BETTENDORF -- As students in one first grade classroom are learning about the meaning of the word build, they're also learning about a big project.
A $16.7 million school will be built to replace the current one that was built back in the 50's.
"It lends itself to really good conversations with the kids, about what's going to happen here," said Linda Deuth, first grade teacher.
Right now, Grant Wood elementary is at full capacity.
"We're not as equipped to allow for the size of classrooms that we have, we have rather large class sizes and so space is very much limited in the classroom," said John Cain, principal.
With a new school comes more space. The building will have three classrooms for each grade.
"We have multiple teachers working in one classroom, it just makes it kind of a difficult learning environment sometimes," said Hillary Mosier, second grade teacher.
They'll also no longer have to have the gym double as the lunchroom and they'll have more parking outside.
Seeing the plans for the school made the teachers hopeful.
"A little bit more elbow room, a little bit more.... say in the design and how it's laid out in the classroom and maybe a little bit more flexibility in the space that we have in the classroom," said Deuth.
The construction is set to start in August of 2017 and all finished for the start of the 2018-2019 school year.
Funding for the new building comes from the district's physical plant & equipment levy and local option sales & service tax funds.
To see the schematic plan for the new building click HERE.