Happy Valentine's Day!

Mrs. Johnson's class would like to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! We celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday, February 13th. Mrs. Johnson started the day in a very good mood. She probably was just excited about the many thoughtful gifts she received for Valentine's!

Charles and Kadajah remembered Mrs. Johnson's love of frogs!

Of course, we still had to continue with a regular school day - writing from an outline and reviewing the week's lessons on types of sentences, multiple sources, and Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindberg. However, after lunch Mrs. Johnson allowed us to begin preparations for our party. First, she gave us all paper bags to decorate. These bags would hold our valentines from our classmates. It was fun! While we decorated our bags, Mrs. Johnson played the soundtrack from High School Musical!!! We all sang along - even Mrs. Johnson knew the words!

Lyric and Nareuna

Selicia, Sharnecia, and J'Darrien

Jaylin and Tyrell
Do you see Jaylin's valentine from her mom? It's so neat!

Dwinesha, Antasia, and Alric

After our bags were ready and our valentines were prepared, we passed out valentines. Then, the party began! It was a very "love"ly day!

Our party food

Big G

For the last three weeks in math, we have been learning about measurement. Mrs. Johnson has used so many manipulatives during her lessons! It has really been fun! This past week, we reviewed the units for capacity: cups, pints, quarts, and gallons. Mrs. Johnson told us a fun story to help us remember how to convert units of capacity. Her story is about "Big G."

"Once upon a time in a faraway place, there was a magical land called Capacity. There was one giant ruler of the land of Capacity. His name was Big G! (Gallon) But, the land was SO big that Big G needed help. So, he called on four Queens to help him. (quarts) These queens were the sweetest ladies! In fact, they were so sweet that they allowed a Prince AND a Princess to live with them. (pints) Wasn't that sweet? Anyway...the princes and princesses were not so nice. The were mean, greedy, and grouchy! They were so greedy that they insisted on having TWO Crowns!! (cups) Can you believe that!? The rulers learned to work together and lived happily ever after."

Mrs. Johnson said she couldn't think of a good ending for the story, so it ended a little abruptly. Ha! As she told us the story, she drew the letters: First, she drew a huge G on the board. Then, she drew four Q's inside the huge G. After that, she drew two P's inside each Q. Lastly, she drew two C's inside each P. This made such an easy visual for us to convert units of capacity!

This week, Mrs. Johnson introduced us to Big G, or the Gallon Man, in person! She put all his body parts together for us. Then, she gave each group of students a stack of construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers. We worked together to make our own gallon man. This is also a great visual to convert units of capacity.

Antasia, Alric, Dwinesha, and Sherrina

Charles, Shanora, Jendaya, and Brindarius

Miss Greenwell even helped a group!

Markeith, Kadajah, and Lyric

J'Darrien, Selicia, and Sharnecia

Arrion, Jaylin, and Tyrell

When we finished, Mrs. Johnson had us all name our men. Then, she displayed them in the hallway. It was such a fun day in math!

Our finished projects!

Science Fair

This year's science fair was a huge success for Mrs. Johnson's class. Each student was required to turn in a science project for a science test grade. The students did a wonderful job, and I am so proud of all their hard work! Although I'm still waiting on a few, I was very impressed with our class's performance in the science fair. We had several winners.

Computer Science: Kadajah 2nd place
Botany: Dwinesha 1st place
Earth and Space: Antasia 3rd place
Math: Jameel 3rd place

Jameel

Shanora

Jaylin

Sherrina

Antasia

Charles

Kadajah

Lyric

Dwinesha

Jendaya

Arrion

Nareuna

Congratulations to all our winners, and thank you to the students who worked so hard!

Now Starring...

What a day for Mrs. Johnson's class! Our class was chosen to participate in a promotional video for Junior League of Jackson. Junior League does so much for our school. They read with third grade students two days a week, give away free books to all our students several times a year, and they are here for almost any big event. We are so blessed to have these ladies in our school! Jackson Public School received $120,000 in grant money from Junior League, and they chose our room to shoot the presentation of the check! How fun! Mrs. Johnson was so nervous. She even had her make-up done by a real make-up artist!

