CCHS students from FFA were selling poinsettia in December.
Churchill County High School
FFA students have been selling and maintaining beautiful poinsettias on campus at the CCHS greenhouses for their annual poinsettia sale. They started with 480 of them and still have plenty left.
“The FFA students have done this in the past but it has been a while. The students were excited when I told them we were going to do it again this year and have been dedicated to selling and caring for them,” said CCHS Agriculture educator and FFA Adviser Aspen Johnson.
A Purple Star tree stands in the Churchill County Middle School.
Churchill County Middle School
With the help of CCMS students, the Purple Star Committee has decorated a Purple Star tree that is displayed in the main foyer to represent the school’s military families.
“The holidays can be a difficult time for military-connected families so we wanted to acknowledge the sacrifice of our service members who may be away from their families and those families themselves who are missing their loved ones,” said teacher and Purple Star Committee member Courtney Aguilera.
Students in Aguilera’s craft class created the yarn stars and decorated the tree. Many of the students were military-affiliated but some were not which made it a great opportunity for the military-connected student to share their stories with the other students.
Head of the Purple Star Committee, teacher William Wallace, felt very strongly about this special project and its importance.
“As a district, it is vital that we recognize our military-connected students,” he said. “Our goal is to make the transitions both incoming and outgoing a seamless process and we also like to take as many opportunities as we can throughout the year to recognize them.”
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Students at Numa Elementary work on their science project.
Numa
Students in Tara Rogers and Barb Hickox's classes worked on their science experiments last week. They conducted investigations to determine whether mixing two or more substances would result in a new substance.
The concept behind this lesson is that by planning and carrying out these different investigations students further understand how to answer questions they have and test out their theories while simultaneously developing their critical thinking skills.
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Lahontan Elementary School students work on their gingerbread men.
E.C. Best
During December, students in Alyssa Tousignant’s third-grade class worked on their appreciation trees. Tousignant had students write a statement of appreciation about each of their classmates.
“We discussed how sometimes the greatest gift doesn't cost anything, it is about bringing joy to people, even in small ways,” Tousignant said.
After students submitted their appreciation statements, Tousingant turned them into appreciation trees, which she then printed and laminated. The day before winter break, she gifted these to her students for them to take home and display.
Tousignant said she looks forward to doing this project with her students every year.
“It is my absolute favorite,” he said. “There is nothing like seeing each student light up as they read all of the nice things their classmates said about them. It truly makes my entire year and is a great way to leave each other before the long holiday break.”
Lahontan
During the month of December, students worked on their take-home literacy gingerbread men.
“We came up with this idea because we wanted to do something fun for the students that would also involve the families and encourage reading at home,” said librarian Megan Smith.
Gingerbread templates were provided to each student and they were tasked with disguising it as their favorite book character using crafty materials. They were encouraged to work with their families to help execute their creative idea. Smith wanted to make this activity even more fun and invited judges from Churchill County Library to come in and choose which ones were the most creative.
Every student who turned in a gingerbread received a winter-themed slap bracelet, third place a book, second place a book and a hot chocolate mug, and first place a book, a mug, and a fuzzy blanket.
Judges Jesslyn and Dave from Churchill County Library judged the gingerbread Wednesday and the winners were announced Thursday. Visit Lahontan’s Facebook page to see the winning gingerbread and to congratulate the winners.
Northside
Students in Kassidy Henderson and Laura Lee Christensen’s classes frosted and decorated the gingerbread cookies they made. Not only was this activity fun but it got the students in the holiday spirit, and also had many learning benefits. It taught them how to follow directions, allowed for the exploration of their creativity, and helped to improve their fine motor skills. From stirring and rolling to frosting and placing decorations these young students were able to work on their hand-eye coordination all while having fun. Then in the end they got to enjoy a little taste of their hard work.