before school began, & during Recess!

This includes getting out for a quick recess on the 1/2 day before the Thanksgiving break. Any amount of outdoor time is worthwhile!

Officer Blank’s Leadership Club also took advantage of the nice weather to get outside during one of their activities!

This week, we had the good fortune of sharing our latest “Certificates of Recognition”. It is always nice to spread some joy by recognizing those who have gone above & beyond, especially during this season of gratitude!

Some of the equipment, technical skills, & experiences our students get exposure to in the Design & Fab Labs is beyond amazing. Thanks to our dedicated staff who make this possible for them – the sky is the limit!

8Green has updated their bulletin board to reflect the season of gratitude & Thanksgiving. Our students never cease to amaze me with their recognition of all that we have to be grateful for…

For our Saxe Advisory block this week, we reflected on what we are grateful for, took some time to spread some joy by writing messages to first responders & service providers (NCPD, NCFD, NC EMS, &/or Waveny Care Center), & had some fun along the way! A special thanks to Ms. Link, Ms. Martin, & the Saxe MS Student Council for their inspiration and for coordinating this meaningful experience. Thanks to all involved!

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)