A look inside …
Big Hollow Primary School
Address: 33335 N. Fish Lake Road, Ingleside
Phone: (847) 740-5320
Web site: www.bighollow.us/primary/
District's name and Web site: Big Hollow School District 38 (www.bighollow.us)
Number of students/grade levels offered: 520 students in kindergarten through second grade
Number of staff: 32
When was school built: 2000
Interesting tidbit: Two teachers at Big Hollow are graduates of Big Hollow School District 38.
Principal: Christine Arndt
• She has been working in the district since 1998 before being named principal of Big Hollow Primary School in 2002.
• What is your favorite school memory: "The district's family reading week. Every year, we celebrate reading and have a theme. It's great to see the parents come in and read to the students all week. It really is a lot of fun every year."
• What do you think is a unique aspect of your school? "It's just wonderful that we are all located in the same location, at the corner of Nippersink and Fish Lake roads. Also, I think the parents and community -- with all of their volunteering -- are also a wonderful asset to us."
• What are you most proud of? "My teachers. The staff here is incredible, and I don't know what I would do without them."
• How has technology changed the way students learn over the past five years? Has that been a good change? "It's been a positive change. About five years ago, we were lucky to have computers. But now, I think teachers using the Internet as tools inside the classroom and teaching children how to use computers is wonderful. It's amazing when you are doing something on a computer, then a first-grader comes over and teaches us how to do it. I think we do need to do more to educate children on the use of computers though."
• If you can get one thing accomplished between now and the end of May in your school, what would it be? "My big goal is to get students to be learning enough to pass into their next grade level flawlessly. That means we have to give them the best education we possibly can."