First-year teacher makes the most of new classroom

"Wow, this room is big, bright and empty."

That was Dave White's first thought when he walked into his kindergarten classroom in the Shoemaker Elementary Annex.

Principal Toni Palmer said White's room was a kindergarten room two years ago, when Shoemaker needed three kindergarten classrooms.

Last year, the kindergarten enrollment was smaller, so White's area was used as a music room, Palmer said. This year, the kindergarten enrollment was up again, so the music room was moved to a different area.

That left White's classroom bereft of classroom furniture and even bulletin boards.

"I walked in and the classroom was brown and white," said White, referring to the carpet and walls, respectively.

White said Palmer asked him if he was any good at painting and gave him permission to decorate the room in any style he wanted. The trouble, White said, was that he isn't good at painting.

So he called upon his brother, Ben, a freshman at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and Ben's girlfriend, Alyssa Johnson, another UNK freshman, to paint decorations on the wall.

He concentrated on putting up decorated bulletin boards.

The result is a classroom that has a bit of a SeaWorld theme to it.

White's "jobs bulletin board" has a dolphin, shark, whale and other sea creatures listing various daily "jobs," such as doing the calendar; being the "mail person;" holding the door for the "little school," which is what his kindergartners call the annex; and holding the door at the "big school," which is Shoemaker Elementary itself.

Students with jobs that day have their names printed on small fish and placed next to the larger sea creatures bearing the name of their jobs.

Above that bulletin board, Ben and Alyssa painted jellyfish, an octopus, seahorses, a snail, a lobster and a very large turtle.

A white pipe running along one wall brought to mind an overhead electric line. When all the painting was finished, the pipe had three seagulls perched on it, with their painted feet wrapped around the pipe, providing a 3-D effect.

A supporting ceiling beam that runs down the middle of the room is decorated with a frog, as well as green lilly pads, each marked by a number. Plastic fish hang suspended from the ceiling.

There are a few terrestrial animals in the room, including black ants painted on a column that undergirds the ceiling beam. Each of the 26 ants is carrying a letter of the alphabet on its back.

Painted geometric shapes -- square, triangle and circle -- adorn another wall.

One of White's bulletin boards has a "weather bear" where students work on calendar activities. They note if the weather is sunny, cloudy, rainy or snowy. They also record the day of the week and date: For example, students might say, "Today is Monday, Sept. 29, 2008."

They will also complete a trio of sentences, "Today is .... Yesterday was ... Tomorrow will be ..." by plugging in the correct day for each sentence.

White is the son of Jeff and Mary White. He attended Cedar Hollow Elementary and graduated from Grand Island Senior High. He then went to Wayne State College.

Family, though, is only part of what drew him back to Grand Island. White said Grand Island has the reputation of being a great school system.

"It was one of my top choices when I came out of school," he said.

He was interviewed and chosen for the new kindergarten position at Shoemaker. White praises the staff, noting that its teachers have been both very helpful to a first-year teacher and also a lot of fun to work with.

White said Shoemaker Elementary has "a great faculty, great families and great kids. It's been a lot of fun."

He did get to enjoy the first day of school with his 20 students. He thought the kids liked the classroom decorations. That still didn't stop some kids from acting shy and other kids from being excited, but wondering exactly what they were expected to do.

The second day of school was sadder for White, who missed work because he was attending the funeral of his grandmother, Jean White.

There is no doubt that White is in the full swing of school now.

He said he wanted to create a classroom where students would say, "Wow, this is a fun place to be."

Perhaps some of his kids are getting used to all the decorations, but White said he still enjoys gazing at them each day.



Low Shoemaker project bid is $3.5M

One reason Shoemaker Elementary Principal Toni Palmer was willing to let Dave White freely decorate his classroom is that the day is soon coming when the Shoemaker Annex will no longer be needed for students.

On Sept. 30, Tri Valley Builders submitted the low bid of almost $3.5 million for the Shoemaker addition and renovation project.

Sampson Construction submitted a bid of $3.7 million and Hausmann Construction submitted a bid for $3.8 million to do the project.

The Grand Island school board is scheduled to take action on the bids Thursday night. Dan Petsch, director of buildings and grounds for GIPS, said he hopes work on the project will begin by late October.

If Tri Valley gets the job, its projected completion date is October 2009.