Churchill County School District highlights

Churchill County High School 

Churchill County High School student Tieris Williams is getting involved in the community by coordinating a fundraiser for the Churchill Animal Protection Society (CAPS). 

On Nov. 16 from 1-4 p.m., a fundraiser for CAPS will take place at The Fallon Theatre at 71 S. Maine St. This remarkable event organized by Williams aims to raise vital funds for CAPS, Fallon’s only nonprofit, no-kill animal shelter. 

With a focus on providing medical care, building necessary facilities and ensuring access to essential supplies like food and clean water, this fundraiser is a crucial lifeline for the shelter and the animals it serves. The event will feature CAPS dogs dressed in costumes parading across the stage, along with raffles, face painting, and mini-games to raise funds for the organization. 

Williams’ commitment to this initiative exemplifies the power of youth leadership and community involvement. By stepping up to coordinate this event, he is helping to improve the lives of animals in need and inspiring others to get involved. Join Williams on Nov. 16 at The Fallon Theatre and help him raise funds for the animals in our community. 

Churchill County Middle School 

Sixth-grade students in Courtney Aguilera’s class build language skills daily by completing a language bell ringer activity to start class. This activity helps students transition into class, introduce new skills, practice daily grammar/language skills, and review previous skills. 

Students volunteer to go over the answers as the “teacher of the day.” Aguilera has found this activity to be a fun way to engage students in their learning because students love the opportunity to be the teacher. 

“The Halloween daily language has been my favorite so far this year. It was very exciting since the students taught the class the daily language in costume. It made for a fun day,” Aguilera said. 

Numa 

Last week, Kristina McFadden’s class was busy with various learning activities, even though they were excited about Halloween. 

They began the week with a creative twist on language skills by going on a ghost hunt throughout the classroom. Students had to find prepositional phrases related to the spooky locations of their ghostly friends. In addition to language activities, the class wrapped up their Earth’s Surface Science Unit with an assessment. Then to celebrate their learning, students participated in various experiments and got to create crystals in jars and break open geodes to discover the natural wonders inside. 

As a capstone project, they also built earthquake-resistant structures, applying their scientific knowledge to real-world challenges. It was a week filled with learning and fun for the students. 

“Weeks like these really make me so proud of my students’ enthusiasm and creativity as they continue to grow and explore our learning concepts,” McFadden said. 

Montana Koplin shows the class at Northside Early Learning Center how to reach into bags to feel the different Monster parts. 

 E.C. Best 

Last week, Abigail Ritts’ third-grade class learned about Distributive Property. The lesson focused on breaking down multiplication problems to deepen their understanding. 

Students tackled problems by deconstructing them into more manageable parts. For instance, they took problems like 7x3 and split them into two arrays of 4x3 and 3x3 and then added them together. (4x3)+(3x3)=21. 

This method helped them learn their 7, 8 and 9 multiplication facts and prepared them for multiplying larger numbers. 

By visualizing the problems through arrays, students developed critical thinking skills. 

“Using the Distributive Property helps students see the connections in multiplication,” Ritz said, “It’s not just about memorizing facts, it’s about understanding the relationships between numbers.”

Lahontan 

At Lahontan Elementary, Literacy Specialist Katy Loop meets daily with students in intervention groups to better support them with their reading development. When meeting with students, Loop focuses on helping them find phonics secrets in unknown words and build their confidence in reading. 

“Phonics secrets are known as ‘The Secret Stories’ that explain all of the phonics patterns and exceptions that exist in written English,” Loop said. These ‘Secret Stories’ help students make sense of those times when they discover letters behaving unexpectedly in words and ask “Why?” 

All classrooms at LES use “Secret Stories” to help students find the phonics secrets in words. This innovative method enhances students’ reading abilities and also builds their confidence as readers. 

At the recent Enchanted Forest Literacy Night families were introduced to the ‘Secret Stories’ and they went on a phonics secrets word hunt. So they too know more about how to use this method in helping their students at home. 

“We believe that literacy is a journey best undertaken together. One filled with discovery, engagement, and, most importantly, fun, which is why we wanted to be sure we shared this method with our families,” Loop said. 

Northside Early Learning Center 

Last week, Octavia Merritt and Montana Koplin’s class celebrated Halloween with a fun sensory exploration activity using “monster parts.” Students were able to feel and touch brains (noodles), teeth (candy corn), hair (yarn), eyes (grapes) and hearts (grape tomatoes). This activity was fun for these young learners and supported their cognitive development, language skills, and creativity. As they felt each item, they guessed what each part was, often responding with a playful “eww.” 

Merritt said she loves seeing their imaginations come to life. 

“Sensory play fosters learning and encourages communication and this Halloween-themed lesson proved to be a memorable activity, combining fun and learning,” Merritt said.