The new school year is underway in Springfield—the R-12 School District resumed class this morning after summer break. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky was at the new Sherwood Elementary as the doors opened to students and has this report.
The area in front of Sherwood Elementary on S. Golden in Springfield was filled with children and their parents just before doors opened for class for the first time at the new building. There were lots of pictures being taken and also lots of hugs.
Parent to child: “I love you, you be good.”
There was a mix of emotions about starting a new school year at a new school.
"I'm nervous," said one student."
"Honestly, I think it's gonna be fun for me because it looks like it's nice in the inside," said a second grader.
Principal Nicole Kimbrough greeted people as they filed into the building. And SPS superintendent Dr. John Jungmann was there, too.
“Good morning. Welcome! Have a great day," Jungmann said to students and parents.
At a meet the teacher night Wednesday evening, workers were busy putting the finishing touches on the new school, which replaces the old facility at Scenic and Sunshine, but Kimbrough says, for the most part, the building was ready to go this morning.
"It'll be just a lot of cosmetic-type things at the end and just a couple of safety things as far as playground goes. We'll keep one closed 'til the other one's ready to go and that kind of stuff, but as far as having the materials we need, having the space we need, we're ready," she said.
Sherwood’s classrooms are set up much differently than at the old school. Instead of the old model of 25 students assigned to one teacher, there are two teachers with many more children. That’s designed to increase collaboration across grade levels, according to Kimbrough.
"And the way that the studios are set up, kids have opportunities to collaborate outside of their typical learning lab space," she said.
Dr. Jungmann says the new classroom structure at Sherwood, with paired classrooms, is designed to benefit both teachers and students.
"We think that that's a great way to grow teachers, a great way for kids to get access to multiple adults and the strengths of multiple teachers, and it's just a great way to create a more intense collaboration system in our schools," he said.
Each student in grades K through two at Sherwood will get an iPod Mini tablet, and students in grade three through five will get a Chromebook. The focus on technology at the new school is evident in the Media Center, which replaces the traditional library. There are two employees in the media center—an information technologist and an information integration specialist.
Lara Garrett is the latter. She was a classroom teacher for 11 years and has her master’s degree from Drury in instruction technology as well as a library certificate.
"I'll still be teaching library skills, but this position and this space is going to lend us to a lot more collaborative time and working with teachers more, and there's gonna be heavy emphasis on teaching technology skills and digital citizenship in addition to the regular information literacy skills," she said.
Kimbrough says teachers and staff have had plenty of time to get ready for the changes at Sherwood, and they’re ready to go.
Besides the new school, Dr. Jungmann says there are other new things the district is focusing on this school year. One is IGNITE, a three-year-long project.
"It's far from just a technology project but really a call to think about how do we engage our kids in different ways, use modern tools, use project-based learning more on a regular basis in our classroom," he said.
He says the district is training staff, and they’ve already started to “evolve some practice.” Equipping each Sherwood student with technology is part of the IGNITE initiative.
The district is also rolling out its new strategic plan, which Jungmann says focuses on engaging relevant, personal learning experiences for every student every day.
Jungmann has one year in the Springfield School District under his belt, which he says gave him the opportunity to listen and learn and put some ideas into action. Now, he says, he’s ready for his second year.
"We've got an incredible amount of passion and momentum as we go into year two, and I think the future is very bright," he said.