Mrs. Johnson getting her make-up done

Before taping, our director told us exactly what we had to do. When the ladies brought the check into the room, we cheered and clapped. Mrs. Johnson acted surprised. It was funny! Our director said we did our job very well. One of the lovely Junior League ladies said fun things to get us cheering. She yelled, "Mrs. Johnson gets $120,000!" "Everyone gets a Wii!" "She's going to Toys R Us for you!" Of course, Mrs. Johnson kept reminding us that she was just kidding! She only wanted us to cheer big! We didn't mind! We loved it!

Getting our final instructions from our director

Once we all had our instructions, it was time for taping! We took several takes from different angles. We were worn out by the time we finished. Mrs. Johnson even needed water!

The director

Presentation of the check

After working with our class, the camera crew moved to our family area. They taped a piece about "Book Buddies." The Junior League of Jackson has volunteers who read to selected third grade students twice a week. The students love it, and our test scores improved! Thank you to the wonderful ladies who volunteer their time!

Book Buddies

Collaborating with parents - Mrs. Hicks and Mrs. Wheat

We had a wonderfully fun day! Thank you so much for all that Junior League of Jackson does for our school and other schools in our district! You'll never know how much you have impacted us!

If I Were President...

President Obama promises CHANGE. To change our country, we must all get involved. What would you do to change the world?

Sharnecia


"If I Were President..."

If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. I would make new rules because people don't follow them. Some people don't care about the rules. I would change college prices. College costs too much. Some people don't have that kind of money. The last thing I would change is fighting. People get hurt by fighting. The 10 Commandments say, "Thou shalt not fight." I would make the world a better place.


Dwinesha


"If I Were President..."

If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. One thing I would change is stealing. I will change that because people are robbing banks. They are taking purses from women. I would change smoking. I will change it because it kills people. It kills their lungs. I would change fighting. I will change it because people get shot. People get hurt and break a bone. The world needs a change.


Lyric

"If I Were President..."


If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. I would tell people to pick up the trash and put it in the trash can. I will tell them to use the trash can at all times. We would not use guns or other weapons. We would not be killing or robbing anybody. We will not fight with our guns or fists. We will fight with our mouths. Yes, we can!

Devin

"If I Were President..."

If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. I will change the world by helping the homeless. They might need a home. I will help them get a home. I will change the world by getting something if someone needs it. They might need food. Then, I will give them food. I will change the world by helping the poor. They might need money. I will give them money to buy what they need. This is how I will change the world.

Charles

"If I Were President..."

If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. If I were president, I would make the gas prices go down. To fill up your car, I would make you pay $18. You have to pay $50 to fill up your car now. If I were president, I would make a speech called, "Chase After Your Dream." Some people think that they can't chase their dreams. If they want to do something with their life, then do it! I would make everything in stores not go over $400. Everything you buy in the store is high. It is like over $4,000. I would change a lot of things!

Antasia

"If I Were President..."

If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. I will change the world by fixing the road. The road is very very bumpy. You can have a flat on bumpy roads. I will change the world by picking up trash. This way the road won't have a lot of trash on it. I will clean people's yards if they have trash in their yards. I will change the world by helping people that do not have a home. I will go find them a home. I will buy a house for them. I will help change the world.

Tyrell

"If I Were President..."

If I were elected president of the United States, I would make some changes. I would change the gas prices. I would make it go down. It might go down to $2.85. I would change the high prices of houses. It might be $245. It would be that much each month. I would change the car notes. I would change it to $3.46. Now, that I changed this stuff, people will thank me. I would love that change!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have a dream..." The words of that famous speech are the words that give us hope and encourage us to Dream Big! To honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Mrs. Johnson's class wrote a poem describing him using the parts of speech. After writing a class poem, we broke into partners. We worked with our partner to research other famous African-Americans who Dreamed Big. With the election of our first African-American president, we realize more and more that ANYTHING is possible!

Punctuation Power

Mrs. Johnson's class has gone "Back to the Basics." After our nine weeks tests, Mrs. Johnson decided it was time to review basic rules.


We did this with a deeper understanding of the rules. Mrs. Johnson had phrases and sentences printed out with various punctuation marks: periods, quotation marks, exclamation points, question marks, commas, and apostrophes. We worked in groups to identify the punctuation mark and tell WHY it is used in each specific example. One phrase read, "Mr. Jones." We knew that "we always place a period after an abbreviation." By doing this activity, we gained a deeper understanding of WHY we use punctuation marks. We had a great time!

