CCSD news: Pies, performers and professionals

CHURCHILL COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

Each year FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. The first FFA week was celebrated in 1948. It’s a time to share what FFA is and the impact it has on members of the community every day.

FFA week falls on George Washington's birthday as we celebrate his contributions and legacy in the agriculture community. Last week, Churchill County FFA members had an opportunity to share what FFA and agriculture are by involving the community, schools, and students through various activities.

Our chapter kicked off National FFA week with red, white, and blue and hunting camo dress-up day. The activity was “demo day” where CCHS students were allowed to hit a car as a fundraiser – safety gear was provided. On Wednesday, the dress-up day was blue and gold as we got to sport our FFA colors alongside our fellow students. The activity for the day was bringing National FFA week to E.C. Best Elementary School. We got to take books that the Farm Bureau donated to our chapter for us to read to the elementary school students.

Along with reading, CC FFA members brought their animals to E.C. Best, giving students who don't otherwise have the opportunity to interact with animals something to remember forever and pique their interest in agriculture and livestock.

On Thursday, chapter members and CCHS students dressed as their favorite animals. FFA members also brought their livestock in and set up a petting zoo in the high school quad. Not only did CCHS students and staff get to visit the animals, but many kindergarten and first-grade classes walked over from Lahontan Elementary School as well. Later in the day, FFA members got to take their animals around the school and into many classes boosting morale and raising awareness about the FFA program within our school.

There were also donation jars in the office, and nine staff members were in the running to kiss a heifer or a pig. The staff members who raised the most money were Stephanie Kille-Reese, in first place, and the second-place winners were Terri Pearson and Maile Munoz. Thursday evening we ended the week with an FFA tailgate party, s’mores, and dancing.

Overall, it was a great week with incredible experiences for many Churchill County School District students and members of CC FFA. We want to thank everyone who helped us celebrate National FFA Week and look forward to next year.

— Laci Peterson, 10th grade FFA Student

CHURCHILL COUNTY MIDDLE SCHOOL

Last week, CCMS celebrated 38 students with a positive shout-out from their teachers. These students were nominated by staff for demonstrating CCMS school-wide expectations of mutual respect, attentive listening, appreciation and kindness.

New students are nominated weekly, and the number of students continues to grow as they observe their peers and want the same recognition.

NUMA

On Feb. 16, local professionals came to Numa to talk to fourth-grade students about career opportunities in the area. Presenters included veterinarian Ray Cooper, biologist Kris Urquhart, attorneys Chelsea Sanford and Jacob Sommer, U.S. Air Force and commercial pilot Anthony Tisdale, KTVN Channel 2 News video journalist Jaden Urban, and business owner of The Grid, Tiffany Picotte.

This presentation was the beginning of a project all fourth graders will begin in the next week. They all have to choose a future career possibility, research, and write a report on their choice.

“The students were very attentive and had some great questions for our area professionals. We had many students interested in all the careers presented, so this was helpful information for them,” said fourth-grade teacher Colleen Tutty.

Numa would like to thank the presenters for helping kick off this project and for making the presentation an amazing learning opportunity for the students.

E.C. BEST

The Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts came to ECB last week to perform for the students. They showed and taught students a little about acting and even threw in a few dance moves.

“We are so lucky to have these resources and amazing programs close by. They never disappoint. They bring such a variety of performances to our students, and they love it,” teacher Christine Mori said.

LAHONTAN

Students in Faith Dellera’s first-grade class worked on achieving their learning standards on how to use digital tools to produce and publish their writing with support, and how to participate in a shared research and writing project.

“With these two writing standards in mind, I had my students complete an arctic animals research and writing project,” Dellera said.

The students studied various arctic animals and then had to choose a specific arctic animal to research further using books, safe internet sites, and watching videos. After gathering information, the students used Google Documents to type up their reports.

They also searched for a photo to incorporate in their paper. Once completed, they presented their reports to their classmates.

“This was a great success, and many students wanted to keep researching different animals. Typing the documents was a bit time-consuming at first, but very fundamental in their learning process,” Dellera said.

NORTHSIDE EARLY LEARNING CENTER

In honor of Cherry Pie Day, students in Octavia Merritt’s class made their very own cherry pies. They also talked about George Washington and how he grew up on a farm and chopped down his father’s cherry tree. This activity helped students work on their hand-eye coordination, how to follow directions, as well as being able to create and work independently in the classroom.

“I love incorporating as many fun, food-related activities to the learning we do in class because who doesn’t like making a yummy treat at school,” Merritt said.