I Teach Because…

Think back to when you were a student, back-to-school shopping, finding your classroom, and the exciting lessons that would soon fill your day. The first day of school jitters that were calmed by the friendly, welcoming face, and celebrating the “ah ha” moments when you finally figured out how to solve the problem. Then there […]

SVVSD Partners with Thorne Nature Experience & City of Longmont

SVVSD, the City of Longmont, and Thorne Nature Experience partnered to create the ultimate environmental education experience at Sandstone Ranch!  In anticipation of providing this opportunity to second graders across the district, Indian Peaks piloted a field trip to the Ranch.  Students were divided into four groups and participated in stations centered around the history […]

Teachers Utilize RAFT Resources to Enhance Curriculum

To introduce and support the new makerspace at Indian Peaks (the iPeaks iLab), teachers are piloting RAFT (Resource Area for Teachers) lesson materials to support their current themes of study.  When introducing the makerspace to staff, the design team felt it necessary to support teachers in lesson ideas for use in the space.  With a […]

Intential, Inspiring, & Internalized Learning Through Genius Hour

Students at Indian Peaks are learning for the sake of learning.  Have you ever wondered why your feet fall asleep?  Or why you have brown eyes?  How about wanting to know more about a family member’s illness? These are just some of the topics tackled by 5th graders during self-guided Genius Hour work.  Inspired by […]

Middle Schoolers Share Water Knowledge with 4th Grade

Sunset Middle School opened their doors for Mrs. Hannapel’s fourth graders.  Both schools were reading A Long Water to Water, so decided to collaborate on a shared experience.  Students were split up among a dozen activities set up around the room.  Middle schoolers led learning stations, based on topics of sanitation, clean drinking water, filtration, […]

Girls in STEM Club begins

Fifteen fourth and fifth grade girls are participating in the new Girls in STEM club at Indian Peaks Elementary.  The club will introduce students to many fun activities and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  Girls will also gain insight about STEM through outreach collaboration, exposure to current research, career exploration, and strategies for […]

Mighty Moose VEX IQ Competition

Congratulations to the following teams that participated in the 2nd annual VEX IQ Competition at Indian Peaks:  Gravity, Mainframe Meltdown, Magneto, Mustache Kitties, Elemental STEM Dragons, Anonymous, The Bulldozers, Deez Peanutz, Nuclear Puffs, Flying Hamburgers, Potato Busters, Techno FRES, FRES IKEs, Robot FRES, Super Bots, Dr. FRES, Moose Movers, Peaks Pride, Vex Vipers, Peaks Wizards, […]

Family Math Night

This term, the Indian Peaks Parent Leadership Team has decided to focus their efforts on increasing family involvement in the area of Math, specifically in the area of math facts. Two Family Math Nights were hosted last week: Tuesday, Jan. 12th and Thursday, Jan. 14th from 6-7:15 pm. About 50 families participated in the event!  […]

Will You Take the Challenge?

Will You Take the Challenge?  In late October, St. Vrain Valley Schools, with support from the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley, presented a district-wide design challenge competition.  They asked all schools, “How might your school pull a team together to engage in authentic design to integrate technology in our schools?”  With two years […]

Indian Peaks Informs the Tech Tray’s First Iteration!

Now with Wonders Technology’s teaching tools educators can teach students as young as four how to program complicated technology, such as robots and 3D printers. The Tech Tray works as an input so that students without reading or typing abilities can easily get up and running. By replacing core programming words with building blocks we’ve […]

Computer Science Week is underway!

PreK-5th grade students are experiencing several types of coding opportunities throughout the world-wide Computer Science Week. Students use many tools to learn coding basics and design.  Teachers are exposing students to code.org, Beebots, Dash/Dot robots, Bitsbox, Tynker, and Cubelets.

