November was an incredible month of exploration, discovery, and hands-on creativity across our district’s STEM/STEAM Academies! 🚀 Students stepped into the roles of scientists, engineers, and innovators—designing, building, testing, and coding through engaging, real-world learning experiences. 🧪🤖
From dynamic LEGO engineering builds and thoughtful design challenges to interactive science investigations and collaborative robotics projects, our classrooms were alive with curiosity and teamwork. 💡✨ Students worked together to solve problems, communicate ideas, and bring their imagination to life through innovative STEM learning.
This month’s adventures showed just how powerful student-driven exploration can be. 🌈👏 Our STEM/STEAM Academies continue to shine brightly, inspiring future creators, thinkers, and leaders! 🌟
November was an action-packed month in the Clendenin LEGO Lab, where students across grade levels jumped into hands-on building, coding, and creative problem-solving! 🚀🤖
From designing moving models to experimenting with gears, sensors, and simple machines, our Unicorns collaborated in teams, shared ideas, and supported one another through every build. The room was filled with excitement, laughter, teamwork, and those aha! moments that make learning truly magical. 💡🦄
Students practiced communication, critical thinking, and engineering skills—all while having tons of fun bringing their creations to life. Whether they were coding motions, testing designs, or redesigning to make improvements, their curiosity and creativity soared every step of the way. 🌈📚💻
Clendenin’s LEGO Lab continues to be a vibrant hub where innovation, teamwork, and joyful learning come together! 🧱✨
Clendenin Elementary proudly showcased their Unicorn spirit and STEAM excellence at the 2025 Weather Fest! Students confidently presented their weather investigations, shared their scientific models, and engaged the community with their knowledge and excitement for learning. 🌪️📊🌤️
The Unicorn team impressed visitors—and even made it on the news!—as they explained their project findings with clarity and enthusiasm. From their beautifully designed display boards to their hands-on demonstrations, these young scientists represented Clendenin with pride, teamwork, and curiosity. 💡🧠🤩
Our Clendenin Unicorns truly sparkled at Weather Fest, showing that science, creativity, and confidence make a magical combination! 🦄🌈🔬
This month, first graders kicked off their Force and Motion unit by diving into the LEGO Lab! 🧱⚙️ Students explored pushes, pulls, movement, and design as they built hands-on models that helped them understand how objects move in the real world. Their creativity and curiosity made the lab come alive!
Meanwhile, third graders leveled up their engineering skills by learning how to use LEGO hubs, motors, and sensors. 🤖🔌 They experimented with coding, programmed movement, and discovered how technology brings their builds to life.
Western Hills students continue to shine as thinkers, creators, and young engineers! 🌟🦅
A team of fourth graders proudly represented Western Hills at Weather Fest! 🌦️✨
Their investigation focused on a fascinating local mystery: Why do we sometimes see dark rain clouds during El Paso’s hot summers—yet no rain ever falls?
Students explored how heat, humidity, and atmospheric conditions interact, discovering how clouds can form without producing precipitation. They shared their findings through engaging models and clear explanations, showcasing strong scientific thinking and curiosity. 🌡️☁️🔍
Western Hills Road Runners truly shined as young meteorologists, bringing science to life with confidence and excitement! 🌬️📚
This month, Bobby Joe Hill was filled with creativity and innovation as students explored hands-on STEM experiences across campus! From building and coding with LEGO robotics 🧱🤖 to collaborating on engineering challenges 🛠️, our Hawks dove into problem-solving with excitement and confidence.
Students worked together 🤝, used digital tools 💻, and brought their ideas to life through design, testing, and redesign—showcasing curiosity, teamwork, and joyful learning at every turn.
BJH Hawks continue to rise as creators, thinkers, and innovators—soaring higher each day through STEM! 💡🦅💛
Bobby Joe Hill students showcased their STEM excellence at Weather Fest! 🌪️✨
Their project centered on the compelling question: “Does warmer weather create stronger hurricanes?” Students formed hypotheses, conducted hands-on investigations, and demonstrated how rising temperatures can intensify storm systems. 🌡️🌊 Their clear explanations and interactive model brought complex weather concepts to life for the community.
BJH Hawks truly soared as young scientists and engineers, demonstrating curiosity, innovation, and a passion for STEM learning! 🦅💡
Cooley Elementary created a wonderful opportunity for families and students to come together and celebrate the joy of learning during their recent STEM Night. ✨📚
The event featured an evening full of hands-on, engaging, and curiosity-driven activities 🔬🤖 that sparked imagination and inspired young scientists, engineers, and problem-solvers across the community.
Families rotated through interactive stations 🔄, explored real-world STEM challenges 🌎, and enjoyed meaningful time learning together 🤝. From building and experimenting 🛠️ to observing and creating 🧪🎨, the night highlighted Cooley’s commitment to making learning collaborative, exciting, and full of discovery.
