November 13, 2026
Dear Saxe MS Family,
Happy World Kindness Day! We continually urge members of our school community to “Be Happy. Be Kind. Be Well.” In this particular edition of the Saxe Weekly, you will see several instances of each of these important tenets of our school featured throughout. Whether you are scrolling through to check out some highlights, reading from top to bottom, or tuning in to the latest podcast, we are grateful that you are taking a moment to join us in seeing what makes Saxe Middle School such a special place!
This week in the Saxe Weekly, we take a look at World Kindness Day, Veterans Day, an AASA visit, Advisory, Educational Support Professionals Day, Science, Garden Club, Art, School Counseling, Recess, community building, birthdays, around town & beyond, Dogs of Saxe, and much more. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Be Well,
Dave Gusitsch
Principal, Saxe Middle School
Upcoming Noteworthy Dates:
11/18 Education Support Professionals Day
*Quotes that resonated with us this week:
“If you focus on success, you’ll have stress. But if you pursue excellence, success will be guaranteed.”—Deepak Chopra
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” — Robert Collier
“You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Perfection is not attainable, beautiful we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”-Vince Lombardi
“Your positive action combined with positive thinking results in success.”-Unknown
Saxe Jokes of the week:
What’s the best song to play while cooking a turkey?” “All about that baste.”
Why did the turkey cross the road? To prove he wasn’t chicken!
How do leaves get to Thanksgiving dinner? By autumn-mobile.
What’s the difference between a Thanksgiving turkey and a bad joke? One gets dressed, and the other gets roasted.
Where do young trees go to learn? Elementree School!
Saxe Weekly: The Podcast
Interested in getting an overview of the latest Saxe Weekly in podcast form? Using Google’s Gemini Notebook, 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!
Below is a graphic representation of the latest Saxe Weekly created through Gemini Notebook for you to enjoy!
World Kindness Day
Happy World Kindness Day from SaxeMS! Today we celebrate a message that’s at the heart of who we are: Be kind to all kinds. Our students’ “BELONG” board says it best… “People will never forget how you made them feel”… Let’s make it a great day, Hawks!
Veterans Day
We are fortunate to have the opportunity to be in session on this important holiday to help our students understand the importance of why we observe this date. Thank you to everyone who helped make the experience this year such a great success! Below is the message that was read over the PA system at the beginning of the day. Thank you to all who have served!
Our Saxe 7th graders were part of the first assembly of the day, hearing directly from an incredible panel of veterans, including Officer Blank (Saxe SRO), Ms. Giannetta (Saxe Art), Mr. Smith, Mr. Sims, & Mr. In. Thank you for sharing your stories, your time, & your service with our students!
Saxe 8th graders were next for their Veterans Day assembly! Great life lessons were shared – resilience, perspective, commitment, & so much more! Thank you to our veterans panel for sharing your stories, your wisdom, & your service with our students. We are so grateful!
Mr. Smith, Mr. Woods (Parent/NC Coach), Ms. Giannetta (Art), Officer Blank (SRO), & Mr. Sims.
Each assembly began with the Pledge of Allegiance – nice touch!
What a beautiful day it was to honor our veterans! To all who served… Thank you. On this Veterans Day, the Saxe MS community honors the courage, commitment, & sacrifice of our veterans & their families. Our students’ star-filled wall says it best: We are thankful for your service!
And finally, as a special experience, Ms. Reed invited her nephew in to virtually speak with her students. Captain Christopher Ploch serves as a Company Commander for the 18th Airborne Engineer Company in Anchorage, Alaska. What an amazing experience!
AASA Visit
AASA is the national superintendent organization, and it was an absolute honor to host a visiting team of superintendents from across the country at Saxe MS & New Canaan PS! We loved showcasing how we embed well-being into our daily learning & across our building… So proud of our students, staff, & entire school community! Want to check out some of the resources we shared? Please feel free to check out our AASA Welcome slide deck…
And, we had a little “AI fun” with a rendering of our “SAXE” aerial photo experience to thank them for visiting 🙂
Educational Support Professionals
Thank you to our Educational Support Professionals! Each member of our learning community contributes to making us the best we can be, and we appreciate YOU!
