Bighorn Bulletin: Halloween brings science experiments

Back row from left: Lakota Casey, Kaylee Craig, Hannah Hammontree, Coach Dusty Casey, Reese Laca, Hazel Mackedon, Raegan Johnson, Jocelyn Sorensen, Caitlin Oyler, Stevie Hiskett, Coach Loni Faught, Maleen Dahl. Front row left are Kadence Wiessmer, Paisley Starr.

Compiled by Angela Viera

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

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Halloween isn’t just time for candy and scary stories. Science experiments have been conducted throughout campus the last couple weeks from the youngest Kindergarten classes to the more advanced high school students.
Renfroe's third grade class has been studying life cycles. In honor of Halloween, the class read the book “Pumpkin Jack.” They then carved their own class pumpkin named Carl and will watch the life cycle process until the end of the school year. The class will study him as he rots/decomposes, goes to mush and then comes back as a plant.
Kindergarteners designed their own shade structures to provide shade for ice cubes. Students then documented what happened to ice cubes that were left in the sun versus protected by some shade.
Astronomy was the focus in Victoria Ponessa’s sixth-grade class with students creating scaled models of the solar system. Students measured the diameters of the planets and then measured out the scaled distances of the planets from the Sun.
Halloween STEM activities continued with 1st grade classes creating a fence to keep the Creepy Carrots in! Students had to cooperate with one another to build sturdy full proof fences.

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The Manpower team consisted of, from left, Manpower Team - David Dodge, Charlie Arciniega, Mike Harrigan Ward Viera.

Middle School Girls Basketball finishes the season strong
Seventh and eighth-grade teams finished the 2021 middle school girls basketball season strong competing in the 2021 Lake Division tournament.
The seventh-grade team finished first defeating Pyramid Lake in the championship game. The eighth-grade girls finished second in a nail biter, losing 30-29 against Pyramid Lake also in the championship game.

Beautiful day for golf tournament
The second annual Oasis Academy Golf Tournament was held on Oct. 16. The tournament helped raise just over $10,000 for academic and athletic programs at the school. With an almost sold out tournament the support of Oasis was deeply appreciated.
Besides a scrabble style golf competition teams were also able to participate in fun and games on the course. This included a chipping contest into Halloween buckets, a long drive contest using marshmallows, a putting challenge, hole-in-one prize, and a tee game with the chance to win a golf bag valued at almost $400 from Vessel Golf.
Two teams tied for first in scores and participated in a “chip-off” to determine the winner. David Halloran won the “chip-off” from 60 yards for his team to finish in first. Halloran’s team also included Trevor Halloran, Joe Cushing, and Hadley Faught. Finishing second was Ed Smirnes, Jim Isbister, Andrew Palmer, and Jeremy Burnett. Trevor Halloran and Karla Kent won the closest to the pin challenge and Kevin Montgomery and Stephanie Mendez won the longest drives.
The tournament would not have been the success it was without the generosity of sponsors and donors including: Manpower of Northern Nevada, A&K Earth Movers, Tedford Tire, City of Fallon, Banner Churchill Hospital, Dixon Golf, Mackedon Law, Nevada Dental Arts, CC Communications, New Millenium, Financial Horizons, Berney Realty, Lane and Associates, Flo, Ranson Family Photography, Stockman’s Casino, The Grid, Ben Paul, Hiskett and Sons, In Stitches, The Not New Shop, Kent’s Supply, In-and-Out, Gemmy, Western Nevada College, The Fallon Post, Smashin’ Good Time, Mt. Rose Ski Resort, Jeff and Virginia Knight, Frey Ranch Distillery, Diana Paul, Harmon Junction and The Fallon Golf Course.

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David Halloran tees off on a marshmallow in the Oasis Academy Golf Tournament.

Teacher shows the fun in Physics
By Hunter McNabb
Balloons flying across the room, kids laughing, discussing, and students being pulled around in chairs. What seems like chaos, is actually an engaging lesson in Physics. ‘Ms. B’ (Jackie Bogdanowicz) always strives to bring humor into the classroom. Physics is usually one of the most difficult classes for students, so she always tries to bring levity to a difficult subject.
Ms. B is also Oasis’s FFA advisor and brings enjoyable snippets of Agriculture related information into the classroom. Discussions have also included topics such as Anthropomorphism, the act of humanizing animal behavior.

Hunter McNabb

This week specifically, the class started a new unit about motion. To get kids involved, students moved around in chairs, to demonstrate Net Force. Not only did this get the class laughing, it added onto the PowerPoint and helped a lot of kids understand the concept.
Another day students were put into groups, and started a series of stations. Some let balloons fly around the classroom, others played with dominoes, and others jumped around the room. This controlled scene of chaos was a series of labs completed by students. All of them, showing different aspects of physics, such as air resistance, inertia and mass. Science has always been educational, but now it is fun!

Singing fills the halls of Oasis
By Sania Barnes
The Oasis Choir class is composed of both middle and high school students. During the first couple of weeks classes have focused on learning vocal exercises. This has included how to stay in your group while others are singing something different.
To keep the class interesting Dana Barton has taught the students simple and catchy songs that include physical movement. An example of this is where students sing “throw” and “catch”, pretending to throw and catch balls at each other while singing. Barton also keeps her students engaged by getting input from the class for ideas, taking note of them, and using them..
Recently the class has started to prepare to audition for the Honor Choir and even though it’s only October the classes are singing Christmas songs. The early Christmas spirit doesn’t bother the students. Learn more about choir by contacting Barton at dbarton@oasisacademyfallon.us..

Sania Barnes

Bighorn Bulletin: Halloween brings science experiments

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