School days, Spring 2020

Round 13: Spring 2020

Principal Rianna Midlock is 50, Quinn Hayes is 44 and Patsy Greene is 29.
Students: Sara Midlock is 11, Riley Cooper is 10, Madelyn and Ross Cooper and Jeremy Hayes are 9, Todd Robinson, Liam Cooper, Skye Marlowe and Iona Fielding are 8, Jesse Midlock is 7, Mia Greene and Jett and Kyra Marlowe are 6, James Cooper, Lina Marlowe and Connor and Dane Harper are 4.

Summer is getting close and the kids are getting more and more restless. Rianna finds it hard to get them to work at all. She's teaching Grades 1-3 this year and has the largest group with 8 kids and she's completely knackered every day when the classes are over.

Rianna and governor Deacon Burrows had many meetings about the new school but they finally agreed to expand the old school instead of building a new one. The whole city has become attached to this school, including Rianna and the other teachers, so in the end this felt like the best solution. The school will get new walls and floors during the summer but for now Rianna really enjoys having larger class rooms and a football field in the backyard.

Rianna's own son Jesse is in her class as well but she tries to make sure not to favor him in any way. Jesse's not very interested in studying though. He finds it hard to adjust to being one of the big kids after spending two years in Patsy's class. Patsy always lets the pre-schoolers and kindergarteners take breaks from studying but it's different for first graders, at least in Rianna's class.

Skye on the other hand is very enthusiastic about school and always sits at her desk and does all her gradework without any whining. Rianna wishes all her students could be more like Skye. It would make her job a lot easier.

She finally gets all the kids to work by promising that this will be the last grammar lesson this spring.

It's much easier to get the kids to work during arts class though. Everyone loves painting especially now that there's a whole lot of wall to cover with new art work.

Rianna has promised that every student will get at least one painting on the walls of the school so everyone is doing their very best with their paintings.

The oldest kids, grades 4-6, get to learn computer skills since they are pretty essential nowadays. Quinn has just given the kids an assignment to search information about Midsummer Day on the internet.

Quinn's class also gets to test out the new and improved music room. Jeremy would much rather play the synthesizer than a violin because, in his words, violins are "boring".

"Either you play the violin or you go sit in the hallway and get an F for this class" Quinn says. There's really no room for nepotism at Allerdale Elementary School!

Jeremy decides to give the violin a try and finds that it's much more fun than he expected. The music doesn't sound very good but at least everyone's participating.

Quinn is delighted that there's one student who makes music rather than noise. Sara's a very good piano player although she would much rather dance than play.

Patsy's class room had a makeover before the semester started and the outcome is very colorful and fun. Patsy teaches four pre-schoolers this year and she's focusing on getting them used to working in a group and following the school rules. Lina is the only girl in the class but she seems to fit in nicely with the boys.

Four-year-olds have a relatively short attention span so Patsy takes them to the football field to get some exercise and also wear out some of that neverending energy they seem to have.

Patsy has been released from recess duty due to her pregnancy so she relaxes and reads in the library after lunch while the kids are playing outside.

Quinn makes sure that everyone plays nicely and that no-one tries to leave the school property. There's not much traffic but it's still not safe for the kids to play out on the street.

Extras:

This is what it looked like when I gathered all the kids for the portrait. 17 students and 3 teachers. My computer really didn't like it!

The school looks pretty much the same except that the cafeteria was extended and all the kids can now eat at the same time. I'm planning to give it new exterior walls and also change the interior walls and floors.

Here's the new backyard with the football field. (Yes, football! I refuse to call it "soccer".)

Notes:

• Title from "School days" by Chuck Berry.
• This session was a pain to play. I had so many crashes that in the end I was really happy that I got the pics and was able to save and quit. I don't know what's wrong with my game but it's slowly becoming a BFBVFS.
• I ended up not building a new school after all. I expanded the lot with the LotAdjuster and I like how it turned out. I really like this school and was not ready to delete it yet.