ES Science Academies

campus highlights january 2026

January has been full of curiosity, creativity, and hands-on exploration across our STEM/STEAM Academies! 🚀✨ Our students have been diving into Earth, weather, resources, and ecosystems through meaningful learning experiences that make science come alive.

🌞 Kindergarten scientists looked to the sky, identifying patterns of day and night and observing the Sun, Moon, stars, and clouds as they learned to predict changes in the world around them.

🌱 First graders became soil investigators, studying particle size, texture, shape, and color while discovering the special properties of topsoil, clay, and sand.

⛅ Second graders stepped into meteorologist mode—measuring, recording, and graphing weather conditions, and exploring severe weather events like hurricanes, tornados, and floods.

🌎 Third graders explored natural resources, learning how we use them in our daily lives and why conservation matters. They also identified ways to protect our planet through reducing, reusing, and recycling.

⚡ Fourth graders dug deeper into renewable and nonrenewable resources, examining their advantages, disadvantages, and environmental impact while learning how Earth stores natural resources in different types of rocks.

🌿 Fifth graders became environmental engineers and ecosystem experts—designing conservation and recycling solutions while investigating how living and nonliving factors interact within healthy ecosystems.

🤖 In the LEGO Lab, innovation was everywhere! Students collaborated to design, test, and refine builds using LEGO engineering resources—strengthening creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, and teamwork.

January has been a month of exploration, discovery, and powerful STEM learning—our students are truly thinking like scientists and engineers as they kick off the new year strong! 🌟

Clendenin elementary

steam academy

This month, Clendenin has been shining bright with hands-on learning, creativity, and STEM excellence across our classrooms!

🧪 Ms. Camps (1st Grade) brought science to life with an engaging STEMscopes soil investigation. Her young scientists dug in, explored textures and properties, and discovered just how amazing the earth beneath our feet can be!

📚 Ms. Garcia (5th Grade) turned the hallway into a science showcase! Her students’ anchor charts highlighted key concepts, vocabulary, and learning connections—transforming the space into a vibrant gallery of academic pride.

📝 Ms. Lujan (5th Grade) doubled the impact by guiding students through both their STEMscopes science notebooks and online learning tools. Her blend of digital and hands-on instruction kept students exploring, thinking, and making meaning in exciting ways.

🤖 Ms. Azcarate (4th Grade) who is the robotics team sponsor and our incredible Unicorn Robotics Team made us extra proud! Her Little Gamers advanced to the next round of the district robotics competition—proof that creativity, teamwork, and innovation are alive and thriving at Clendenin. Go Little Gamers!!! 🎮✨

Clendenin Unicorns continue to shine with curiosity, commitment, and unstoppable spirit. What a magical month of learning! 🦄💫

Western Hills elementary

environmental science academy

🌟 Western Hills January Highlights: Roadrunners on the Move! 🌟

Our Roadrunners kicked off January with hands-on learning, coding, gardening, and robotics all across campus!

🌱 Tower Garden Magic: Seed pods sprouted in nurseries around campus, and students transplanted lettuce and herbs from the library nurseries into the tower garden. Growth is happening everywhere!

🔗 Kindergarten engineers built and presented their own chain-reaction models—showing off creativity, teamwork, and cause-and-effect in action!

💻 4th Grade strengthened their programming skills by exploring variables and applying them to objects in motion.

🤖 Robotics Club students practiced and prepared for competition season, programming and refining strategies for the Zone Competition.

Western Hills Roadrunners are growing, coding, building, and soaring through STEM learning every day! 🏃‍♂️💨💡✨

Bobby Joe Hill Pk-8

steam academy

🌟 Bobby Joe Hill’s January Highlights: Hawks Soaring Through STEM! 🌟

This month, our Hawks took flight with creativity, engineering, and hands-on discovery across campus!

🚗 First Grade engineers tackled the “Sturdy Car” LEGO Lab challenge—designing a car with as few LEGO pieces as possible, then testing and improving their builds to make them even sturdier. True innovators in action!

🎨 Kindergarten scientists explored soil in a whole new way through soil painting! After investigating soil’s properties, students crushed it, mixed it with glue and water, and created their very own earthy masterpieces.

🏗️ Second Grade makers stepped into the world of design and problem-solving, building custom shelters to protect a family of ladybugs from severe rain. Their creativity and engineering thinking soared!

Bobby Joe Hill Hawks continue to rise, explore, and soar through STEM learning every day! 🦅💫

cooley elementary

stem academy

🌟 Cooley’s January Highlights: Bulldogs Building, Discovering, and Creating! 🌟

January was packed with hands-on STEM learning as our Cooley Bulldogs explored the world through science and engineering!

🌙 Kindergarten scientists learned about the Earth and Moon’s rotation, observing how these movements create patterns we see every day.

🌱 First Grade dug into the properties of different types of soil, comparing texture, color, and particle size like real geologists.

🧱 Second Grade jumped into the LEGO Lab, discovering how small building units can be combined and reassembled to create new objects with new purposes during the Fast Lane lesson in the Amazing Amusement Park unit.

🚁 Fourth Grade took on the Hovering Helicopter LEGO challenge, applying engineering practices—identifying problems, planning investigations, testing solutions—and also explored changes to Earth’s surface through hands-on lab work.

