CCSD news: Outdoor adventure, lots of green, and 100 days

Churchill County High School

The CCHS outdoor adventure class had another incredible experience last Thursday. The students went to Chickadee Ridge above Lake Tahoe.

“The weather was ideal for the 27 students that snowshoed through the snowy woods. Though the chickadees won the day, the bluebird sky was magnificent,” said teacher Anne Smith.

As the students made their way to the ridge, they enjoyed feeding the chickadees. This is an experience Smith is hoping they will never forget. The outdoor adventure class is not your traditional PE course.

Smith uses the curriculum from the Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation to teach outdoor education and promote the conservation of nature and wildlife worldwide. Many topics are taught from survival, angler education, archery, camping, camp cooking, backpacking/hiking, orienteering, boating education, wildlife conservation, and fauna.

This is the first year this course has been offered and will be offered again next year.

Churchill County Middle School

The Practical Assessment Exploration System (PAES) lab has been offered at CCMS for the last two years.

In this lab, a traditional classroom is converted into a work development lab where students become employees and teachers become employers.

“This lab is used to assess a student’s competitive work potential and interest level while exploring various jobs, using real tools, and developing proper work behaviors,” said PAES lab employer (instructor) Amy Nichols.

The PAES lab consists of five units: business/marketing, computer technology, processing/production, consumer/service, and construction/industrial. There are 264 jobs and the employees (students) must follow work procedures to complete jobs independently before they are given assistance.

Employees in this class earn “money” as they complete jobs. They also earn when they use proper work skills. Every two weeks, employees receive a paycheck and learn how taxes are taken out of their paychecks. They then deposit their money into a check register and have an opportunity to shop in the class store, save up for something larger, or a little of both. When they buy something, they must write a check and subtract the amount from their register.

“This is an incredible opportunity for our students,” Nichols said. “They are treated as employees and learn their interests and strengths that we hope will help guide them into electives at the high school or even a career pathway.”

Numa

Every year Numa teachers choose a fifth-grade student leadership team.

“This is our version of student council but we do not refer to it as that because they are truly leaders and hold leadership roles within our school,” said school counselor Noreen Swenson.

These students know the procedures, help plan activities, and are oftentimes asked to present to the entire school.

“They are very confident in speaking to their fellow fifth-grade classes and the fourth-grade classes and they are excellent role models for all of our students,” Swenson said.

At the beginning of the second semester, teachers also choose a fourth-grade leadership team called the S2S (student-to-student) team.

“Since we have grade level schools, we found that it works better to let the fourth graders have a semester to learn Numa procedures and expectations, and then step up to leadership within their grade level during the second semester,” Swenson said.

Students on the S2S team meet with Swenson once a week to learn about leadership, assist the student leadership team, and become a true representatives of their class.

E.C. Best

All classes at ECB celebrated St. Patrick’s Day on Friday.

Activities included coloring and activity pages, making slime, and leprechaun traps, enjoying fun treats, dressing up, and reading fun St. Patrick’s Day stories. Students also spent the day discussing why they are lucky and were asked to think about things in their lives they are lucky to have.

“It is such a fun day. The whole school celebrates and the students and all of us have a blast,” said third-grade teacher Shannon WindRiver.

Lahontan

Kindergarten students and staff celebrated their 100th day of school on Monday by dressing up as 100-year-olds.

Students in Rachel Gonzalez's class also made 100 days of kindergarten crowns, strung 100 fruit loops onto a necklace, and were all awarded “100 days smarter” certificates to take home.

“Me and Easton were the only two who dressed up in all of Mrs. Gonzalez’s class. He was a grandpa and I was a grandma and we sit at the same table right next to each other so it was funny,” said kindergarten student Harper Ritchie.

Northside Early Learning Center

Students in Octavia Merritt and Montana Koplin’s class made leprechaun traps in hopes that one of them would be lucky enough to catch one.

When students arrived at class they were sad to see not one of the traps worked, but they were delighted to see that the leprechaun left them some fun treats to enjoy.

“He brought us leprechaun parfaits, and pancakes and left some stick-on mustaches as a treat for all the students in their efforts to try and catch him,” Merritt said.

Even though the students were unsuccessful in capturing a leprechaun they still had a great St. Patrick’s Day.