Here's what a Hamilton classroom will look like during COVID-19

Spaced out desks, single squares of carpet,bagged up water fountains andcheckmarks above bathroom stalls and urinals are just some of the new features schools will have forstudents as they reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board gave local media a tour of one of its newer schools on the mountain,Shannen Koostachin Elementary, on Tuesday.

Reporters visited a kindergarten class, a Grade 1class, washrooms and a hallway.

This comes as the board announced a $10.4 million plan yesterday to reduce class sizes in kindergarten and in classes between Grades 4 and 8. The plan also includes a staggered start and mandatory masks for all students.

Here's what the schoollooked liked:

Grade 1 class

The Grade 1 class had 23 desks and chairs for students, with roughly a metre of room between them.

The desks take up almost the entirety of the room.

There was also a bottle of hand sanitizer in the class.

Manny Figueiredo, director of education, noted space for some of the more social aspects of learning, like a reading table, won't be in class.

"A lot of the extra furniture or other learning spaces have been removed. It's the only way to create distancing. It's not how we've reinforced effective teaching and learning over the years," he said.

Kindergarten class

The kindergarten class had six tables with 12 chairs.

It also had a touch-free handwashing station and nineindividual squares of carpet for students to sit on.

Toys will be scarce in these rooms.

Washrooms

In the washrooms, urinals and stalls are marked so that only every other one is in use.

A green checkmark indicates which stalls and urinals can be used while a red X signifies which should be avoided.

Hallways

Hallways have various COVID-19 posters about masking and physical distancing.

Water fountains are bagged up, but water bottle filling stations can be used.

The floor also features stickers that help physically distance students.

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