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.

Classical Cafe: Tablas

For the first time in the history of Edgewood's Classical Cafe, we heard a performance featuring the Indian percussion instrument called tablas. Our Edgewood reporter, Christina Semple, sat down with Ronak Sheth and compiled this piece for Edgewood News.

Have you ever heard of the Tablas? Our friend Ronak in Mr. DelMonaco’s fifth grade class has not only heard of them, but he plays them beautifully!! Ronak recently performed at Classical Cafe on the Tablas, and of course, he was amazing!! We spoke to Ronak after his performance. He talked about about the Tablas and his personal experiences with them! Listen here.

Redesigning Room 18: A CfI Grant

Room 18 Grant

What Could we do with Room 18? It’s what we’re asking of Edgewood students and teachers. Take an empty classroom and contemplate the use of space. Remove the classic classroom structures and redesign the room to encourage contemporary thoughts on learning and teaching.

Room 18, which was formerly used as a classroom, has become our laboratory for experimental thinking on instructional redesign. The lead research team includes Marilyn Blackley (4th grade), Matthew Fitzpatrick (art), Lisa Forte (music), and Paul Tomizawa (technology). The team is supported by Dr. Scott Houseknecht and William Yang, along with other staff.

Our goal, with the support of a Center for Innovation grant, is to use this space to springboard ideas that seek to re-envision existing classrooms and prompt thinking on how space impacts teaching and learning. Room 18 is an environment that will provide flexible learning spaces and materials to help us develop collaborative and problem solving skills.

It’s where, through the principles of Design Thinking, we can research and tackle problems, whether they are located globally or in our own classrooms. It’s where teachers and students can imagine the potential inside their own classrooms.

Teachers are perpetually intrigued with reconfiguring their rooms, for the sake of igniting student activity, but the exercise of moving and removing pieces of furniture, often leaves teachers faced with the dread of eliminating the structures that support a longstanding curriculum.

Our hope is that Room 18 becomes the antidote to that dread, providing a sandbox for redesigning classroom space and curriculum experiences, while better meeting the needs of today’s diverse learners. Our hope is that this space is where teachers and students will come to be inspired, using the tools and materials they will need to some day contemplate the question: “What could we do with our own classroom?” -- Paul Tomizawa

Team Special

The tallest nest tower at 15"!

What does the first day of school sound like? At Edgewood this year, it included over a hundred children shouting encouragement to their teammates during a special collaborative event in the gym. For the second year in a row, the out of the classroom teachers banded together for a unique Scarsdale event. These "special" teachers --Mr. Brown, (music), Ms. Forte (music), Ms. Houston (Spanish), Mr. Fitzpatrick (art), Mrs. Stokes (library), Mr. Weigel (PE), and myself (technology), organized two interactive events on the first day of school. One for students in Grades 1 & 2 and a second for grades 3-5.

Students were randomly selected to represent their teams, Blue versus White (yes, our school colors) to compete in activities that reflected their knowledge and skills in our special areas.

Students showcased their Spanish knowledge by slapping a fly swatter on top of images that matched the spoken words. They were challenged to alphabetize themselves by their last names. They shot free throws and tossed balls through hoops taped to the wall. They organized simulated "lunch waste" into the appropriate compost and trash bins. They pushed themselves to engineer a tall nest made of pipe cleaners to provide a safe haven for an eagle's egg. And they screamed encouragement to their classmates as they scrambled to arrange the bars of a xylophone in the correct musical order, shown below.

We're told this event only happens at Edgewood. And we know it afforded our classroom teaching colleagues a common preparation window, which is especially needed at the start of the new school year. But most important, we watched highly motivated students compete with skill, knowledge, and a strong sense of team. Go Edgewood!

Paul Tomizawa

Our Song

At the Moving Up ceremony, graduating 5th graders sang the Edgewood School Song one last time. It's always moving and fascinating to see Edgewood students singing their school anthem from memory and with pride. Mostly because Edgewood is the only school in Scarsdale where students routinely sing their song. In fact, it's believed that only two of the elementary schools have their own songs. Former Edgewood music teachers Dorothy Bench and Ernest Villas wrote this song in 1979 to commemorate the school's 60th anniversary. Little did they know that the song they had written to honor Edgewood's history, would one day become a beloved part of it. -- Paul Tomizawa

The Edgewood School Song
Words and Music by Dorothy Bench and Ernest Villas (1979)

Ernest Villas (1979)

In Scarsdale town there’s a special place called Edgewood

Where friendly people live on tree-lined streets

And children’s voices fill the air with laughter and in play

About a place that we would surely say…

Edgewood School is the finest place to be
Edgewood School kids and teachers all agree

That we’re number one both in school and fun

Edgewood School’s the place to be

Edgewood School where our friendships grow each day

Edgewood School both in class and where we play

And our friends we’ll see by the rock at three

Pals forever we will be

All these memories we will cherish

And in future years we’ll sing:

Oh Edgewood School you’re the best of everything!

Edgewood School where our talents all have grown

Edgewood School through the teachers we have known

Dorothy Bench (2008)

And the Fair in May by the PTA

Is the highlight of the year

Edgewood School we will someday say goodbye

Edgewood School and in junior, senior high

We will hail the fame and salute the name 

Of our dear old Edgewood School!

Passing the Torch

Graduating 5th graders pass torch
to 4th grade Torch Bearers.

     One of the younger traditions at Edgewood is the Passing of the Torch. The torch signifies the attributes that we admire in an Edgewood student and it is passed on from 5th grade to 4th grade at the final assembly of the year. Dr. Houseknecht reflected on how this tradition got started.
     "About six or seven years ago in Student Council we were discussing the end-of-year assembly, and I asked the kids what things it should include. A fifth grader said we should have the torch. I said, 'Why would we have the torch?  That's for the Olympics." And his response was something like this, 'Well, the torch is symbolic of everything we value at Edgewood.  It's about doing our best and the way we treat each other, and the fifth graders are sort of the role models for that to the younger students. Since we're leaving we could pass that down to the fourth graders who will be in fifth grade next year!' And, ever since then, we have the torch.' So each year a 4th grader was chosen to be the bearer of the torch. A boy one year, a girl the next. Until last year when it was pointed out by one student that alternating by gender would be unfair to some deserving kids. Dr. Houseknecht continues.     
     "After receiving a letter from a student about the potential inequity of choosing a boy one year and a girl the next, she suggested that we choose another method (because some students would never get a chance to be considered). So we discussed lots of options over two meetings.The kids know that it's random, but some thought that was OK to have either sex, but if the same was picked two or three years in a row, then it should just go to the other. Finally at the 11th hour of the second meeting, one student, James Miller said, 'Why not have a boy and a girl?'"
     And so this year, for the second in a row, we had a 4th grade boy and girl receive the torch. We wish them and all of our fourth grade students luck in their leadership roles next year. We know they will make us proud. And all the best to our graduating Class of 2016 as they move into Middle School and beyond.  Be healthy, hopeful, and prosperous, but just as important, wherever you go, always be proud ambassadors of Edgewood School. -- Paul Tomizawa

Talent Show Collaboration

Each successful talent show act
depends on teamwork

   At the last Talent Show, brothers Andre and Eian performed Pachelbel's Canon, side by side. Andre on violin, Eian on cello. While I'm sure at home they have their sibling rivalry moments, when you listen to their backstage interview, you know this performance was all about collaboration. That's a theme that runs through all of our talent shows. Without the team effort from the entire production or performance crew, our shows would certainly flounder. But when our stage hands and performers are locked in together, we all make beautiful music, like Andre and Eian. --Paul Tomizawa