Photos: Improvements at White Rock Elementary

The climbing wall in White Rock’s new gym

For my tour of the new wing at White Rock Elementary last night’s Community Open House, I had legit experts as tour guides: students.

The kids demonstrated the cool climbing wall in the new gym, an obvious favorite. But surprisingly just as popular were the technological updates in the new third grade wing.

“The desks are white boards we can write on,” said Kate Goodale, “and that’s really cool. We do math on them, then just erase them and work on something else.”

“I love the projectors,” said Olivia Sanders, “because we get to draw on the board and write on the board without having to use markers. Sometimes the marker gets messy or runs out, but this never runs out. We can do cool things, like solve math problems.”

I asked if she was glad she didn’t have to go outside beat the erasers clean. She looked at me quizzically.

“This is called a Flex Cast,” Georgia Fairbanks demonstrated. “We use it when we’re reading, so the kids can hear. If the teacher presses this, she can talk to all the kids, and if she presses this, she can talk to just one reading group. It’s something we’ve never had before. I like it because I don’t have to raise my hand to be called on. I can just press a button. And people can hear without talking loudly.”

“Only third grade got the new classrooms,” continued Georgia, “and my three brothers are jealous, but my little brother, going into Kindergarten next year, will get to be in here in a few years. It kinda makes me want to be in third grade forever.”

Jenna Salas, one of White Rock’s six third grade teachers, expressed gratitude for the improvements.

“It’s a great opportunity for these kids to be able to have so much hands-on time with the new things like iPads and desks that you can write on – the kids love those. When we first told them ‘You’re going to write on your desk,’ they were like, ‘What? My mom says I’m not allowed to write on the furniture!’ So, they love that and the interactive board is amazing, they pick it up so quickly. It’s user-friendly, it’s teacher-friendly. It’s an awesome opportunity to teach.”