URBANA — Students at King Elementary School got a look Friday at the new portion of the their school building, still a work in progress.

When they return to school in the fall, they'll see the completed project — a new gym, a multipurpose room, two new classrooms, a courtyard, a fine arts suite with rooms for music, art, drama and dance, and a new entrance.

The $7 million project — being paid for with money from the 1-cent school facilities sales tax — is adding 18,000 square feet, as well as renovating portions of the existing building, including turning the existing gym into fine arts spaces.

On Friday, Principal Jennifer Ivory-Tatum led groups of children through the new part of the building as workers were laying bricks and concrete block, and putting up the structures to hold the windows that will take up almost the entire west wall of the multi-purpose room.

"They're almost done," said kindergartener Ca'vaiss Bundridge of the multi-purpose room, even though it was filled with construction materials and equipment. "Whoa, look at that light!"

His classmate, Ari Tantular, pointed out a pile of bricks in the new courtyard: "Those are the bricks that they're going to use."

The students were most impressed with gym.

"I heard somebody say it was humongous. That's a really good word," Ivory-Tatum said.

After looking around the new gym, first-grader Khani Thomas asked: "We got two gyms. What are we going to do with the other gym?"

Ivory-Tatum explained that it would be turned into rooms for music and art.

The extent of work on the building will increase as of June 1, when the renovations begin. King school got special permission to end its school year on May 27, rather than on May 31 with the rest of the district, Ivory-Tatum said.

"There's a lot that's happening in the construction schedule for June 1," she said. "We'll all be in here Memorial Day weekend to pack up and get out. We'll all be working like crazy."

On June 1, workers are cutting power to the building and starting demolition on the current office area.

They'll be working simultaneously this summer on finishing the addition to the school and renovating the existing building. The work is scheduled to be completed Aug. 6.

This winter's weather put the project behind schedule. The construction crew lost 22 work days between Thanksgiving and Feb. 1 due to weather, said Mark Parker, the site superintendent with Johnston Contractors of Bloomington.

They worked nine Saturdays this spring to get back on schedule.

"We're where we want to be now," Parker said.

The workers have done preliminary work in the existing building during winter and spring breaks, including putting in ductwork for air-conditioning.

In the next six weeks, they'll put in the gym floor, add basketball equipment and the stage curtain, and complete the ceilings in the new addition, along with the renovation work.

After seeing the new parts of their school, the King students signed a construction beam that will hang in the new office at the school.