February 27, 2016

Recent photos of our construction project:

Walkways are being completed in phases. This is on the side of the new building; when completed, there will be a covered walkway to the cafeteria. 

On the same day the workers poured cement for the walkway in the photo above, they also poured this walkway near the administration building.

Facing the covered play court from the side near the cafeteria 

The back of the building 

The side of the building from the back of the school 

The day after the cement was poured, workers were using this machine. I think they were "roughing" the surface so it would be safer for our students, staff, and families.

February 16, 2016

Here's what been happening with the construction project!

Students are playing at recess while work goes on in the background. Workers were pouring cement for the columns. Those machines continue to amaze me! 

Workers were pouring the cement for the poles for the covered walkway adjacent to the administration building.

The covered walkway will eventually extend to the cafeteria. 

Today, they put in the supports for the walkway. The cement will be poured later this week.  

Inside the library media/student center, workers are pulling wires for connectivity. Frankly, I still don't know how they know how they pull those wires through those small pipes and then know what goes where. Good thing I'm not an electrician!

The light fixtures were installed in the library media/student center. Next, the ceilings will be installed.

February 7, 2016

Time sure is flying! Here it is, Super Bowl Sunday already which means it's the month of February.

The work on our library media/student center and the covered play court continues. Here are a few photos (sorry, not too many this time).

This is the ceiling in one part of the library. The silver cylinders are for the air conditioning; they will be covered unlike the white ones that are in the library area.

These are the shelves in the Media Coordinator's office. We're not sure who will be using this room. It'll either be Mrs. Cummings or Mrs. Armstrong.

This is the ramp in front of the new special education classroom. It goes from J-building to the covered play court. 

The front of the covered play court has an area for a stage where we can have school-wide assemblies. We will have an eagle logo as a backdrop. There's still more work to do on the columns before workers will start installing the roof.  

Project of the Year!

Today, we had the pleasure of attending a Masonry Institute of Hawaii luncheon to celebrate our classroom building being named as their Project of the Year!

Kendall Ellingwood and Kanako Suzuki from our architectural firm, Design Partners, Inc. prepared this presentation about the project.  Their photos really show the uniqueness of our building, and I think that everyone was impressed with the vibrant interior colors as well as the functionality and very professional-looking exterior. I know that many of our visitors, when seeing the new buildings, are surprised that they are looking at a school. I learned new information, too, about why concrete blocks are the material of choice for its versatility, sustainability, and efficiency.

Here are some photos from the luncheon and award presentation.

Representatives from all those who made this project possible - the Department of Education, S&M Sakamoto, Design Partners, Inc., Ono Construction, and SSFM International

The slide presentation was so professionally done with great photos of our building - not at all like my iPhone photos that are posted on this blog :-) 

Kendall Ellingwood from Design Partners, Inc. shared the journey of our buildings from planning to construction and now, a 21st century learning space for our students and teachers

The award - a beautiful plaque 

To the whole team who made this award possible - MAHALO!

January 26, 2016

We see steady progress being made on the final phase of our construction project. Windows are going up in the library media/student center, and it looks like the CMU walls are just about done on the covered play court. We continue to keep our fingers crossed that the special education classroom will be occupied soon but we continue to wait for final documents to be approved.

The second floor tech lab overlooks the library. It'll be awesome when it's done!

Work continues on the CMU walls for the covered play court.

Windows were installed - view from the parking lot of the library media center . . .  

. . . . and the view from the back.  This was last week.
Today, I noticed that the windows on the far right were done, but I didn't take a photo.

Looks like the CMU walls are done . . . now it's time for the structural beams for the roof (I think).
We can't wait to be able to use this building!

January 7, 2016

Happy New Year! Today was our students' first day back from winter break, an appropriate time to update this blog. I was on vacation for much of the break, so I didn't have an opportunity to take too many photos.

Here are some updated photos of the project since the last post back on December 24.

We have been trying to find a way to keep the rubber tile flooring in the administration and classroom buildings clean. The custodians have tried so many different ways to clean those floors with no success. Finally, we were able to purchase some equipment to clean and buff the tiles, and then the custodians applied a special wax. The floors look awesome, and we can only surmise that those vendors who said the rubber tiles would not need wax have never encountered Wahiawa red dirt! The new building rubber tile floors will definitely be buffed and waxed before we move in!

When I came in one day during the break, Portable 4 was sitting smugly in the middle of the parking lot across the street. Apparently, the police escort had not shown up the previous night so the movers could not transport the portable off-campus. They did show up on a subsequent evening and Portables 4 and 5 were officially removed from the campus. 

Workers were getting ready for a concrete pour for the sidewalk fronting the school.  

Thank you to our SASA, Cathy Ferreira, for taking these photos of the concrete pour.

Smoothing the concrete for the sidewalk

Our students can learn a lesson from these workers about how everyone needs to together to get the job done. 

This empty space is where Portables 4 and 5 were located. When the whole project is finished, students will have a bigger area to play during recess or PE.

The sidewalk is partially done; the rest of the pour won't happen until after most of the work is done on the library media/student center.

Custodians were repainting the benches; they get so dirty and we decided to paint them a darker color. We'd sure appreciate it if everyone kept the benches clean!

December 24, 2015

This will probably be my last post for this calendar year. Much has happened from January 2015 till December 2015. Most exciting was the opening of our new classroom building in July! Our students and teachers enjoy their new learning space, and lots of quality teaching and learning takes place every day in those classrooms.

Here's what's been happening with the project. The next time I add to this blog, it will be 2016. Happy Holidays, everyone!

The walkway to the library will be completed soon. Workers kept this area open because they needed heavy equipment to access the second floor.

The Student Services Coordinator clerk has her own space to work.

This is the special education classroom prior to having the floor tiles installed. 

Masons continue to work on the CMU walls of the covered play court.

The tiles for the restrooms in the library building are done.

Getting ready to pour concrete at the entrance to the library.

The elevator is almost ready in the new building. 

Installing the floor in the special education classroom

Waxed, burnished, and all done! We're waiting for one more approval before we can occupy the room.

Concrete was poured for the library walkway.