Natural Science Museum

Friday, the third graders went on their first field trip of the year! We went to the planetarium and the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science. It was so much fun! Before the museum, we watched a special dinosaur film at the planetarium. Then, there was a special dinosaur exhibit at the Natural Science Museum, and we loved that! Of course, Mrs. Johnson took lots of pictures for you to see!

We are focusing on nonfiction literature in class. So, Mrs. Johnson and the other teachers wanted us to experience nonfiction first hand. After our field trip, we were able to write reports and do other activities on our nonfiction experience.

The special dinosaur exhibit will end January 4.

Fossils of a sea turtle and a Theropod dinosaur

Kadajah, Selicia, Markeith, Devin, Sharnecia, and Shanora in front of real dinosaur fossils put back together!

Waving at the animated dinosaur

We were even able to dig for fossils ourselves! Notice the delicate way of digging fossils up - with paintbrushes.

Jaylin is touching a real American lion skull!

J'Darrien is trying to match the fossils to the animals described above.

There were tons of fossils to see!

Mrs. Johnson was SO excited to see a FROG at the museum!

At the aquarium exhibit, Jendaya and Lyric are trying to identify the different fish in the tank.

One of the tanks had a real diver in it!! She was taking pictures of the fish.

Selicia, Shanora, and Antasia are reading about Salamanders.

Jaylin, Sharnecia, Devin, Markeith, and Antasia watch the bees make honey.

Birdwatching was a favorite among Mrs. Johnson's students. There were manuals on the counter describing the various birds. Then, we looked for them through binoculars.

J'Darrien is looking at parasites in the microscope.

The fireman says, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"

Nareuna and Lyric are showing their excitement for Thanksgiving holidays by standing near the turkeys.

After looking through the inside exhibits, we took a walk around the property to the picnic area for lunch. After lunch, Mrs. Johnson let us play on the awesome playground!

J'Darrien says that the field trip was definitely worth the money!

Hold on, Nareuna!!

Lyric

Thanks, Mrs. Johnson! We had a blast!!

I think we had a little TOO much fun! Mrs. Johnson took pictures of the bus ride back to the school. We were pooped!

Sharnecia is Thankful

Thankfulness
by Sharnecia

I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for Miss Greenwell. She taught our class about similes and other things. I am thankful for school. Without school, how would we learn? I am thankful for my teacher, Mrs. Johnson. Without Mrs. Johnson, how would we pass the third grade? I am thankful for my mom and dad. They give me stuff and take care of me. I am thankful for my family too. They take good care of me too! I am also thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. Without the Lord, we wouldn't be in this world. What are you thankful for?

Jaylin is Thankful

Thankfulness
by Jaylin

I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for food. Without food we would starve. I am thankful for clothes. If we had no clothes, we would have to wear grass! I am also thankful for my puppy, Raven. She is like a guard dog for my family. I am thankful for laws. No laws would let criminals hurt us. I am thankful for my parents too. They always know how to cheer me up. What are you thankful for?

Dwinesha is Thankful

Thankfulness
by Dwinesha

I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for buses and cars. Without them, I could not come to school. I am thankful for my class too. Without it, my teacher could not teach. I am thankful for my teacher. My teacher treats me with respect. I am thankful for my friends. They help me learn to swim when I need help. I am thankful for my uncle. He helps me with my math when I need it. I am also thankful for my family. My family is helpful. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to tell others what you are thankful for.

October AR Update

My, how time flies! It is already November!! Before you know it, we'll be halfway through third grade! Since October is over, Mrs. Johnson gave us an AR update. Last week, she sent our AR grades home to be signed. Now, we must step it up in order to have the mandatory 30 points by December. Many of us have already surpassed that goal!

Mrs. Johnson displays her AR points in increments of five. So, we'll present the students in the same way.

The student with 10 points:

Brindarius - 14.5

The students with 15 points:

Alric - 17.9

Nareuna - 19.3

Jameel - 15.6

The students with 20 points:

Kadajah - 21.2

Jendaya - 23.2

Antasia - 24.0

Markeith - 22.2

The students with 25 points:

Lyric - 26.8

Arrion - 27.4

Tyrell - 26.1

The student with 30 points:

Sherrina - 34.9

The students with 35 points:

J'Darrien - 35.4

Jaylin - 36.8

The students with 40 points:

Dwinesha - 41.8

Charles - 41.1

Selicia - 43.6

The student with 45 points:

Devin - 47.3

The student with 50 points:

Sharnecia - 51.9

Mrs. Johnson is so proud of all our AR points and good AR test scores. In fact, we have 641.8 points all together!! Amazing!!

