Edgewood Toy Drive

Edgewood students delivered a bounty of toys to Cardinal McCloskey Community Services during our annual drive. But fourth graders Charles Rich and Chase Timberger can do a better job of telling this story. Here's how they experienced it, as reposted from Edgewood News.

This year we went on a field trip to deliver toys from our school’s annual Toy Drive to Cardinal McCloskey Community Services in Valhalla. Our toys and clothes will go to more than 5000 kids and adults. Usually when we donate a toy, we don't know where it goes and we just forget about it forever.

But this year we went with lucky Ms. Mangani’s class on a field trip to Cardinal McCloskey to deliver all the toys that Edgewood families donated. Last year Cardinal McCloskey collected about 70,000 items and they are hoping to get even more this year.

Before Ms. Mangani’s class went on the trip, the whole second grade passed all the toys down a line and loaded them onto the bus (see video below). When we arrived at Cardinal McCloskey we were met by their event planner, Kerry Gutenkunst.

When we first entered the Cardinal McCloskey Community Services, the second grade started to sort all of the toys onto tables. The categories were Stuffed Animals, Board Games, Arts and Crafts, Puzzles and Games, and even Clothes. Ms. Gutenkunst reminded us of the important thing we were doing. It’s not just about getting presents, it’s about giving too.

“When you wake up Christmas morning or another holiday you celebrate and you’re opening up a present, remember that there’s going to be another kid opening up one because of what you did,” says Ms. Gutenkunst.

We are definitely thankful for what we have. Thank you Edgewood School for your donations!

Team Edgewood delivers our donated toys

to Cardinal McCloskey Community Services.

Edgewood students deliver toy donations

to Cardinal McCloskey Community Services

-- Paul Tomizawa

Student Voice

Last week 5th grade students raised nearly $500 in popsicle sales. That's no small deal, since the proceeds go to the 5th Grade activities fund, which not only supports student events, but also  nurtures charitable causes. And that's a big deal.

The world is a big place, but Edgewood students know they can be an influential presence in it. This may seem an overstatement, but the reality is that this is what teachers and parents should want for children today. Grow up with essential academic skills and knowledge, but be kind, decent people. Care for others. Give voice to those who've lost theirs or worse, lost the essentials in life. In recent weeks, thousands of people in our hemisphere suddenly found themselves without food, water, and their homes.

I'm told that the 5th grade activity fund will provide some relief to families in the US Virgin Islands, which were ravaged by Hurricane Irma. Edgewood students are no strangers to humanitarian relief efforts. In the past, they have raised money for mosquito nets, clean water, and school supplies in developing countries. Sometimes they've coordinated these efforts through the Edgewood Student Involvement Council, sometimes they've done it independently, driven by a higher purpose. They're Edgewood kids. Globally aware and ready to give their voice to those in need. - 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

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

Sculpting an Act of Faith and Charity

   

4th grade donated over 700 cans
of food with this sculpture.

     At the holiday assembly, the 4th grade unveiled an impressive sculpture of the American Flag. It was a work of art consisting of 373 cans of Campbell's Tomato Soup and 174 cans of Starkist tuna cans. But like any collaborative project or novel approach to learning, there were doubts. Would it work? Would it be appreciated? And considering the many needs of building a classroom community, teaching/learning the curriculum, and meeting the diverse needs and interests of an energetic student body, would it be a worth the time invested in this learning experience? So the teachers, Mrs. Aberman, Mrs. Mraz, Mrs. Nedwick, and myself and our students, slogged through the doubts, looking for reasons to believe and persevere.
    Students and teachers discussed construction strategies, engineering and mathematics, elements of design, and we experimented in the computer lab by building short towers of cans and wondered how high we could build, before they toppled. We had begun collecting cans in early November. Parents quickly responded to our requests for donations. And while we had ambitious designs on completing the sculpture in time for the Thanksgiving assembly, things...you know... happen. Still we persisted and took advantage of the extra time to sort through questions across the grade level and experiment with ideas that were sprouting across the grade level. We debated whether we should build a single layer construction or a double layer.
    The original Canstruction sculpture from which we drew our inspiration, used a double layer. But a double layer meant asking parents for nearly 100 additional soup cans, to match our original goal. A single layer could be built against a backboard, but would probably mean that we'd lose the bend in our sculpture that would make our flag look like it was waving in the breeze. It was clear that students wanted to keep the flag-wave, but acknowledged that we didn't have time to collect more cans. Fortunately, in visiting the rules for creating Canstruction sculptures, we learned we could use tape. YES! So teams of students began binding the cans that we had and later stacked them in columns on stage.
    Today, this sculpture only lives in memories and photos. Shortly after we unveiled this beautiful work of art, we deconstructed it, and donated over 700 cans of food to the Soup Kitchen at St. Peter's Church in Portchester, NY. Looking back, it was clear that this project was not just about collaboration, engineering, and design. It was an act of conscience shared by parents, students, and their teachers.  - Paul Tomizawa

Knitting Club

The Knitting Club meets weekly
during lunch.

     The Edgewood Knitting Club, which meets during lunch, is in full production mode. It is safe to say we not only eat lunch and socialize, we use our listening skills to learn how to knit and purl. We follow directions and repeat the same stitch over and over until it is committed to memory. We knit until we complete a 36-inch strip that is measured using a yardstick until we reach that magic length. The strips are sewn together to make a baby blanket that will be donated to a charity. Some us have learned to purl and interpret written directions and have made hats, scarves, headbands, and leg warmers. The Knitting Club is more than meets the eye for 4th and 5th grade boys and girls. - Ellen Fiorella