Science
As part of their study into genetics and heredity, 8th grade students are learning about the ABO blood groups and how they are inherited. Students applied their knowledge of antigens and antibodies in order to test and determine the blood type of unknown “blood” samples.
Advisory
This week in Saxe MS Advisory, students reflected on what they’re thankful for, from “seeing someone smile” to “my teachers”… Then it was time for team-building & games, because building community & having fun is at the heart of our Advisory program! Great job all around!
Below, Ms. Perretti’s students took a moment to reflect on the people they are grateful for, their favorite fall memories, and the experiences that have helped them grow and “branch” out this season. Their thoughtful reflections will soon become part of a special bulletin board display alongside those of their fellow 7th and 8th grade students.
The Art Department put a spin on Advisory this week. They combined advisories to take our assigned activity and put a twist on it! They collected leaves outside for our students to make crayon reliefs with. They then cut them out and wrote what they were grateful for, and we created an advisory gratitude tree!
Leaf rubbings, a Gratitude Tree, & a whole lot of creativity… Our Saxe MS Art team brought their A-game to Advisory this week as students reflected on what they’re thankful for & built community through some fun activities!
Art
Stop in for a bagel & stay for the art! Our talented NCPS students, including some Saxe MS Hawks, have their work on display at Upper Crust Bagel Company… Thank you to our amazing art teachers & to UCBC for sharing their creativity with the community!
School Counseling
Thank you to our Saxe MS school counselors for leading such meaningful lessons this week! From stress management to perspective-taking, our students practiced listening, summarizing, & finding common ground… Skills we could all use a little more of!
Recess
November in New England… & it feels like early fall! Blue skies & sunshine had Saxe MS students making the most of recess, from pickup games to the swings. We’ll take every day like this we can get!
Building Community
Team-building, 8Green style! Thank you to our Saxe PTC for the activities that made this celebration & community building possible… Great energy & lots of smiles all around! These moments matter…
NewCanaanOpoly?! What?! No way! Neat to see this “throwback” game in action at Saxe today…
Garden Club
The Saxe Gardening Club hasn’t let the colder temperatures outside prevent them from growing. The tower garden is up and running, and the herbs have begun sprouting. The students in the club are monitoring the growth and soon the herbs will be ready for students and teachers to harvest and put to good use!
Happy Birthday!
A special shout-out to our Saxe students who are celebrating their birthdays this week & next – Happy Birthday!
Around Town & Beyond
Some of the best lessons don’t come from a classroom… This bench on East Ave greets many on the way to Saxe MS with a message we hope our students carry with them every day: “Respect One Another”!
How cool is this?! Saxe MS got a shout-out on CNN10 after submitting this one-of-a-kind piece from Mr. Devine’s class last year! Thank you for the recognition… Our students & staff were so excited to see “Saxe Middle School, New Canaan, CT” up on the screen!
Question(s) of the Day
Our Saxe MS staff “Question of the Day” keeps the debates coming! Ketchup on the side won by a landslide, & “Stop” ended in a tie… Up next: Sunrise or Sunset? Cast your vote in the replies! Stay tuned – our students are joining in soon!
Sunset beat Sunrise in our latest SaxeMS staff “Question of the Day”! Next up: Cold or reheated leftover pizza? Early voting says our staff isn’t picky…These are a fun way to have some fun & build community!
Dogs of Saxe
The real stars of Saxe MS drop-off! Thank you for bringing #DogsOfSaxe to see their humans off for another day of school… It never gets old!
Have a great week, see you next Friday!
Thank you to all of our Saxe Weekly contributors! Each edition is an example of “collaboration in action.”
Saxe Resources (live links)
Website: https://www.ncps-k12.org/saxe
Saxe Middle School
Celebrating Our Learning Community Through Caring, Communication, & Commitment
PS – On the go and interested in getting an overview of the Saxe Weekly in podcast form? Using Google’s Gemini Notebook, we are able to offer an option to listen to all of the great “goings on” in our school community while you are out & about, with the Saxe MS Podcast! We invite you to give it a listen… Enjoy!
