Buzzword Pittsburgh gets the word out in Homewood

Early childhood education program, supported by PNC Foundation, engages kids to build vocabulary

From tiny voices came the word of the day, “gigantic,” as children sang along with performers during Buzzword Pittsburgh, a family-based initiative for expanding vocabulary in early childhood.

Saturday’s program, hosted at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Homewood branch, is the first in a $1.5 million, two-year partnership between the PNC Foundation and six other Pittsburgh organizations focused on early childhood education. The partners include Carnegie Science Center, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.

Each partner will create interactive learning segments, program director Lisa Viscusi said, with a main lesson each session. Sessions will be held every other Saturday. The lessons will all engage the week’s buzzword in some way, she said, such as the Carnegie Science Center’s table where children colored the letter “G” with wax paper and water.

On Saturday, the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh took the lead lesson. Christina Farrell, Billy Coates and Angwenique Wingfield, who work with the theater’s Opera Tots outreach, led the children through repetitions of “The Buzzword Song,” combining dance moves and music to teach the word of the week.

“Children absorb words through music,” said artistic director Johnathan Eaton. “If you sing it, they’ll remember. That’s the best way to boost vocabulary, which is so important at this young age.”

Sally McCrady, president of the PNC Foundation, said that Buzzword Pittsburgh (buzzwordpgh.org) is part of a $10 million initiative across 10 cities. Ms. McCrady said that unlike past PNC Foundation programs, Buzzword Pittsburgh does not have a classroom component and instead encourages a higher level of family engagement.

Lisa Woods, 40, of Ross, brought her 22-month-old daughter Quinn to the event after hearing about it from a friend.

“It’s been really fun,” Ms. Woods said. “I think Quinn’s a little too young to take in the lessons, but if she were older, then she’d be learning a lot.”

Ruth Gannell, 32, of Morningside, said that she found out about the event from a parenting site and decided to bring her 20-month-old daughter Josie.

“We’ve come to the library before, but not for any events,” Ms. Gannell said. “It’s wonderful to see them transform the space and bring so many people here.”