Letters From Santa

Dear Santa,
Santa, may you give me some stuff for Christmas like games and a little bit of toys? If you bring it to me, I will believe in you in real life. If I believe in you, everyone should believe in you. I will be good.
Sincerely,
Tyrell

Dear Santa,
How are you doing? I hope you bring me some toys so I can play with my sister. I know it will be fun to play with my toys with my sister and cousin. I want a bike for Christmas so I can ride on something like my sister. I love the way you talk when our class listens to the Christmas songs. You are like, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" I like the way you sound when you do that! I also like the way your clothes feel. I can't feel them, though, because I am asleep when you come.
Love,
Shanora

Dear Santa,
I love Christmas! I want some shoes and some clothes. I also want a Wii. I love the work that your elf did last year!
Love,
Sherrina

Dear Santa,
I would like a drum, a Bible, and a gift for my teacher - a big one! My sister wants a math book, and my brother wants a reading book. Now, back to what I want! There will be a stocking. Mine will be the one with all the stuff. I want some candy in my stocking. I want my family to have the best Christmas ever! I want a lot of stuff for Christmas. I cannot name them, so that is all I want.
Love,
Devin

Dear Santa,
I love Christmas! It is the best time of the month. This is what's best about Christmas. It is our Savior's birthday. I would like a bike, snow boots, a Bratz game, and an MP3 player.
Sincerely,
Sharnecia

Dear Santa,
How are you doing this summer? Do you know what I want for Christmas? I love you. Do you love me? I have been waiting for Christmas. I know you have something for me. I know I have been good. You see me everyday doing what I'm supposed to do. My brothers have been good. You know just what I want you to bring all of us. Did you know we have a Christmas tree up?
Love,
Arrion

Dear Santa,
I hope you get me what I want. Get me some games, clothes, and shoes. Just get me what you can, Santa.
Sincerely,
Alric

Merry Christmas from Mrs. Johnson's Class!!

This has been a very exciting week! We had a special visitor in the building every morning to take pictures with students. Mrs. Johnson could not contain herself! She led the WHOLE class down to the rotunda to take a class picture with Santa!!

Merry Christmas!

Ms. Greenwell

Our class has been super lucky this year! We have had so many visitors come to visit our classroom. I think one of our favorite visitors has been Ms. Greenwell. Ms. Greenwell is a student at Mississippi College who is training to become a teacher. She has chosen to learn and teach the best that our school has to offer! (At least, we like to think so!)

Ms. Greenwell's last day was Tuesday. We were sad to see her go. However, we won't be sad for long because SHE'S COMING BACK! Ms. Greenwell will be student teaching in our room too! We can't wait for January when she returns!

A fun activity Ms. Greenwell did on main idea.

Ms. Greenwell taught us about run-on sentences, fragments, and complete sentences.

On Ms. Greenwell's last day, she surprised us with gifts! She brought us each an ornament with our names on them! Our class had a "candy bouquet" for her. She loved her candy as much as we loved our ornaments! Thank you so much, Ms. Greenwell!!

The boys with their ornaments

The girls with their ornaments

The Polar Express

Third grade has been blessed this year by Junior League of Jackson. Ladies from the Jr. League come to the third grade classes to read to a few of our students. This year, as a Christmas send-off, they decided to host a "Polar Express" experience for all third graders. It was so much fun! One of the members read The Polar Express while the others fixed us hot chocolate! At the end of the book, the ladies served us hot chocolate and gave us each our own sleigh bell and candy cane! We were so excited!! Our class even performed our rendition of "We Love You, Junior League" to the tune of Jingle Bells. We finished the song off with a jingling of our bells. They loved it! We can't wait for our new group of Junior League ladies in the spring!

Sitting quietly during the reading of The Polar Express

It was a wonderful story!

Selicia and Tyrell getting their jingle bells

Miss Lisa was one of the ladies who read with Brindarius, Kadajah, Alric, Selicia, Jameel, and J'Darrien. She even brought our WHOLE class treat bags for Halloween and Christmas! We love you, Mrs. Lisa!

The whole group