With the end of spring break for District 205, students and teachers returned to class today and at Silas Willard Elementary School, that meant entering a brand new building.
Classes were held at the new Silas, but most of the day was spent touring the building.
Silas Principal Tiffany Springer tells WGIL the building’s natural light makes for a good learning environment.
“I think all the natural light, the open spaces, the high ceilings,” she says, “we have glass in a lot of areas, so we can have this flow, I feel like, from one space to the next.”
Springer says the layout also provides opportunities for better Wi-Fi access.
“The students, of course are using the Chromebooks that we have provided,” she says. “And the library, as well as providing a greater instructional atmosphere, we have the reading areas, we have the alcoves in the hallways, all of those are providing more settings for students to do some learning.”
After a group of kids passed through the Silas library on their tour, Librarian Sarah Brakenbury mirrored Springer’s thoughts on the natural light pouring into the school.
“Unfortunately, not every school in the district has that benefit, but we do and I appreciate that a lot,” she says. “That’s one of the things I loved about the old library. There were so many windows and here, there still are.”
An official ribbon cutting for is scheduled in the fall.
