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

Backstage Talent

Edgewood produces three lunchtime talent shows each year. Needless to say, the staff and students involved put a premium on production value. It's one thing for students to invest time and creative energy into their performances, as former student Caroline Cavalier once reported. Or to host the shows as our student emcees do with fearlessness, humor, and style. But behind each performance is a highly coordinated team of students and teachers working as Balcony and Backstage crew. They balance music and microphone sound levels. They accentuate moods with stage lighting and lighting effects. They photograph and videotape performances. They coach performers. They open and close curtains. They coordinate and distribute wireless handheld and body microphones. They make sure that performers are patiently waiting in the "on deck" position. They interview performers backstage. They assemble and break down production sets. And this is the short list of our job responsibilities.

If the audience only notices the performers, then for us in the Balcony and Backstage, our job has been well done. If the audience and the emcees aren't forced to wait uncomfortably as the backstage crew sets up the next act, then our job has been well done. Let's take a peak behind the curtains at our final February talent show this year, as the backstage crew (and performers) take about 40 seconds to set up for the next act. And notice how the adults, purposely step aside, so that students pursue and achieve a shared objective. Go team! -- Paul Tomizawa

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

Discovery by Design

The challenge is this. Use Tinkercad, a 3D modeling program, and a 3D printer to fill the 2x5 inch cutouts in the student tables in Mrs. Blackley's classroom. Prototypes are often among the early steps in the design process, but like those first baby steps in our lives, they can be exhilarating and self-affirming, and can open a seam into previously unforeseen possibilities. That's how we arrived at this photo to the left.


Like most inventions, this design thinking challenge arose out of necessity. Mrs. Blackley's student tables had cutouts to provide an outlet for power cords and cables for electronic devices. A black plastic grommet insert sat on top of the cutout, providing a grooved outlet for cables. The thing is with well-charged, wireless devices these portholes were not necessary, while the grommet became a "bump" on the table.


Enter the lead design challenge team. They are the lead team, not just because they have been assigned this initial task, but they will also assume responsibilities for helping to train other fourth grade students, all of whom will receive their own design challenges this year. With guidance and instruction from Mr. Fitzpatrick, these students are contemplating how to redesign the grommet or make use of the cutout.


So in Tinkercad, they designed prototypes that improve upon the original grommet. Some prototypes sit more flush with the table surface, so there's less of a bump. Some took advantage of the cutout and used it as storage. Another iteration looked at building up from the hole, rather than concealing its presence, to create a fashionable school supply organizer. For students today, the possibilities are endless, when they believe they can pursue them. In the end, this challenge is indicative of learning in schools today that is meaningful to students and elicit their best efforts out of the sheer desire to achieve a measure of success that they have a hand in defining. - Paul Tomizawa

Edgewood's Library Learning Commons

Roosevelt Place view.

The Edgewood Library is currently undergoing a structural makeover, but when it emerges from drop cloths and protective sheetrock, it will be remade as our Library Learning Commons. The term "learning commons" dates back to the 1990s as higher ed began to rethink the purpose of the library and how it meets the needs of today's learners. Today's learning commons have been influenced by the thinking of a number of educators and librarians, including most recently David Loertscher, who view the library as the heart of the school community.

It is a creative space for participatory learning where teachers and students collaborate, design, and build in flexible learning spaces. The learning commons provides the school community with access to information, by way of traditional media (books, photos, magazines, etc) and archives. It provides spaces for small and whole group discussion and collaboration, as well as quiet spaces where learners can immerse themselves in the joy of reading, writing, and making.

Thoughtful and comfortable in
Mrs. Blackley's room.

The task of designing the Edgewood Library Learning Commons will rest with the students and staff of Edgewood school. In the coming months, we'll invite them to participate in conversations on how physical and virtual space impacts student and professional learning. This, however, is not a new conversation. Last year, we began these discussions using a district Center for Innovation grant to examine flexible learning spaces through our use of Room 18, which became a laboratory for reconfiguring classroom space. Since then, teachers have been busy reworking their own classrooms. More to come. - Paul Tomizawa

Mrs. Theall's students surveying library construction

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

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.

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

Colonial Fair

Colonial Fair at Edgewood

The annual Colonial Fair came to Edgewood this past week. Through games, crafts, cooking, music, and dancing, the Fair brings the 18th century to life for Edgewood's fourth graders. Students, along with their parents and teachers, dipped into the past, wearing period costumes and somewhat experienced life in Colonial America. Many students will always remember the activities from the daylong event. But for some, like Emily Levine, this event revealed a cultural milestone from more than two centuries ago. And that while girls and women today are still striving to be treated fairly compared with boys and men, it sure beats the Colonial days. -- Paul Tomizawa

(Emily's audio transcript)
"For lunch we had the food they would've eaten and it helps you to learn about it. Before we were just reading about it and now we're feeling it. (Does that make a difference for your learning?) Yes. It's easier to understand when we do it because if we don't do it then we're like 'oh Jamestown schools must not have been good.' But when we experience it, we're like "Wow!" And how boys and girls were treated unfairly because girls, when we did the spelling bee, we had to spell cat and bat. And boys had to spell independence and declaration and like Philadelphia. And so their words were a lot harder so it helped to understand the difference in what they did. (There was a difference between how boys and girls were taught in school?) Yeah. Boys learned much more. Girls at a young age stopped going to school and learned to sew and clean and cook and take care of the household instead of learning. Instead of getting a good education."

Listen to Emily

Why Nina the Dog Matters

     Nina is a poodle in Mrs. Lamonaca's first grade class. Everything about her is a dog. She eats. Plays. Sleeps in a bed. And provides her friends with love and companionship. Nina is about as real as a dog can be, even if she's made out of pillow stuffing and fabric. These two classmates (pictured on the right) fashioned her out of supplies from the classroom materials center and then gave her an identity and a heart, as one would expect children to do. Nina is what happens when students are motivated to learn more than what is required by the curriculum. The possibility of Nina inspires creativity, collaboration, the use of language, while preserving a child's innate desire to make the imagined world part of her real one.
-- 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