IPES Robotics Featured at TEDx

The Longmont Museum hosted a TEDx event November 21st.  The two-hour Salon event featured short talks by local robotics companies to discuss the future impacts of the industry.  A feature video showcased the robotics program at IPES. Please check out the film HERE Further event information HERE

Students Design Bat Houses

  Inspired by a read aloud on Halloween, students discovered that a “client” was in need of a design.  The “client” was a family of bats from the book, Bat Baby Finds a Home, by Robert Quackenbush.  The story revealed that it is not easy for bats to find a place to live.  Everywhere the […]

300+ Participants at Dive Into STEM Event!

Indian Peaks families came together at the Dive Into STEM event! The night hosted 14 stations with hands-on activities that families were able to rotate through and experience together. Students felt sea lion pelts at the Denver Aquarium table, ran through a computer coding obstacle course with Linz Craig, discovered evidence of animals with Colorado […]

Students follow Kilimanjaro Expedition

Thanks to partnerships with the GLOBE Program, Discovery Education, and the Education Foundation for the St. Vrain Valley, students are following SVVSD students and teachers while they make the trek to the tallest mountain in Africa’s summit. The Kilimanjaro Learning Xpedition’s mission is to introduce students around the world to science research taking place by […]

4th Grade Pen-pals with a STEM Twist

One of our fourth grade teachers was fortunate enough to travel to Japan this summer.  Influenced by the trip, and wanting to share the experience with her students, Mrs. Urquidi set up a partnership with a teacher in Japan.  Students will engage in a pen-pal experience this year, but with a STEM twist!  To introduce […]

STEM Summer Camps- A Success!

Legos, rockets, superheros, towers, genius hour… All fun components of this year’s STEM Summer School! Kindergarten through fifth grade students received a full dose of integrated STEM this summer.  With “Engineering is Everywhere Adventure” kits as a base, students engaged in hands-on, interactive activities, while learning key scientific concepts and disciplines.  Indian Peaks also offered […]

Skype in the Classroom with Jean Reidy

Jean Reidy joined the 4th graders at Indian Peaks via Skype.  They were brought together via the Skype in the Classroom program.  The children’s book author visited with students to share her 10 best tips for authors.  She also took time to answer specific student questions. The online connection was an experiment the 4th grade […]

IP Students Share with City Council

         Fourth graders from Indian Peaks Elementary shared their STEM work at last night’s city council meeting.  Several students gave speeches to the Mayor and City Council to inform them of the progress in the Affolter Park Playground Redesign.  Students have collaborated with park officials all year long to conduct surveys, research, and […]

Kindergarten Educreations

Academic Information: Students support academic writing and research through use of Educreations app. Standards: Writing and Composition; 1. Text types and purposes, labels, and familiar words are used to communicate information and ideas   Learning Activity: In writing rotation, students synthesize animal research with Educreations presentation.  Partners work to add text, drawings, and photos. Integration: […]

Robotics Geometry

Academic Information: Central Idea: Students use Dash robots (from Wonder Workshop) in conjunction with Path app to review and apply geometric concepts and vocabulary. 3rd grade Standards: Math – Shape, Dimension, & Geometric Relationships – Geometric figures are described by their attributes Learning Activity: In small groups, students measure and “draw” shapes on the floor. […]

STEM Night at Casa

Due to an amazing partnership with the Casa de la Esperanza community, Indian Peaks hosted a STEM Night Thursday at the Casa Learning Center.  The event included many opportunities for students to play and learn with STEM gadgets, including Spheros, Cubelets, Dash & Dot robots, iPads, Chromebooks, MagFormers building sets, Snap Circuits, Squishy Circuits, and […]

Spirit Week 3/30-4/3

The IPES STEM Leadership Team is sponsoring a school SPIRIT WEEK beginning March 30th.  They have selected and voted on activities that are hopefully available for all students.  Please help encourage students to get involved! Spirit Week: Monday (3/30) Snack Day (Bring your own snack to school.)   Tuesday (3/31) Teacher Appreciation Day (Show thanks to your hard-working teachers.) […]