CCSD news: Choir, stats, weather, MLK ... and Minecraft

CCMS

Students in Kailyn Mann’s Algebra 1 class have been working hard on their statistics project.

“Instead of doing a three-week course to learn the content, they complete a project that starts with creating a statistical question or a question that has more than one varied answer,” said Mann.

Many students create questions centered around what they like, such as sports, or school subjects, and some create questions about things they're wondering about. Student Mason Taylor was excited about this project.

"It is a really cool way to learn about stats,” Taylor said. “I decided to ask people if they think they have a healthy relationship with their phone and it was interesting to see the varying responses.”

Students collected their own data for their project.

“They could go to other classrooms, send emails, make google forms, or collect data in person, but they had to make sure they reported 100 pieces of data,” Mann said.

Once the data was collected, Mann covered how to make graphs and calculate number summaries on Google Sheets. Then students created a presentation on their question and explained what could be misleading about their data, as well as the importance of number summaries for data. Students found this project challenging but they worked through the challenges and had fun getting to see their data come together.

"Statistics takes a lot more time than you think it does, like making sure that you used all your data pieces. You also have to read through so many numbers, but then the computer does the heavy lifting, which is nice," said student Charles Pettek.

Student Ally Chiaratti said it made her brain hurt at times but she knows she will use all of this in the future so she is glad they are learning about it now.

Numa

Students in Travis Ryness’ class have spent the last week collaborating in small groups on their Social Studies project. They had to select a historical topic to research and then build their topic into their Minecraft world. They had to pick a biome to start with and then build their world from scratch. They chose topics that were important to Nevada's history such as mining, historic Virginia City, Fort Churchill, Pyramid Lake, and the 40 mile-desert.

The project helped me understand things about Pyramid Lake that I never knew, like there is a certain fish that I never knew about that only lives in Pyramid Lake,” said student Brently Moss.

Students will present their worlds to their classmates when they are finished.

E.C. Best

Students in Shannon Windriver’s class have been learning about the weather. This last week they learned about clouds and then did a cloud in a jar experiment that demonstrated what happens when a cumulus cloud gets too heavy with condensation and become cumulonimbus.

“This was a fun and engaging look at how these clouds form. Because we cannot physically bring a cloud in the classroom, this experiment was a great way for students to actually see what they learned about clouds right in front of their eyes,” Windriver said.

Lahontan

First-grade students in Stacey Manning's class read several stories about Martin Luther King Jr. last week and talked about his dream, and then wrote down what they learned and how they can keep his dream alive. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and declared it to the world.   

“Students learned that no matter who they are or how big their dreams are, they are valid - which is a powerful lesson in itself,” Manning said.

They learned the importance and the power of love and how not to judge others by their appearance. They also learned to never give up and to push on and preserve. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in his dream. He believed in it so much that even when everything was working against him, he was never deterred from fighting for his dream.

The most worthwhile goals are often difficult to achieve, but these students learned that they should not give up at the first sign of difficulty and that oftentimes the best goals are the toughest ones to strive for.