POQUOSON — At recess, Poquoson Elementary School students get to watch "big Tonka trucks" move dirt, lift cinder blocks and put a roof on their new school.
Their playground is just 50 feet from the $18 million building that will replace their current school. Students will get an early summer vacation - their last day of school will be June 6 instead of June 13 - so demolition can start on the old school.
The extra week will allow teachers to pack up classrooms and workers to salvage parts before the old building is torn down on July 14, said Interim Superintendent Marilyn Barr. The school will still surpass the 990 instructional hours required by the state.
When 3rd through 5th grade students return to school Sept. 2, they'll be in a new two-story structure that already towers above the old elementary school. Kindergarten through second-grade is at Poquoson Primary School. Students sometimes line the fence at recess to watch the new school being built, said Director of Operations Steve Pappas. It's the first new school in the city since Poquoson Primary School was built 18 years ago.
"It's like big Tonka trucks out there, and that's hard not to notice," Pappas said. "One day it was grass, the next day a cement foundation, the next day sticks of steel were going up and then there were cinder blocks."
Construction is on target for the Sept. 2 opening date, although work will still be in progress on the building's exterior when classes resume.
Inside, each grade level will have 10 classrooms, five on the first floor and five on the second floor.
The school will feature an environmentally-friendly design that includes tall windows with sun shades to regulate heating and cooling, an outdoor wetlands, skylights, and an outside courtyard for each grade level. Builders are following standards developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit environmental group, that calls for using recycled materials and energy-efficient heating, cooling and lighting systems.
The new 79,000 square-foot school will also have signs explaining how it's saving energy.
"It'll be a living, learning laboratory, kind of like the Virginia Living Museum," Pappas said.
The drop ceiling will be suspended a few inches from the wall so children can see the gap and "have an idea that there's more going on up there," he pointed out during a tour of the school.
Light green, dark green, brown and ocean-blue paint cover some walls to preview the wetlands theme that will work its way through the school.
The gym is three times bigger than the current one, and the library features tall windows that will overlook the man-made wetlands that will include osprey nests and other wildlife.
The school will also function as a community center, with the gym open for sports activities after school is over and the outdoor space as a park.
Principal Jeff Carroll has a view of the new school from his office.
"It's been very exciting," he said. "I can see things play out in front of me that are on the architectural drawing in my office. I'm looking forward to moving in."