Teachers are moving into Independence Elementary in Star and the new campus is quickly coming to life ahead of welcoming students for the first time next week.Idaho News 6 has been following the progress of Independence Element ary since the groundbreaking last July. Now, classrooms are filling up with reading nooks, colorful decorations and hallway murals as teachers add their own personal touches before the school's first year begins. WATCH | Take a tour down the hallways of Independence Elementary Independence Elementary teachers set up classrooms ahead of first dayTeachers got the green light to start moving in midway through last week. While there are still a few punch list items to complete before students can arrive, classrooms are already taking shape and some teachers are nearly finished."It's incredible how quick these teachers have been working, getting their classrooms ready to go," Principal Jeff Christopherson said.He said the hallways are coming together with a color scheme that gives the building its own identity blue, yellow and green doors mixed throughout each hallway across grade levels."Elementary school teachers are pretty impressive when you give them the green light to set up their classrooms. They make it happen overnight. It's pretty incredible," Christopherson said.He said seeing the murals go up on the walls has made the building start to feel like a real school community. "It really starts to make it feel like home, right? So we get to see this is a slogan we'll use all the time, and so now it really feels like we're ready for kids," Christopherson said.The building is organized with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classrooms on one side and kindergarten, preschool, 1st and 2nd grade classrooms on the other. The campus also features a courtyard with shaded areas and comfortable spaces designed to give students a place to decompress at recess not just run around."Some kids just want to come and decompress, and so that's the goal is to set this as a place where kids can go and relax," Christopherson said.Under the cafeteria floor, the names of students and families who signed at the open house are sealed beneath the finished surface a permanent piece of the school's history that teachers have been pointing out to each other as they move in.PREVIOUS COVERAGE | West Ada School District unveils Independence Elementary's new campus, mascot and colorsThe new school was built to help ease overcrowding as Star continues to grow. District leaders say more than 1,100 elementary-aged students are expected to attend Star Elementary and Independence Elementary combined this year."We keep thinking what would have happened if we didn't build this school. We're so happy here, but we filled it up pretty quickly," Christopherson said.With future growth in mind, one wing of the building is intentionally shorter than the other to allow for possible classroom expansions down the road."This wing here is a little shorter than this one, with the idea that we could expand at some point to get us a couple more classrooms, and that at some point might be sooner rather than later because Star just continues to keep growing," Christopherson said.The school also has its own newly paved entrance off Pollard Lane to help manage traffic flow once students arrive.A meet-and-greet for students to come meet their teachers is scheduled for Monday, August 11. The first day of school is Wednesday, August 12, when more than 600 students are expected to walk through the doors for the first time.West Ada School District will celebrate the official ribbon-cutting for Independence Elementary on Friday, August 7, at 10 a.m. ...read more read less