GILLETTE, Wyo. — The Campbell County School District Gifted and Talented Education department celebrated a fourth grade family challenge night March 28 at Buffalo Ridge Elementary School.
Buffalo Ridge & Pronghorn GATE and enrichment teacher Tiffany Mitchell said that throughout the school year, the department works on inventions with fourth grade GATE students and staff thought it would be fun to bring students and families together for a challenge.
Mitchell said the group read parts of the story “Gus’s Garage,” by Leo Timmers, which is a funny story with several fictional characters who encounter problems with their vehicles.
Families chose the character whose problem they could solve with an invention within 45 minutes, she said. They used materials like cardboard, bottle caps, bottles, straws, tubes and skewers. They also had make-dos, which are tools designed to work with cardboard, and Ozobot robots. The families shared their creations, and staff revealed the book’s solutions.
“It was absolutely amazing to see how families brainstormed together and how they worked together to create these inventions,” Mitchell said.
Campbell County School District said the Gifted and Talented segment of the GATE program is for students in third through sixth grade who are placed based on standardized test scores, ability test scores, classroom achievement and teacher recommendation. Students are placed into the enrichment program based on standardized test scores or teacher recommendation from classroom performance.
