March 28, 2014

There's so much more to be done on our administration building before we can move in this summer (hopefully).  Lots of progress is being made on the classroom building, though!  

Notice the trench in the front?  That's the fire lane; until now, there was no fire lane on our campus, just the fire extinguisher in the front of the school.  

This is the view of the classroom building from afar.  It looks like the bottom floor is coming along nicely!

The classroom building from a slightly different angle

March 15, 2014 - Pre-Spring Break

As I watch the progress of our construction project, I realize that if all goes according to plan, we should be moving into the new administration building in 3 months or less!  Being so close to the project has made me very appreciative of everyone's efforts to keep the project going and to hopefully meet the first deadline - June 2014!  This week is Spring Break, and the workers will be completing the sewer line and working on the fire lane to minimize the impact on the school (cutting the concrete, digging to lay pipes, etc.)

Here are a few photos taken this week which show the progress of the classroom buildings.  Work continues on the interior of the administration building.

Working on the final pour (for now) for the classroom building

I got to go closer to the classroom building to take this photo.  This is a different angle from the side closer to the basketball court.

A wider view of the classroom building; this is the bottom floor (there will be two floors when the building is completd).

Progress on Our Classroom Building!

It's amazing how quickly the walls are going up on the classroom building.  To give you a little background, it will be a 2-story building with 8 classrooms.  We plan to have 2 second grade, 2 third grade, 2 fourth grade, and 2 fifth grade classes housed in the building.  The walls between the classrooms are movable to allow for collaboration, project-based learning, and team-teaching, and the hallways are wider as well so students can work on group projects with classrooms across the hall.  Technology, of course, will be emphasized as part of the teaching and learning process.  This building will house a teacher workroom, a technology lab, a self-contained classroom, a therapy room (for our District staff who work with students), and a flex classroom which we will use for different purposes. It was pretty exciting to be able to design a 21st Century classroom building!

Here are a few photos of the progress that's been made on this building.

A "close-up" view of the classroom building

From a little farther away

Panoramic view of the building

February 25, 2014

The weather is cooperating, and we are definitely seeing progress on our buildings!  Here are some photos which show what is happening with our construction project.

Late last week, workers poured the final cement for the classroom building padding.  The building will be large with 8 classrooms, a special education classroom, a tech lab, a teacher's workroom, and 2 flex classrooms.  

Workers are building the walls and other infrastructure on the inside of the administration building. 

Another view of the administration building; I think I need to take a panoramic view of the front of the building. 

Early last week, there were huge piles of dirt in this area next to my office.  Now to plant grass so it won't be so dusty!

If you look closely, you can see that the walls of the classroom building are going up.  This will be a two-story building so it will take longer to be completed than the administration building.   The classrooms are intended to foster 21st century skills -- communication, collaboration, thinking critically, and creating.  

February 16, 2014

I've been negligent about updating this blog with new posts, but there aren't too many visible changes since the last post.  That doesn't mean nothing's getting done. We are hearing loud noises coming from the administration building as workers drop the panels for the roofing.  Metal on metal means reverberating noise.

Sidewalk for the custodial building is completed; however, they will probably extend that sidewalk instead of planting grass there.  

This is the area right beside my office.  They actually completed most of the work this past week.

Pouring cement over the pipes then covering the whole trench with the dirt.  The work should be completed soon!

A Week's Progress

Two days of rain meant workers had a couple of days of work to catch up on.  Let's hope these weather-stoppages are few and far between.

We got back the hallway to the cafeteria this week which was so timely.  On Wednesday evening, over 400 students and family members attended our first Read Aloud Program session, and I'm not sure how we would have managed serving the pizza dinner if that area was still closed.  The line - which was 5-6 people wide -- went from the cafeteria to the library! Thank goodness, the hallway had just been opened last Friday!

There were a lot of families present for our Read Aloud Program. on Wednesday evening.

Thank goodness the contractors had opened this area leading up the cafeteria.  The whole sidewalk was filled with families waiting to pick up their pizza.






The contractors removed the black barrier in front of the area in front of the Administration Building, and after school, one of our students exclaimed, "WOW!  Lots of progress!"  The contractors are working on the roof as well as the inside of the building  That big area will be the office lobby.  To the left (facing the building) is the Parent/Volunteer/Transition Center (although we'll be temporarily using that room as a technology lab until the classroom building is ready) and to the right is the Health Room. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather cooperates :-)

January 26. 2014

Steady progress is being made on the administration and classroom buildings. Infrastructure work continues with more digging for the underground work on the electrical and data systems.  The walkway to the cafeteria will soon be opened, and the area between the office and A-building will be blocked off shortly. As always, we appreciate everyone's flexibility as the workers do their best to minimize the impact on our students and staff!

On Wednesday, workers put up the orange fencing in the area right outside my office.  On Thursday, they had already dropped in one of the concrete boxes.  They seem to be working more quickly than at the beginning of the project!  Five boxes will be housed in that area.  

The contractors are doing their best to save the avocado tree which produces the best fruit for guacamole!

The top photo shows a close-up of the roof for the administration building.  The poor classes in A-building are enduring extra noise during this process of putting the structural beams and panels in place.  The bottom photo is a panoramic view of the building from across the street.  In just a few months, we will be moving in!