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MELANIE AVEBecause of Hurricane Charley's destruction, an elementary school's classes will be in a church.
FROSTPROOF - Sunday school rooms became classrooms Monday in this town's First Baptist Church, which is still without its steeple because of Hurricane Charley.
Some children sat in pews instead of desks. Lunch was served in paper bags at outdoor picnic tables. Bibles, not textbooks, filled bookshelves.
This was school for the students of Ben Hill Griffin Elementary, which reopened in temporary quarters Monday more than a week after the storm ripped the roof off their school, soaked several classrooms and sent textbooks flying.
But it wasn't the gaping holes 2 miles away that bothered 11-year-old Michael Dorsey.
"It's crowded, and I have to sit next to two girls," the fifth-grader groaned.
For all its oddities, Monday marked a return to normalcy for tens of thousands of Florida schoolchildren who have been out since the Aug. 13 hurricane. Eleven Florida counties had to cancel classes because of power outages and widespread damage to schools and homes.
In some of the the hardest hit areas of Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee counties, students still aren't back. Schools there won't reopen for another week.
But in Frostproof, a small town in southern Polk County, teachers said the return of school is helping children erase the memory of the hurricane's devastation like an errant pencil mark.
"They're glad to be back," said fifth-grade teacher Debbi Storicks, whose Griffin Elementary classroom suffered some of the worst damage. "A lot of them haven't known what they are going to do from day to day."
Late last week, teachers hustled to salvage what materials they could from the school and bring them to the church in time for students, some of whom who were left homeless by the storm.
They shared books and lessons Monday. Art and music classes were taught by teachers who rolled carts from room to room.
The school will be at the church for at least a month, and perhaps longer. That's how long it will take to repair the building.
Several children said they wanted to come back to school because they were bored.
"I missed my friends," said Rebecca Henson, 10.
Some of their parents, however, wished they had more time to deal with property damage and insurance claims without the hassles of school.
Mary Miller's family woke up at 5:30 a.m. Monday to get two children off to two different schools and her husband to his job in Highlands County. Their mobile home was destroyed and the family is staying with relatives in Lake Wales, meaning the children could not ride the bus to school as normal.
Between all the driving and the headache of getting federal aid, Mrs. Miller was near tears.
"It's so nerve wracking," she said.
Griffin Elementary relocated to the First Baptist Church because it was the largest space available to house the school's 400 third, fourth and fifth graders. The city's two other schools, Frostproof Elementary and the Middle/Senior High School, were not damaged.
Educators are paying the church $8,000 a week.
Counselors were on hand to help the children deal with their emotions, but few seemed to need anything more than to see their friends and hug their teachers.
"Kids are so resilient," said principal Faye Smith.
Storicks and fellow teacher Maybelle Parker began the day by having the children write down what they knew about Hurricane Charley and what helped them get through it.
About 15 of the 45 children said their homes were damaged in some way. Dozens more lost electricity and phone service. A few still had none on Monday.
Parker said her home's windows broke and her roof caved in, ruining the kitchen, dining room and part of the laundry room.
She and her husband relocated to the Hampton Inn in Winter Haven, which drew oohs and aahs from the children.
"It's not as fun as you might think," she told them.
Many of the students, like freckled Rachel Hendricks, hunkered down in the hallways and bathrooms of their homes, fearful they were going to die.
"I just hope everything gets back to normal," she said.
Shardonnay Hill, 11, said her family went to stay at a hotel in Tampa after the hurricane knocked a hole in their roof. She and her family sought shelter in the bathtub during the storm, then moved to the hallway after the wind cracked a window.
"It was dangerous," she said.
Within an hour, though, talk of the storm was replaced with lessons on synonyms and plate tectonics. Teachers already were concerned about the days lost and getting ready for standardized testing.
Joseph McDaniel, 10, said the day felt like any other. At the end of the day, the sunshine gave way to heavy rains. As the children filed out to buses and cars, teachers gave each one a stuffed animal, donated from Citrus County.
Eleven-year-old Brittany Dugas hugged a white toy bunny rabbit and stroked its ears.
She said she was so happy to be back at school, but she couldn't say much more.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.