RATHDRUM - North Idaho STEM Charter Academy teachers are featured in a national video promoting the use of LEGO to spark creativity and engage students in the classroom.

Only one other school in America was chosen to produce a video showing how teachers and students use LEGO Education's StoryStarter in the classroom. Teachers from North Idaho STEM are using StoryStarter in all subject areas, from language arts to math and science.

Through StoryStarter, the school is able to teach skills identified in the Common Core standards adopted by Idaho and other states without veering from its project-based learning philosophy.

"Our program changes the role of student and teacher," said Colleen Thomson, North Idaho STEM's director of education. "Students become problem-solvers and teachers create a culture of inquiry and provide support so students can find their talents."

With StoryStarter LEGO sets, students literally build their own stories. They work in groups to build LEGO creations inspired by their teacher's lesson. They write about their "builds" and then incorporate technology as they share and present their creations to their classmates.

"In my room, when (students) come in and they're engaged in this wonderful curriculum, they just enjoy themselves the whole day," said first-grade teacher Chrissy Knutson.

Teacher Tana Loibl used StoryStarter during a recent science lesson about membranes. Students read a book that accompanied the lesson - a tale of a boy and a frog, set in the rain forest.

"The students created a piece related to that story," Loibl said. "They were so inventive."

The video featuring North Idaho STEM's teachers identifies Common Core skills that are applied through StoryStarter, including language, speaking and listening and writing. The teachers say StoryStarter also helps with students' social skills and teaches teamwork.

"Creativity and innovation positively impact student success," Thomson said. "The earlier students are exposed to higher-level thinking and exploration, the more successful they will be in school and in life. We integrate curriculum so students understand the connection between subjects and their application in the real world."

Student response to StoryStarter has been overwhelmingly positive.

During a lesson on civil rights, second-graders Benjamin Simmons and Regan Wright teamed to build a LEGO bus to depict civil rights activist Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white passenger.

"The bus driver is saying 'Please get off,'" Wright said, pointing to a LEGO man in the driver's seat.

A LEGO woman figurine was seated in the rear of the bus.

"Rosa Parks would not give up her seat," Simmons said.

Wright said StoryStarter is fun because she not only likes learning, but "building and using my imagination."

"I just think it's so fun," Simmons agreed. "We get to build and write and play."

To view the video online go to: http://www.northidahostemcharteracademy.org/legoedprimary.