These Peebles Elementary students are participating in the Lego League, part of a new initiative to give students more opportunities outside of the classroom. Pictured, from left, Jamian Turner, Vanessa Trotter, Lydia Phipps, Grace Robertson, Grant Robertson, Payton Johnson, Seth Mitchell, and Toni Jones. Absent from the photo were Evan Graham and Skylar Sturgill.
These Peebles Elementary students are participating in the Lego League, part of a new initiative to give students more opportunities outside of the classroom. Pictured, from left, Jamian Turner, Vanessa Trotter, Lydia Phipps, Grace Robertson, Grant Robertson, Payton Johnson, Seth Mitchell, and Toni Jones. Absent from the photo were Evan Graham and Skylar Sturgill.

During the 2016-17 school year, Peebles Elementary School will be placing a focus on providing its students with opportunities to get involved in activities outside of the regular school day.  One of the programs that has been implemented for this school year is the First Lego League.  It introduces young people, ages 9-14 (grades 4-8) to the fun and excitement of Science and technology.
The program allows for 10 students (nominated by teachers) to participate as a part of a challenge team.   The challenge has three parts:  1)  Robot Game—Build and program an autonomous LEGO Mindstorms robot.  2) Project—Teams learn more about the science behind the Challenge theme and design a solution to solve a real-world problem   3)  Core Values—These values are what make the program so special because kids compete like crazy but still respect their “competitors”—and they have fun. (www.usfirst.org)
This team was established in conjunction with Jenna Schreiner, Assembly Engineer from GE  Aviation.  She and another GE employee, Chris Puckett, are leading the program, meeting with students on Mondays and Wednesdays of each week after school .  This program is not only a great learning opportunity for the students who are able to participate, but also allows for an excellent partnership between a leading business within our community and the school/students Peebles Elementary is very proud to be a part of this innovative program and anticipate the positive impact that it will have on the students involved.