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Click to see an album of pictures taken at the Faire.

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Click to see a slideshow of images of CA students that ran throughout the Faire.

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At Colorado Academy, we include design, making, and innovation at all levels of education. Visitors to our booth will experience design, making, and innovation as they exist within the school's curricula via student-led hands-on activities.

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All packed and ready to go to  Maker Faire Denver!

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All packed and ready to go to  Maker Faire Denver!

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Technology & Innovations Curriculum by Grade

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Technology & Innovations Curriculum by Grade

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Technology & Innovations | Colorado Academy

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Lower School Coding Team Chosen as Competition Finalists

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Teams of Students Work to Solve Global Water Issues

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Students use Trello to collaborate on plans for the Tiny House Project! Click on the image below to see boards for interior design, plumbing, electrical and more

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LS Students Present Folktales in Music & Dance

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Student, Teacher, Entrepreneur Present at 5UP

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Students Participate in 'Hour of Code' in Every Division

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DENVER, Colo. - Remember the craze surrounding fidget spinners?

A Denver fourth grader has created a kit to help you make your own at home.

Lexi Koren, a student at Colorado Academy, created "Lickety Spin" - a kit to make your very own candy fidget spinner - and it will launch on Kickstarter on October 3.

Lexi told KDVR she was having breakfast with her uncle when she came up with the idea.

How does it work? You fill the mold with candy, like Starburst or Jolly Rancher, stick it in the microwave for around 20 seconds, and let it cool in fridge before popping out your toy out of the molding.

You can sign up to be among the first to get one on LicketySpin.com.

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Denver 4th grader invents DIY candy fidget spinner kit

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DENVER, Colo. - Remember the craze surrounding fidget spinners? A Denver fourth grader has created a kit to help you make your own at home. Lexi Koren, a student at Colorado Academy, created "Lickety Spin" - a kit to make your very own candy fidget spinner - and it will launch on Kickstarter on October 3.

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REDI Lab Celebrates Self-Directed Learning

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REDI Lab Celebrates Self-Directed Learning

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During spring of 2017, CA student William McCormick set out to design a more efficient airplane, then transitioned to create a model for a new, customer-friendly airline, and ultimately pivoted to develop a business plan for a charter airline start-up.

In the same course, Greg Cain produced four hours of podcasts based on his study of some of the world's most notable philosophers-Plato, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein. Jayne Kay produced "the Motherhood Project," interviewing mothers in a variety of circumstances to explore how they make sacrifices to raise children. Ryan Antenucci created a YouTube channel with highly produced videos that demonstrate maker skills and the creation of hand-crafted products. Joanna Cotto wrote a book of poetry that ultimately served as a journey of self-exploration about race, identity, and complexities of ancestry.

"With REDI Lab, the possibilities are endless." Paul Kim, CA REDI Lab Co-Director and Upper School history teacher

At this point, you might be wondering what course offered these students the chance to study such disparate interests. Perhaps these were senior capstone projects? In fact, these are just some of the projects pursued by the group of nine juniors enrolled in the Spring 2017 inaugural trimester of REDI Lab, CA's new "school within a school" experience.

REDI-Research, Entrepreneurship, Design and Inquiry-uses self-directed learning to offer students the opportunity to grow as problem solvers who are better prepared for college, careers, and life. "The REDI Lab personalizes a student's education," says REDI Lab Co-Director and Upper School history teacher Paul Kim. "It gives curious learners the time and the space to pursue projects that don't fit neatly inside an individual course."

"It felt so good to focus deeply on helping students in an individual way," adds Co-Director and Upper School English teacher Tom Thorpe. "This wasn't just one-on-one attention. Both Paul and I could offer parallel efforts with each student, and we weren't limited to 65-minute classes. The ability to realign time was liberating."

Senior Aliyah Fard admits that curiosity and a desire to learn "outside the classroom" led her to apply to be a "REDI Lab pioneer." The first lesson she learned was how very different this course would be from CA courses which are teacher-directed and include rubrics, assignments, homework, tests and grades.

"Students have to abandon their traditional ways of thinking about learning," Kim says. "With REDI Lab, the possibilities are endless, and the limitations are only those you might impose on yourself."

"In REDI Lab, I had to come up with the assignment!" Fard adds. "This was my idea and that was a powerful motivator to succeed."

Succeed she did. After winnowing out various ideas, she produced five articles about the contributions of key African Americans in Colorado, with a focus on how their achievements are still relevant today. "I looked at what they had to overcome to make this state what it is right now," she says.

Looking back at his experience in REDI Lab, McCormick talks with enthusiasm, detail, and good humor about the process of developing his project. His initial idea-to build a better airplane-didn't take off. "That was a tall order for a 17-year-old with no degree in aviation," he says. "I quickly came to my senses."

When he turned his attention to the development of a business plan for a more customer-friendly airline, he waited until the final step to do a market analysis of new business. "I looked at the spreadsheet to see how much money I was going to make, and I realized I was going to lose money quickly," he admits with a laugh.

So, as many entrepreneurs must, McCormick pivoted to a new business plan, this time for a charter jet start-up, similar to NetJets, but with improvements that would make it more appealing to owners and customers. This time, he had learned his lesson-he did the market analysis first. "REDI Lab totally changed how I learn and how I feel about learning," he says. "CA is willing to take risks to offer programs that challenge the current education model, stimulate creativity, and help students find what they want to do with their lives."

