Collaborative Kickoff

Our Specials teaching team (art, music, PE, library, technology) met with the entire student body on the first day of school. We introduced students to aspects of our subject areas, while reinforcing the ideas of teamwork, empathy, and perseverance that are so important to learning successfully at Edgewood School.

The Specials teaching team planned activities for group sessions with classes from grades K-1, 2-3, and 4-5. Each activity required students to think on their feet... but really together with lots of feet! Collaboration was essential to completing these tasks.

The Technology and Library team featured Mr. Tomizawa (me) and our awesome new librarian Mrs. Alison Turner. Students were challenged with engineering tasks such as building tall and strong structures and for our youngest students, reconstructing a familiar story, the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Ms. Houston, along with Ms. Forte, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Orengo (strings), created their own mash-up with Spanish and Music, combining Spanish vocabulary with the knowledge of instruments and familiar songs.

The Physical Education and Art team was led by Coach Weigel and Mr. Fitzpatrick. They combined physical activity with an understanding of the composting process at Edgewood.

These Specials team events were all fast-paced and fun. At times, the gym was as raucous as a stadium. So while classroom teachers took this opportunity to meet and plan together, their students chanted and cheered on their teammates. And everyone, students and teachers alike, took away great memories from the first day of school. - Paul Tomizawa

Talent Show Season Begins

It's Talent Show season at Edgewood. Each February, Edgewood organizes the first of these lunchtime showcases, followed by two additional performances in the spring. It's an amazing display of talent and courage as students stand in the spotlight to perform live for peers and adults. In their corner helping these performers look and sound their best, is an all-student backstage and balcony production crew, flanked by plenty of teacher advisors. For an insider's look at our talent show, watch this piece by Caroline, a former Edgewood student. -- Paul Tomizawa

Edgewood U Finale

Edgewood University, the building-wide collaborative learning experience, in which staff and students explored more than 20 special interest topics, has ended its ground-breaking and at times inspiring six Friday semester. The concept of Edgewood U was driven by a desire to rethink school, in which learning is driven by passion and the need to develop skills for learning, rather than an obligation to absorb content. Below is a great write-up on our Edgewood U experience.
- Paul Tomizawa

Blue Bots are Elementary

This year Scarsdale elementary students are hearing a lot about robots in the classroom. It doesn't seem that long ago that the idea of a robot in our lives was limited to SciFi plotlines or expensive house servants. But today robots are more accessible to young learners than ever before.

At Jerry Crisci's annual district technology report, he overviewed the K-12 STEAM offerings, but showed how K-2 students in particular are learning to code using an online platform called Kodable and two robots -- Dash and Blue-Bots.

Blue-Bots, also known as Bee-Bots, provides our youngest students with an introduction to programming concepts in a manner that's concrete, hands-on, and so much fun! These robots can be operated using five main push-button commands on its back -- Forward, Backward, Left Turn, Right Turn, and GO, which will RUN the user's programmed sequence of instructions. With each forward or backward command, the BlueBot will roll 6 inches. With each press of the Left Turn arrow, the Blue-Bot will make a 90 degree turn to the left of the direction it is facing.

Seeing these instructions through the eyes of Blue-Bot is important. It teaches students to step outside themselves and see from the perspective of another being, whether it's a robot or a person. But let's face it. Kids treat them as more than just robots. The Blue-Bots are pretty cute and our primary grade students adore them. They shower them with cheerful praise as if they were a younger child or a puppy. But the level of engagement goes well beyond puppy love.

These 5-7 year olds are learning how to sequence, loop, and debug. Through robotics they are learning fundamental programming concepts. They are developing an understanding that their actions trigger an outcome and that if two don't match, then they need to walk back their steps, analyze their code, and patiently devise a plan to achieve their hoped for outcome. It's a mindset that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.

Video: see BlueBot in action

Read more Edgewood technology stories in the Tech Blog.

Charlie Chaplin Comes to Edgewood

Final scene from City Lights

     Launching along side Edgewood University, the program of special interest courses that runs every Friday for six weeks (Jan 6 - Feb 10), is the Edgewood Film Festival. The Festival features conversations and clips from about a dozen Depression era movies. The purpose of these discussions is for students to understand how children coped with poverty during the Depression.
     One of the films featured in the Festival is Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931). It's a funny and touching love story in which the little guy and the little girl, despite the misfortunes slung at them, nurture hope long enough to find that one thing in life for which they most yearn.

Charlie Chaplin still makes
children laugh

     I was pleasantly surprised to see how well Chaplin's visual humor played to an audience of 7 year olds, more than 80 years after its first run. Here's a sample of what made them laugh. Watch this scene from City Lights in which Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character provides a visual commentary on a society of haves and have nots.
- Paul Tomizawa

The Frosty Diversion

The Edgewood Winter Assembly is never without surprises. But this year's was probably the most stunning of them all. There were outstanding performances from vocalists Christina Semple and William Goh, as well as the Edgewood String Ensemble. And there was Sajiv Mehta, this year's Teacher-in-Charge for a Day, who tag teamed with Teacher-in-Charge Mr. Yang to emcee the program with Dr. Houseknecht. But let there be no mistake. The Winter Assembly has become known for one haunting question-- "Who do you think will play Frosty in this year's Winter Assembly?"

Edgewood News runs an online poll in the days prior to the assembly. The voting is wild and never predicts the actual winner, but it's fun to watch the tallies roll in! Among the highest votes went to Nurse Duffy and 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Nedwick. In the end, our Frosty turned out to be Mrs. Pinto's teacher's aide, Mr. Destefano, who called in "sick" that day giving us this one unforgettable moment as Mrs. Pinto's students erupted in sheer jubilation after Frosty's identity was revealed onstage. Happy Holidays everyone!
- Paul Tomizawa

Watch Video of Frosty Dancing

Being Thankful

Mr. Brown and Ms. Forte lead
4th grade chorus

During the Thanksgiving Assembly, the fourth grade chorus sent its audience a reminder, intentional or not after a testy presidential election, that despite our differences, people have more in common than they realize. Here's a sampling of the lyrics from their song Colors of the Wind.

You think the only people who are people

Are the people who look and think like you

But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger

You'll learn things you never knew you never knew

Nice touch before sending the Edgewood community into a holiday weekend filled with reflection and gratitude.