Career Day and Fall Festival!

We had a fantastic Friday! Instead of a Halloween party, we participated in a fun-filled Career Day and Fall Festival. Our morning began with "Shaping Lives With Successful Careers." Every class in the school had a couple of guest speakers from various occupations. We had two amazing guests!

Our first guest speaker was a "Johnsonian." It was Jaylin's mom. Ms. Dixon is a graphic designer. She does all kinds of interesting things! She creates logos for businesses and t-shirts. She does many other artistic things. Ms. Dixon informed us that a graphic designer is an artist on a computer, basically. It sounds like so much fun!! She even gave us a coloring sheet made by a graphic designer.

Ms. Dixon showed us some of her work on her laptop.

Jaylin loved coloring her graphic design!

Our second visitor was a great surprise!! Mrs. Johnson has been teaching us about weather this week. We even had to watch the weather and write the name of our meteorologist for homework. Many of us named Ethan Huston as our meteorologist from WAPT. Guess what!? Ethan Huston came to our class to talk to us about weather and his job as a meteorologist!! We were starstruck! Before telling us interesting facts about weather, Mr. Huston told us about "a day in his life." Mr. Huston does the morning news. Get this - he wakes up at 2:30 a.m! Can you believe that?! He goes to bed around 6:00 p.m. each night. I'm not sure we would make it for the morning news! Ha! He also answered our many questions about severe weather and the various layers of the atmosphere.

Mr. Huston is demonstrating how molecules act to create heat in the air.

When he asked for a volunteer, guess who volunteered! Of course!

Sherrina dressed as a meteorologist. Mr. Huston even let her wear his glasses!

Sherrina acted as the sun shining on the earth at different points. Mr. Huston explained what happens when the sun shines on the various points.

Of course, Mrs. Johnson had to have a class picture with a real-life meteorologist! Thank you so much Mr. Huston!! We had a blast!

There were several guest careers outside. So, we headed out for more learning. Our first stop - Mississippi Highway Patrol. Several students, including J'Darrien, were scared to get close to the highway patrolmen. Mrs. Johnson teased them asking, "What did you do? Are you guilty or something?" It wasn't so bad after all! In fact, it was fun!

The highway patrolmen let us check out their cars. They even let us sit in the driver's seat! The sirens were loud!

Posing with the highway patrolmen

Next, we heard from an EMT, Emergency Medical Technician. The EMT went over safety tips in case of emergencies. She told us how important it was to know our address so the ambulance will be able to get to us quickly. She also let us tour the ambulance.

We loved answering questions about emergency situations!

Charles in the ambulance
The ambulance can carry two patients. One will lay on the stretcher, while the other lays on the bench to the right of where Charles is standing. The EMT will sit in the seat behind the stretcher if the ambulance is full.

Antasia and Tyrell

Another fun and honorable career is firefighting. The firemen talked to us about fire safety and told us what to do in case of a fire. We toured the fire truck, and asked a lot of questions.

The class listening intently

Posing with the brave firefighter

Lyric, Dwinesha, and Kadajah

The last career we experienced was very exciting! Employees of the Jackson Zoo brought several animals to show us! There were giant lizards, snakes, huge turtles, and other species to see! One man let us touch this big lizard. Then, he got the gigantic snake out!

J'Darrien, Devin, and Charles check it out for the girls.

After the boys checked it out, Nareuna decided it was safe!

Mrs. Johnson took off running when this slimy creature came out. Ms. C. Williams was so brave!!

After learning about the many careers, we continued with Fall Festival. There were inflatable slides, concessions, musical chairs, prizes, and more!

Mrs. Land taking tickets to be drawn for a prize before we walked the track.

Jaylin, Dwinesha, and Arrion walking the track

Devin and Alric show off Mrs. Johnson's artwork.

Musical chairs! Ms. Edwards was in charge of the music.

The final two fighting over the chair

Arrion enjoyed her concessions.

Fall Festival and Career Day was a complete success! Thanks to all the teachers, staff, and parents who worked to make this day happen! A special thanks to all our guest speakers! You are amazing! Thank you for showing us how our schooling will be used in the future!