Over 350 Fremont Elementary students this week will experience new ways of learning and various spaces in which to do it.
The newly renovated and expanded school welcomes pre-k through fifth graders Wednesday to its north Springfield location. By adding students from adjacent schools, it also relieves some overcrowding issues elsewhere.
Principal James Grandon says classrooms are twice the size of traditional learning spaces, giving twice as many teachers access to students.
“What we found is that we can open up our floorplans and allow the classrooms to reconfigure themselves based on the needs of the learners instead of on a pre-configured or archaic notion,” Grandon says.
Fremont previously housed about 200 students in its 21,700 square foot building. The new structure is nearly 65,000 square feet. In addition to flexible learning spaces, the facility includes a maker space area, a new gymnasium built to tornado safe room standards, an outdoor classroom courtyard, and a renovated cafeteria and kitchen, among other upgrades.
The $10.2 million price tag is part of a 2013 bond package approved by voters that included various Springfield school district improvements.
Grandon says the spacious learning format is a way to improve students’ communication, creativity and critical thinking skills that are sometimes lacking of those coming through a traditional school system.
“Ultimately what we wanna do is we wanna provide students an opportunity to be successful in jobs that may not exist yet. And that’s a tall order, but it’s something that we think is gonna have more to do with their skills than their discrete knowledge.”
Grandon notes that improved learning can be accomplished through different styles of seating. Throughout the building you’ll find cave spaces, or a box-like seat where students can read or use their laptops in a personal environment. There’s also what’s called the hokki stool.
“Those have the ability to wiggle a little bit when you sit on them. Or you can flip them over and have them just be stable. So it’s not just a stool it’s actually a place where a student can get out some of that energy while they’re still being able to learn.”
He adds, “In the end it’s about allowing students’ minds to engage to a higher degree rather than being distracted by the needs of their body.”