Since we have come back from break, the construction is complete within the E and the K building. All of the new classes have been filled up with students and teachers. Now we, as a community at Agua Fria, can see how these new buildings will work for us.

The way classrooms are set up could be considered a  good environment, and the new changes have many more benefits than before. Both the K and E buildings were entirely gutted out, walls ripped down, carpet taken out and a lot was done to get these new and improved.

“I really like the way the movement is,” said Ms. Fowler, an English teacher here at Agua Fria. “I like how in the Science and Math building they can move around the classroom, they can get more creative like movement as far as moving around to get into group.”  “I like how in the math classes…the desks have whiteboards on them. I think the setting has an effect on how it is more open and more modern, as it gives them a view on what it is kind of like in college.”

The science building offers a quiet space for some students to sit in and to work and it is much more comfortable.

The way the rooms all have a connection to each other makes it much easier for the teacher of the same content to get to each other if they need help or need to leave for a quick second. It always gives a chance to get together faster when planning for a test or a lesson plan. 

“With the classes closer to each other the teachers might be able to grade our stuff faster, or come up with games or fun activities for us to do in class,” said Kyra Caldwell, a freshman at Agua Fria.

One negative of the new spaces to be considered in the science building is the seats could be a problem for the students. They are sitting on stools. If a student leaned back they could fall back. Also it causes the students to slouch more than they would in a normal chair.

The whiteboards, which are made by the use of a special paint that was placed directly on the wall, are no longer magnetic, where this could make it a little more complicated for teachers to find a new place for certain things that were magnetic that could have been use to be placed up on the bored easily, instead they might have use have to find and use other things instead. Also, the projectors were taken out and replaced with TVs, which some people thought was too small for students in the back or on the sides of the classroom.

“The room itself is great because of how modern it is, but if I were to change anything it would definitely be more or counter space because of the fact that this is science room and it would work out  for labs in the back and meeting up in groups,” said Ms. Alickovic, a science teacher here at Agua Fria. “A big adaptation I’ve had to make is the way I show a layout because there’s no projector. I have to use the whiteboard and the TV, which is not all bad but it is a little different when it comes to what I’m used to and how I used to teach in my old room.” 

The rooms are very useful in more than one way, and the students and teachers seem to love them as well. This concludes phase 1 of the construction. As phase 2 will be happening next, which will be focused on revamping the H building.