Classrooms and the principal’s office are in three different makeshift locations, but nonetheless, non-faith based classrooms will open Sept. 1 in the new Morinville Public Elementary School.
“All together, between the preschool and Grades 1 to 4, we have registrations for 40 to 45 students,” said principal Wayne Rufiange as he showed off the new facilities.
The principal’s office will be in a classroom at Georges P. Vanier School. On Monday, however, Rufiange was overseeing classroom setup at the new preschool, located in the Morinville Parish Hall, and in the Grade 1 to 4 classrooms, located in the Morinville Community Cultural Centre.
While neither site will make the perfect classroom, both have some positive features that may lead to new teaching and learning opportunities.
The Parish Hall was divided roughly into four sections to allow for space sharing but also for separate teaching areas.
One section will be shared by the Preschool Enrichment and Preschool Headstart programs. The preschool programs will alternate between mornings and afternoons.
The kindergarten class will be held in a second section and approximately half the room remains for group activities and for more physical activities. This is the area where these small children will learn how to line up and how to walk as a group.
The stage will be used in a variety of ways, as all stages are, for presentations, but also perhaps, as a location for students requiring a timeout.
The new preschool teachers are Monique Webb, Jennifer Austin and Jenny Oveson, and on Monday, the three were busy setting up different stations for their students. Some adjustments were made by using portable walls, dividers and display boards.
“The teachers are coming up with new ideas and they are adapting them and changing as they go. The entire staff is excited,” Rufiange said.
The preschool will be set up on a permanent basis and the Parish Hall will not be used for any church-based functions such as weddings, Rufiange said.
Across town in the Community Cultural Centre, Grade 1/2 teacher Jenn McCoy and Grade 3/4 teacher Sandra Wood were busy setting up their classrooms.
By necessity, the Grade 1 to 4 classrooms are portable because other meetings may be held in the same space.
Like desert nomads with folding tents, when required, the teachers and students may have to put everything away because of town council meetings or perhaps for Scout group meetings.
Wood used several innovations to help the students define their own space at each table and to allow her display their work.
She sewed a slipcover arrangement, complete with a pocket, for each chair. The children will put their work into the pockets. A folding cupboard, complete with a number of wires and clothespins, made a dandy display board for artwork.
The students in this small school will use the large soccer field behind Morinville Community High School as their playground.
They will also have access to the Community Cultural Centre’s auditorium and mezzanine, and these spaces provide opportunities for other unusual learning experiences, Rufiange said.
“The students and teachers can spread out and draw or read on the mezzanine level. The architecture is also very interesting and there is art displayed here. The children can learn from that,” he said.
Rufiange is optimistic that the new school will develop and grow as the year progresses.
“The parents are understanding. They know we will have growing pains, but we have to start somewhere. My goal is to develop the school community, and being spread over three buildings just adds to the challenge,” he said.