Hillel School tuning up its primary classrooms

Hillel School is getting ready for a renovation that could change how teachers teach and students learn.

With help from a parent who is an architect, the private Jewish school plans to revamp the wing serving grades 2 through 5. Walls will be knocked down, replaced with glass ones or sliding doors. Windows will be enlarged so they are at children's eye level. Communal spaces will allow teachers to bring classes together or give students spots to explore lessons through arts, crafts and science experiments.

Head of School Amy Wasser said the work will start in May and wrap up by the time children return in August.

"It's going to totally change how we teach," she said.

Teachers will have dry-erase boards on wheels, replacing the dusty chalkboards in the rooms now, and wheeled storage carts so they can take their classes into other rooms, hallways or outdoors.

The halls also will have tables and seating for students to study or work individually with teachers. The back of the wing will turn into a "Da Vinci Studio" for messy work with science, arts and cooking, Wasser said.

The transformation will eliminate the computer lab to make room for a gathering spot for groups. A wall to the outside will be removed and replaced with a covered walkway that leads to the library. Though the library sits next to the school, it is not convenient to access from classrooms. Wasser hopes students will pop in more if it's linked from the elementary wing.

Getting rid of the computer lab doesn't mean reducing technology, however. More computers will come to the classrooms, Wasser said, and support posts in the hallways will have outlets in case students want to plug in there.

"You don't go to technology," Wasser said. "Technology is where you are."

Prakash Nair, a Hillel parent and internationally acclaimed school designer, donated his time and designs to Hillel. Hillel raised $150,000, which the Chernin family pledged to match, for the construction, supplies and furnishings.

Nair co-founded Fielding Nair International, a firm that uses educational research as the basis for its school designs. Its projects, in 28 countries, often include spaces for students to study on their own or work with teachers one-on-one, and provide nooks for learning through play, art, storytelling and technology.

In 2008, Nair worked with Hillel to transform its grounds, entrance and primary classrooms, giving the school more community spaces and a better use of the outdoors. The changes included sliding-glass doors that replace windows in two classrooms that were too small to let in light and too high for children to have a view.

Middle school students got a deck so they could study outside, the Hillel lobby was redecorated for a more welcoming appearance, and an awkward breezeway was renovated to encourage group lessons and give parents a place to linger and chat.