ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Two Sappington Elementary teachers used this past summer to break barriers, knocking down the wall that separated their classrooms so they can discover new learning opportunities.
For several years Nicole Hinendlmayr and Katrina Castelli have been co-teaching, frequently swapping students and ideas.
The teachers would work to their strengths helping students reach their full potential. But crowded classrooms and the constant back and forth was causing problems.
Over the summer the problems came crashing down. The teachers knocked the wall down and combined classrooms.
“Oh, It’s so much easier, it’s fantastic,” Hinendlmayr said.
Now that the school year has started, teachers and students like the renovated room. Braden Wheatley is one of their students. He’s excited about new learning opportunities and more friends.
“There’s a lot of people,” he said. So, you get to have a lot of friends in class. Meet a lot of people you haven’t met."
Parents are on-board too.
“They are excited to see the work we are going to do now that we've knocked down the wall,” Castelli said.
It’s fun and games now – with a bit of learning, but the teachers hope the changes pay off in the long run.
“We want to make sure they are really there in the real world,” Castelli said. “When you go to a job you don’t just have math and then science then reading. it's all together. this is a more real experience.”
District leaders said teaming up to tackle more work is a trend that’s catching on.
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