🎡 Fifth Grade engineers designed and modified their own spinning Ferris wheels, improving existing LEGO solutions so they worked smoothly and successfully.

Cooley Bulldogs continue to explore, build, and lead the way in STEM—what an incredible month of learning! 🐾💡✨

january IC Meeting

January STEM/STEAM IC Meeting Highlights 🔬✨

Our ICs jumped into the new year with a powerful session reviewing 2nd Nine Weeks CBA data by student expectation, identifying exactly where students need reteaching and spiraling support. 📊💡

Coaches collaborated to gather high-impact resources and strategies teachers can use right away to reinforce those standards. 📚🔍

They also continued building assessment expertise by practicing SCR scoring, strengthening calibration and confidence in evaluating student thinking. ✏️🧠

A focused, aligned, and purpose-driven meeting — our ICs are leading with clarity and excellence! 🌟💪

🧑‍🏫 Teacher Certification

Several educators have completed National Certification major milestones showcasing their commitment to professional growth and STEM integration. Let’s celebrate their progress and keep supporting their efforts to transform STEM instruction across our district! We are super proud of you!

🤩 These teachers have completed their National STEM Certification:

Jessica Schmitz from Cooley ES
Alexandria Pina from Cooley ES
Jorge Lopez from Cooley ES
Daniel Correa from Clendenin ES
Claudia Camps from Clendenin ES
Deanne Baca from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Leslie Moran from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Gustavo Hernandez from Young Women's Academy

Dora Garcia from Clendenin ES

Kirsten Lofton from Western Hills
Carol Chavez from Western Hills
Maria Azcarate from Clendenin ES
Christine Wallace from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Lesley Lopez from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Kimberly Prieto from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Toni Guerrero from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8

Sandra Rojas from Western Hills ES
Robert Sandhu from Western Hills ES
Jamie Livingston from Western Hills ES
Carolina Cairo-Kottman from Clendenin ES
Alejandra Macias from Western Hills ES

Cheyenne Nosko from Clendenin ES

Hailey Blankenship from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8

🏫 Campus Certification

Our academies are actively working toward earning National STEM Certification, a rigorous designation that recognizes excellence in STEM teaching and learning. Through this process, campuses are taking a deep look at their current STEM instruction and operations, developing a shared vision for high‑quality STEM learning, and setting meaningful, achievable goals. Each campus is implementing a comprehensive STEM Action Plan that aligns curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional learning to support student success. This work includes integrating STEM across grade levels and content areas, engaging in ongoing professional development, and using data and classroom observations to continuously improve instructional practices. Our campuses are working hard to build strong, sustainable STEM programs that inspire innovation, problem solving, and collaboration—preparing students for future academic and career success while strengthening our district’s commitment to excellence in STEM education.

Bobby Joe Hill PK-8 is leading the way with 23 indicators completed. Way to go Bobby Joe Hill! 🎉

📔 District Certification

On January 22–23, our district’s Guiding Coalition came together for an in‑depth working session focused on advancing our journey to becoming a Nationally STEM Certified District. During these two days, coalition members examined the future needs of the world and workforce, explored what must change to better prepare students, and reimagined what is possible for STEM learning across our campuses. Participants engaged in campus observations, analyzed instructional data, and built a shared understanding of high‑quality STEM instruction aligned to the Texas STEM Framework. The sessions emphasized a whole‑child approach to STEM, highlighting 21st‑century learning, STEM fluency skills, social‑emotional learning, culturally responsive teaching, and the Four Cs—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. Through reflection, dialogue, and hands‑on learning, the Guiding Coalition identified next steps to strengthen instruction and ensure that STEM opportunities are accessible to all students. This important work supports our four campuses currently pursuing STEM certification and reinforces our district’s commitment to innovative, future‑ready learning experiences.

LEGO® Education: The program is founded on a competency-based framework that is rooted in four core competency categories: Pedagogy, STEAM Concepts, 21st Century Skills and Classroom Management. These critical competencies enable teachers to facilitate, and fully realize the learning promises in every LEGO® Education solution to drive student learning outcomes.

LEGO Labs are officially up and running in EPISD Academies, bringing hands‑on STEAM learning into K–5 classrooms! Earlier this month, grade‑level teachers participated in a full day of professional development focused on exploring upcoming LEGO® builds and lessons for the second half of the year.

During the training, teachers and paraprofessionals had the opportunity to practice LEGO® builds and become familiar with the thoughtfully sequenced lesson progressions provided by LEGO® Education. We are incredibly grateful that our students can experience STEAM learning in such an engaging, creative, and meaningful way!

LEGO Education

professional development

Feedback from our Academy Teachers:

"I am ready to implement the spike box into my Lego labs and show my students how to code and build the smaller Lego’s."

"Enjoyed this training. Learned all about the process of spike Lego education."

"I really enjoyed the wind turbine construction and how it related to our curriculum."

"Amazing training. Our trainer is always so supportive and makes the training engaging."

"Fun! Really enjoy the chance to explore and see what the students will be doing in class."

Upcoming

What's Coming Next for our Academies!

MAY 2026 TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

*For new teachers to our academies or any teachers who feel they need more training, join Moye ES and YWA teachers for training with STEMscopes & Smithsonian STEAM Readers:

May 19 - 21

More details coming soon!

Computer science Professional Development opportunity for 3rd & 4th grade teachers

June 2026

More details coming soon!

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