It was truly a memorable evening of connection, creativity, and STEM exploration at Cooley Elementary. 🌟💡👨🏽🔬🧑🏻💻
Cooley Elementary students proudly represented their campus with an exciting science demonstration! 🌱🔬✨
They brought science to life for the community as they wowed families and judges with engaging, hands-on models and clear scientific explanations. Their energy, teamwork, and curiosity shined through in every interaction, sparking interest and excitement in everyone who stopped by. 👏🌟
The Bulldogs truly showcased their science skills and made this an unforgettable learning experience. Go Bulldogs! 🐾💡
🌞 On November 8, all our elementary academies proudly participated in the exciting KTSM Weatherfest! Students from Cooley, Clendenin, Bobby Joe Hill, and Western Hills showcased incredible projects tackling real-world challenges such as flooding and dust storms 🌧️ —issues that impact our desert community in El Paso. We are so proud of these young innovators for their creativity and hard work in presenting at this event!
🧑🏫 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! 🤩
Cheyenne Nosko from Clendenin ES
Deanne Baca from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Jorge Lopez from Cooley ES
Christine Wallace from Bobby Joe Hill PK-8
Alejandra Macias from Western Hills ES
Robert Sandhu from Western Hills
Jamie Livingston from Western Hills ES
Alexandria Pina from Cooley ES
Jessica Schmitz from Cooley ES
🏫 Campus Certification
Our campuses are making great progress on their STEM certification journey! Currently, they’re working through Indicators 1–6, which focus on building a strong foundation for STEM excellence. These steps include:
Completing STEM self-assessments and campus-wide evaluations
Establishing inter-rater reliability and conducting teacher walk-throughs
Communicating a clear STEM vision and goals
Identifying opportunity gaps and engaging stakeholders
Each milestone brings us closer to transforming STEM instruction across EPISD!
Bobby Joe Hill PK-8 is leading the way with 6 indicators completed. Way to go Bobby Joe Hill! 🎉
📔 District Certification
El Paso ISD is committed to becoming a nationally STEM-certified district. On November 6, we held our very first Guiding Coalition meeting, marking the start of this exciting journey toward National District STEM Certification.
During the session, we explored:
Why STEM certification matters for our district
NISE expectations and key tenets of the process
The vital role of our Guiding Coalition
How better data leads to better decisions
Together, we’re building a shared vision and laying the foundation for transformative STEM instruction across EPISD. Stay tuned as we continue to innovate and lead the way in STEM education!
On November 14, teachers at Bobby Joe Hill and Clendenin STEAM Academies joined their colleagues from Crockett Fine Arts Academy for a day of training with the Teacher Created Materials Reader’s Theater resource! 🎭 This engaging tool helps bring the arts into STEM learning, giving students a fun way to practice literacy through scripts in both English and Spanish. By learning how to use Reader’s Theater, our teachers are found creative ways to weave literacy into STEM instruction—making learning even more exciting for their students.
Teacher Feedback:
"A lot of great information. I am excited to take it to the classroom!"
"It was a great workshop and I look forward to implementing what I learned."
"I thought the training was very informative and comprehensive. I think they are great resources to have in our school."
"t was a perfect way to help our students confidence."
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 LESSONS ALIGNED TO CURRICULUM
🚀 Our LEGO Labs have officially launched across El Paso ISD Academies, bringing hands-on excitement to classrooms from Kindergarten through 5th grade. Thanks to an incredible collaboration with LEGO Education, teachers now have access to thoughtfully designed lesson progressions tailored to each grade level. These engaging, project-based STEAM experiences empower our teachers to confidently deliver high-quality instruction while sparking creativity, curiosity, and critical thinking in every student.
The sky is the limit! 🪂 With LEGO lesson progressions, teachers have the opportunity to:
Foster Collaboration and Integration – Plan with colleagues in other departments to integrate these learning experiences into a comprehensive Project Unit that explores multiple content areas through hands-on learning and computer science.
Engage Curiosity – Use an experience at the beginning of a unit of study to inspire curiosity about the subject.
Explore Content Concepts – Use an experience to help students get hands on to explore the real-world application of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Elaborate Understanding – Use an experience as a unit capstone or a culminating project, allowing students to transfer learning from multiple different content areas to demonstrate understanding and progress with skills and concepts.
What's Coming Next for our Academies!
Our LEGO Labs are now live in EPISD Academies, bringing hands-on STEAM learning to K–5 classrooms. Through a partnership with LEGO Education, teachers have access to grade-level lesson progressions designed to spark creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
Coming up in the 3rd nine weeks, educators will integrate these LEGO lessons into their curriculum—using them to inspire curiosity, explore real-world concepts, and create culminating projects that connect multiple content areas. The sky’s the limit! 🪂
🗓️ January Dates:
January 20 - Kinder
January 21 - 1st Grade
January 22 - 2nd Grade
January 23 - 3rd Grade
January 26 - 4th Grade
January 27 - 5th Grade
📍 Location:
Clendenin ES STEAM Lab
2701 Harrison Ave, El Paso, TX 79930
✏️Register in EPISD University Course #206784
Cooley Elementary School - Thursday, November 20, 2025
Bobby Joe Hill PK-8 - Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Clendenin Elementary School - Tuesday, December 16, 2025