Santa Barbara Unified School District: Teachers preparing for new school year

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - School is still a couple weeks away.

But teachers at Adams Elementary School in Santa Barbara have already hit the ground running.

“All the students want to come back to the community where they feel a part of and loved and taken care of here and they see their friends and socialize and teachers get to do the same thing," said teacher Anne Durga of Adams Elementary.

This week teachers are working together in their grade levels to map out their overall plan for the academic year.

“This week we are meeting with other teachers and we’re planning, we’re looking at curriculum, we are prepping materials, we are organizing our classroom. I’m really excited to be back in the classroom to meet the kids," said teacher Kelsey Larson of Adams Elementary.

Iaddition to preparing for the new school year, teachers consider this week a golden opportunity to learn from one another.

"It’s definitely important to have this time because we need the prep time because there’s not enough time during the school year to prepare all of the centers in the games … so having time to meet with my team who are extraordinary it’s almost like a gift to have this time to meet with them," said Durga.

Teachers are also identifying key areas of focus for each grade level.

"Right now we’re looking at our math curriculum and we are looking at all the games that we are going to be teaching and we’re prepping the materials so when we teach that lesson we just have it ready to go," said Larson.

Staff will participate in various professional development sessions including literacy, mathematics, and english language.

"It’s really great to be back here with all our staff and colleagues," said Durga.

This professional development training will continue through Wednesday.