Back to school early
Children might have to say goodbye to the beach when they go back to school in the coming days or weeks, but the students in Amber Barnhart’s fourth grade class at Knoch Intermediate Elementary School will find themselves among the sand the whole year.
Barnhart began decorating her classroom for the 2025-26 school year the week of Aug. 4, and, like always, put up decorations themed like beach gear, to make her room — a home away from home for her and her students — a good learning environment.
“I like to make it bright, colorful, cheery,” Barnhart said. “While we’re learning, we can pretend like we’re at the beach.”
This will be only the second year that Barnhart will be in her classroom at the end of the fourth grade wing at the school, but she has been teaching for 13 years. She said that even though all of the teachers at the school had to take down a majority of their decorations at the end of the previous school year, it’s still easier to redecorate a classroom she has already been in compared to starting from scratch.
Barnhart said on Thursday, Aug. 7, that she did have to start from scratch the previous year, when she first moved into her classroom, but it gave her some freedom to see what looked good in the space.
“Last year it was a lot of ripping down old paper, bulletin boards, hanging new borders,” Barnhart said. “Just figuring out the space, what I want where.”
In addition to the fun decorations that Barnhart put up to create a good learning environment, she also placed notebooks, pencils and other supplies on the students’ desks. The school supplies certain items to students, Barnhart said, so their families don’t have to spend big at the back to school aisles at department stores.
“I make all the students a pencil pouch; the school is very generous to provide the materials in the pencil pouch as well,” Barnhart said. “I always make sure I tell my families, if they send nothing, they’ll still have everything they need.”
At another elementary school in the southwest corner of Butler County, fourth grade teacher Sarah Smelscer was preparing her classroom at Connoquenessing Valley Elementary on Thursday, Aug. 14, for the first day of school, Thursday, Aug. 21.
Smelscer also said she and the school supply some materials for students, so they don’t come to school unprepared. Additionally, the Parent-Teacher Organization at the elementary school helps teachers pay for materials for their classrooms, as well as supplies they give to students.
“Our PTO is generous. We turn in our receipts and they reimburse us for a certain amount,” Smelscer said. “You look at deals and teacher sales. Target does a good one before school starts.”
Smelscer, who has been teaching at the Seneca Valley School District school for about 10 years, said the more supplies the school and the district can provide to students, the better.
“That way you don’t have to ask parents for as much,” Smelscer said.
Barnhart, too, said the PTO of Knoch Elementary School helps her and the other teachers pay for supplies, and she coordinates with the other fourth grade teachers at the school to make sure their students get as many supplies as possible. Barnhart said the PTO at the school has made an impact on what the teachers are able to provide for its students.
“Decorations and those things are pretty much your personal expense, but the district is very generous,” Barnhart said. “We are a trio, and my two other colleagues create a supply list … We provide a supply list every year, but anything we need we put on the list and they supply it for us.”
Teachers and students spend a lot of time in their schools, with teachers spending a majority of their days in one classroom.
Smelscer said teachers at Connoquenessing Valley Elementary also get to collaborate on the layout of the classroom, like its desks, seats and supplies, with maintenance personnel, who moved desks into her room a few days before Aug. 14. The desks in her classroom are set up in clusters of six, all facing one another, because her lessons are collaborative, and students of fourth grade age benefit a lot from socialization, Smelscer said.
“We can decide what works best for the classroom,” Smelscer said. “I like them to be together because a lot of what we do is collaborative.”
Like, Barnhart, Smelscer’s classroom has a theme, but one a little different from the beach. Her classroom walls are adorned with baseball motifs, the students’ names written on football stickers and posters with wording reminiscent of sports terms.
“The theme is sports. I do sports because everyone know sports, and even if they don’t play sports they can get the idea,” Smelscer said.
With only a few days to go before students return to their classrooms, Smelscer and Barnhart were busy, but excited to get back in their classrooms and prepare them for young minds.
Barnhart said she normally starts getting her classroom ready relatively early, because it gives her a good amount of time to plan out how her classroom would serve her main field of teaching science subjects. She even had a helper in her daughter, soon-to-be third grader Lilly Barnhart, in preparing her room for school.
While she is excited for another school year at Knoch Elementary, Barnhart said the preparation helps her a lot in making sure that excitement continues beyond the first day of school.
“I'm just trying to get it all done so that way at the beginning of the year it's smoother,” Barnhart said.