In creating REDI Lab, Kim and Thorpe worked with CA's College Counselors to ensure that REDI Lab students would stay on track to fulfill all their graduation requirements. It is intentional that the course is offered to juniors before they begin their final year at CA. "We want to help frame our students' senior year with more self-awareness and energy via self-directed learning," Kim says. "Those are the qualities they will need in college and for the rest of their lives."

Fard believes that REDI Lab has already changed her outlook on the future. "When I was visiting colleges over the summer, I asked questions I never would have thought to ask before I took REDI Lab," she says. "REDI Lab gave me a new perspective on learning. I know now that college is what you make of it."

For Kim and Thorpe, watching the REDI Lab students grow, change, tackle challenges, take risks, occasionally get stuck, and finally succeed confirmed the initial premise of the course-all students have talents, and given time, support, and encouragement, they can independently find ways to achieve and showcase their best work. As an added bonus, the REDI Lab students bonded and became close friends during the 12-week course. "They became very collaborative," Thorpe says. "They used each other as resources, taking advantage of the different talents each brought to the group."

Moving forward, the REDI Lab Co-Directors are working on new tools to help facilitate and guide self-directed learning. They look forward to working with other CA teachers and community members to add to the expertise of the REDI Lab, so that students have a powerful learning platform as they explore new projects. For these teachers, success will mean another cohort of students in 2018 learning many different and meaningful things, deeply.
Students apply to REDI Lab in the fall of their junior year, and the REDI L ab program runs during the spring trimester.

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REDI Lab Celebrates Innovative, Self-Directed Learning | Colorado Academy News

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During spring of 2017, CA student William McCormick set out to design a more efficient airplane, then transitioned to create a model for a new, customer-friendly airline, and ultimately pivoted to develop a business plan for a charter airline start-up. In the same course, Greg Cain produced four hours of podcasts based on his study ...

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Walking across campus on any given day, I can encounter students of all ages. Occasionally, this means being nearly run over by an exuberant Lower Schooler! More often, it simply means observing with pride, wonder and even amusement that our school is home to students aged 4-18. That is a rare environment indeed and one that makes Colorado Academy very special.

There are so many reasons to feel proud about this multi-age environment. Our all-school assemblies are one of the consistent community-building features of our school year. On the first day of school, for example, all grades gather in the large gym for a program culminating in reading all the names of the seniors of that year's graduating class. Soon after, the Homecoming assembly in September brings all ages together to get psyched up for the weekend's games and activities. The all-school obstacle course contest at that assembly pits the three divisions (and faculty) against each other in a friendly competition while some lucky student dons the Gus the Mustang mascot outfit and leads cheers. Homecoming Day follows and the many events of that day reach every student and family. At other times of the year we gather in the gym or theatre to hear a musical performance or some other all-ages program. That sense of "one-ness" really helps solidify the feeling of a PK-12 school.

At those all-school assemblies and at several other times of year, seniors sit with their kindergarten buddies. One of the school's favorite signature programs, the senior-kindergarten buddy program has been generally acknowledged as one of the highlights of the senior year and culminates with a wonderful field trip together to the Denver Zoo in May. Kindergartners feel very important to have an older student looking after them and giving them extra attention while the seniors learn a lot about patience and the responsibility of looking after a much younger child. Other buddy programs exist throughout the school in all divisions, including the freshman-senior connections that start on the first day of school, get reinforced through our peer-leadership program (called CLT), and lead to fun activities in various advisory gatherings throughout the year.

Another place that the full spectrum of students come together is on our school buses. I don't know too many other schools that have ridership with such varied ages on numerous buses that cover the Denver metro area. The big kids and little kids have to learn to ride along together and live harmoniously in that contained environment. With a few minor exceptions, this long-established mode of transportation works seamlessly because once again there is a mutual understanding and appreciation for the roles that each play. Just as in a family dynamic, older students look out for younger ones, while the younger ones can remind the older students a thing or too about the innocence and sweetness (and sometime unpredictable activity) of early childhood.

For years our Faces of Diversity club has led inclusivity workshops in the lower and middle schools as a way of giving back to the community and helping younger students develop cultural competence. Those programs have been highly successful and again reinforce the community values and connections. Other clubs also reach across divisions. Ruthie Angevine, class of 2020, started one such club with first grade teacher Margit Patterson last year. The "First Grade Mentors" club brings upper schoolers and first graders together on a regular basis to assist with reading, writing and other learning activities. Ruthie states that "One of the many reasons I love first grade reading club is that often times high schoolers get so caught up in test scores and homework that going to hang out and read with a first grader can put things in perspective, and make you feel excited to see them learn." She and others in the club spend many hours in the Lower School offering support and companionship.

The fact that we have fourteen different grade levels on one big campus does not automatically produce a feeling of cohesion. We have to be intentional in some of our day-to-day activities to ensure that we take advantage of this unique situation. So it does require that we make our PK-12 community a point of emphasis. As a result, I have long admired the way our Upper School students take their roles as older brothers and sisters so seriously. Of course many students have themselves grown up on this campus and feel very comfortable on campus and with all the people who come and go here. Even students who have not been here since kindergarten or who don't actually have a sibling in another division appreciate the concept that they are role models and act accordingly.

It's a CA tradition that underscores the values we espouse in this community.

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The Strengths of a PK-12 Environment | Colorado Academy News

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Walking across campus on any given day, I can encounter students of all ages. Occasionally, this means being nearly run over by an exuberant Lower Schooler! More often, it simply means observing with pride, wonder and even amusement that our school is home to students aged 4-18.