Tar Wars

Last Friday, Mrs. Johnson's class had a wonderful surprise! Mrs. Johnson always tells us that we have so many visitors and student teachers because we have the best students! We secretly think she's just being nice, but maybe she's right. What do you think?

Two medical students from University of Mississippi Medical Center visited our room to talk to us about being tobacco-free.


We talked about the different kinds of tobacco, short term and long term effects of using tobacco, and the statistics of tobacco use by age groups. We found out that there are not as many people that use tobacco as we thought!

We asked a lot of questions and told many of our own stories. Mrs. Moore and Ms. Harrell also talked about the false advertisements presented in tobacco commercials. For example, the ads show people with white teeth, but we know that one of the short term effects of tobacco is yellow teeth. They taught us that we should not believe everything we hear or see. We also talked about how much it costs to use tobacco. Wow! We did the math. We used $5 for a pack of cigarettes. If there are 7 days in a week, how much would it cost per week for a person who smokes a pack a day? 7x5=$35 We extended it even further. There are 4 weeks in a month. How much would it cost after a month? 35x7=$245 There are 12 months in a year. So, after a year, it would cost....$2,940!!!! Just think of what we could buy for that much money!

After we had the opportunity to learn about the consequences of tobacco, we participated in a little experiment. We ran in place breathing only out of a straw! After we finished, we were able to see how hard it is to breathe with limited lung function. This is what happens when we use tobacco. Our lungs get damaged.

We learned so much, and we had a great time! Mrs. Johnson was actually a little "on edge" because we were having such fun! Ha! She really should lighten up every once in a while!

Finally, Mrs. Moore and Ms. Harrell told us about a poster contest that is open to fourth graders only. To enter, we simply create a poster with a slogan about being tobacco free. The winners could win a trip to Washington, D.C! Wow! If you are interested in more information, contact Mrs. Johnson.

Thank you so much for visiting our class to teach us how to live long, healthy lives!