Here at Columbine we had more than 110 students participate in our summer STEM program! Students entering first through fifth grades focused their summer on exploring the features of underground habitats, the movement and interactions of light, as well as the components and structure of our solar system. In addition to an amazing summer of learning, students at Columbine were also winners of the Shake, Rattle and Read 2014 Summer Challenge. Students read more books on MyON than any other Title I school in the district and won $1,500 to strengthen our reading programming! 

While discovering all of the planets and moons around our solar system, students used their engineering skills to design landers for a planet of their choice and tested their effectiveness with an egg drop. They also designed film canister rockets and launched them to find the best wing and nose combinations for the best flight.

In the classrooms studying light, students learned about how light travels and used their engineering skills to design ways to harness light to heat food and to create a laser security system.

Students exploring soil investigated what are the essential elements of a habitat, organisms that live within them, the process of decomposition, and almost everything else that makes up the ground below us!

In addition to all of the science and engineering covered over the summer, students at Columbine also participated in the Mission 31 Project with Fabian Cousteau. After the live webinar, students designed coral reefs and underwater classrooms. Some classes even tested their underwater classrooms to see if they were waterproof.