outside, creating an extended experiential classroom for everything from science to art. Tere will be direct access to the outdoors from the science lab and art studio. Te idea of open space was left not only to the outside of the building, but also embraced throughout the inside design as well. Amazing things can happen in an educational environment with open areas. “Tis isn’t the case of where you’re kind of trying to make space and hope that people will use it in a certain way. Tey’re already trying to do this work in space that is hard for them to do it in,” said Keltner. “We found that larger classrooms weren’t just a luxury, they were imperative.” Te new combined Beginning and Lower School building will have much more space for our students to collaborate, think, and grow. Te classrooms will also be adaptable to the teachers instead of the teachers adapting to the space. In addition to the added room of the classrooms, the location of the different grades was thought out and planned based on the students’ needs. For example, the library is located on the second floor, across from the
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and an art studio. Tese new rooms will allow students to explore, create, and discover in an area where they aren’t hindered by hallways and moving tables. For 24 years, Jane Kenney-Norberg has shared her mobile lab while teaching science to the children of OES. “I am excited to have my own room where I don’t have
to prep on the fly, work around classroom content, and get into others’ way. It will be nice to have four sinks, lots of counter space, and moveable flat tables. I like the additional full sink I will have outside where I can do some of the messy experiments, and wash equipment that I currently take home to do in the driveway with the hose,” said Kenney-Norberg. “I am also looking forward to setting up a new water wheel project with Mr. Whitmore that is powered by rain, and installing a pulley system in the open rafter ceiling—it could be fun to have some crazy things going up and down, like my rubber chicken, when we teach simple mechanics.” Another stalwart of make-do spaces is art teacher
Laura Foster-Flynn. When describing her future dedicated studio, she said, “Imagine fresh and lifting air spooling through a bright and lofty space, music
We want students to experience that the learning process matters, that who they are and what they care about matters to others. — John Holloran, director of studies
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fifth-grade classrooms, allowing the older students easier access to resources when they are embarking on research projects, which they do more of than the lower grades. “We asked our faculty to think about how we teach
today, five years from now, and 20 years from now. Teir big ideas defined our vision for the new Lower School,” said David Lowell, the head of the Lower School. “Tis building will provide what we need to teach today and what we will need for tomorrow.”
A ROOM FOR EVERYONE For the specialists at OES, gone will be the days of scurrying from room to room with baskets of materials, making do with a desk squeezed between the bathrooms and the back door. “Tis new space will allow more time to be dedicated to our curriculum by eliminating lost time walking up the hill to another building like we currently do,” said Kelola McCrary, the language department chair and Lower School Spanish teacher. Te students will walk into another world when they enter the new language room because it will feature cultural accents from the Spanish-speaking nations around the globe. Te new building will also include something that the old Lower School never had: a dedicated science lab
8 Oregon Episcopal School
unfurling, misty shifting hills in the distance, rush of graying clouds across a broad and heavy sky…color, shape, form. What will the children see? What will they experience? What will they make? I can’t wait to find out!” Each of the four groups of classrooms will be arranged
around a shared space called an Affinity Commons, where multiple grades can conduct small gatherings, share project displays, and work on special projects. Larger gatherings will take place in the library, and the dining hall will have a shared meeting space that can be opened into a larger room or partitioned for special performances. Te entire Lower School will have an abundance of energy with all grades, prekindergarten through fifth, working together and separately in a dynamic new building full of both integrated and cozy spaces.
CURRICULUM CONNECTS LEARNING “Te more students can see each other at work, see what students in other grades are doing, see the process of learning happening around them, the more they are able to connect what they are doing to what matters to them now and in the future—how they connect to the world, how they connect to other people, how they connect learning with community,” said Director of Studies John Holloran. “We want students to know
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