Looking at Edgewood History, Piece by Piece

We have a fairly young tradition at Edgewood School. On the first day of school, the non-classroom teachers for Art, Library, Music, Physical Education, Spanish, and Technology coordinate a large multi-grade activity (read more about last year's event here). It's a high energy event that often feels like it's running alongside the edge of chaos, while managing to stay intact and on target with our objectives. 

This year's program focused on the Edgewood Centennial. Students collected cutouts from posterized photos, depicting small moments in our school's history. They had to match their color coded pieces with those found by other students and together, reassemble the images. Students used their bodies and minds to meet the challenge. It was a noisy, fun day and sent a message that learning about the history of our great school was about to begin.
-- Paul Tomizawa

Students dash into the circle to collect puzzle pieces.

Students reassemble their historic images.

Every Four Years

Every four years, since 2002, the students and staff of Edgewood School have participated in our own Winter Olympics. And like the actual International Olympic Games that "coincide" with our event, we also compete. But through these "competitive" games we internalize the values of the five Edgewood Olympic rings -- Caring, Kindness, Respect, Friendship, and Acceptance. During our Opening and Closing Ceremonies this year we recognized the importance of living in a global community and we saluted the nearly 80 national flags that represent who we are at Edgewood.

The event kicked off with an inspiring video featuring student coaches urging Dr. Houseknecht and Mr. Yang to get "back into shape." As a school we met the challenge of running a total of 1827 miles, the distance from the United States Olympic Committee headquarters in Colorado Springs to Edgewood. And as a school we also met Mrs. Turner's challenge of reading 1827 books. A goal that we shattered by reading 4,129 books.

We met every Olympic challenge as a team. During this two week event, students partnered with their "buddy" classes -- older and younger classes working together in a shared activity. The type of activities that former students tell us remind them of the importance of having the Edgewood School community in their lives. As Dorothy Bench wrote in our school song, we belong to "the finest place to be." It's a line that resonates with students long after they leave the Edgewood classrooms and playground. And it's a line we remember, long after the Edgewood Olympic flame is extinguished and just after we light it again, every four years.

Nearly 80 National Flags Displayed

The Five Edgewood Olympics are about Caring, Respect,

Acceptance, Friendship, and Kindness

The Olympic Games included activities led by the teachers

of Art, Music, Library, Spanish, Physical Education, and Technology

Olympic Flame is Extinguished

Frosty Unveiled

Yet another wild surprise at the annual Edgewood Winter Assembly. This year's mystery Frosty the Snowman turned out to be Mrs. Pagel. But for days, students had wondered aloud and in online voting "Who will be this year's Frosty?" Since 2008, a member of the Edgewood School community has snuck into the Frosty costume and danced to "Let It Snow" after coming alive when the magical hat was placed on its head.

During the assembly, the build-up to the Frosty reveal typically features a nutty... circa 1980s madcap, sitcom storyline that draws out the mystery. Dr. Houseknecht is the ringleader, sending teachers off the Gym floor, one by one, to provide assistance to some strange backstage incident. And as each teacher disappears backstage, the suspense builds. After all, in the mind of a K-5 student, one of those teachers is bound to be this year's Frosty...right? Right?!

This year's Frosty was accompanied by the Frosty Dance Troupe featuring Mrs. Ross, Ms. Rosado, Ms. Benitez, Ms. Peterson, and Ms. Marques. Happy Holidays Edgewood!
 -- Paul Tomizawa

Frosty is flanked by the Frosty Dance Troupe.

This year's Frosty is revealed!

Forever Edgewood

Ever year at this time, first graders step into the spotlight for one of Edgewood's grandest and most endearing traditions, the Thanksgiving Assembly.  The energy is palpable as the first graders spill into the hallway, just minutes before their performance in front of family members and the entire school.

In a matter of minutes, they will experience something that they will remember for many years to come and will forever define them as Edgewood students. In a matter of minutes, they will sing the classic song Hey Pilgrims, and be joined by older Edgewood schoolmates in the audience, who will sing and tap along because it takes them back to their first grade.

Edgewood students donated 28 boxes
of food to the Salvation Army.

The Thanksgiving Assembly is about reflecting on our many reasons to be grateful and remembering those in need. The fourth and fifth grade chorus sang songs of gratitude and hope. And Edgewood students collected 28 boxes of food and presented them to a representative of the Salvation Army. But it's the song Hey Pilgrims that provides the soundtrack for the day. It's a song that lyrically tells the story of the first Pilgrims and their journey to freedom, but musically reminds us that we are forever Edgewood. - Paul Tomizawa

Mr. Brown (cello) and Ms. Forte (piano) lead
the fourth and fifth grade chorus.

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

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

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.

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

New Talent Show Technology

Talent Show production crew silently
communicates with Today's Meet

In the final February Talent Show the production crew experimented with new technology. It's a site called Today's Meet. The audience didn't see or hear it, but it kept the adult and student production team on the same page. Today's Meet is an online "backchannel" tool. The balcony and backstage crew used it to silently share information through on screen texts. For instance, the backstage "projector" light is still on or the emcee is causing feedback when he talks into the mic while underneath the PA speaker or giving the whole crew a heads up on an unplanned stage entrance. In a live show, scripted events change and the production crew needs to be ready to jump in, make adjustments, and keep the show rolling. People come out to watch our talented young performers, but the behind-the-scenes work of the backstage and balcony crew is in itself a performance worth seating an audience. Whether their work involves adjusting wireless microphones on stage or balancing vocals with recorded music through a mixer in the sound booth, each production crew member, working outside the spotlight, contributes to the show's successes. And Today's Meet, I think, will make our jobs this much easier. -- Paul Tomizawa

Lending a Hand

Early school-wide PA call for donations

This month we launched a partnership with a non-profit group called the USA/Africa Children's Fellowship. A representative from this organization talked to us at our January 5th anniversary assembly. He spoke about his experiences in Africa. Impoverished villages. Poorly equipped schools. He also talked about happy school children who would light up when receiving something new or gently used from America. These children took little for granted and were raised to waste nothing, while sharing everything. Their teacher made this point when he took a bundle of donated pencils and promptly broke each in half, so that every child could have a one.

These stories resonated with our students. Soon after, they formed a committee, along with teachers Lisa Houston and Malu Gonzalez. They hung posters, made signs, and delivered early morning PA announcements reminding students to donate their new or gently used toys, books, clothing and school supplies. Within two weeks, schoolmates have answered the call, filling more than 80 boxes with donated goods for our new friends in Africa. We'll continue collecting for the African fellowship until February 12. Impressive work everyone! -- Paul Tomizawa

Countdown to 100

A cross cut of copper beech tree
shows timeline of Edgewood history.

     Today we celebrated Edgewood School's 97th birthday. At a school assembly we reflected on nearly a century of learning at Edgewood, through the life of a single copper beech tree. That tree was a mere sapling, when Edgewood opened its doors on January 5, 1919. Last year, after years of providing shade over the Roosevelt Place lawn, it was cut down, dying from a fungal disease. Our Edgewood News reporters first brought us this story last year. It was known as our "Witness Tree." And oh, what it must've seen through the years.
     Recently, Mr. Fitz and several students counted the rings of a preserved cross-cut section from the tree. And they matched those rings with the timeline of some memorable events in Edgewood history. For instance, we remembered Professor Carl Schorske, who was enrolled at Edgewood as a kindergartener in 1919. As Professor Schorske told us during his visit to us in 2007, back then, after a few days in kindergarten, he was promoted to first grade. Apparently, a 5 year old singing a German ballad, a couple years after the end of World War I, is enough to offend a kindergarten teacher and get booted from class. Fortunately, Mrs. Mary Piedalue, Edgewood's first principal, recognized young Carl's intelligence and talent and promoted him to first grade. We also heard an audio recording of Lou Lustenberger, Julie Leerburger, Juliette Goldsmith, and James Conlan talking about life in the neighborhood during World War II. And then there was William Reilly, current 3rd grade teacher and former Edgewood student in the 70s who was inspired to sing by his music teacher at the time.
    Finally, Dr. Houseknecht talked about the Edgewood time capsule that was assembled in 1994 for Edgewood's 75th anniversary. It was installed under the first floor steps closest to Mrs. Lamonaca's room and there it remains until our centennial celebration in 2019. Can't wait to see what's inside!
- Paul Tomizawa