No Bones About It...Science is Fun!

This week, in science, we learned about the skeletal system. We learned, among many others, that our head is actually called a cranium, our thigh is actually a femur, and our fingers and toes are called phalanges. Phalanges is Mrs. Johnson's favorite! She just likes to say the word! For the finale of the unit, we made Pasta Skeletons. We talked about the real names of the bones as we added the pasta. How much fun!

Sharnecia is placing her cranium on her skeleton.

Look at Charles' finished skeleton!

Dwinesha admiring her work!

He should have a name, don't you think?

Physical Changes

In science last week, Miss Greenwell talked to us about the difference between chemical and physical change. She showed us a piece of notebook paper and asked us if we thought she could walk through the piece of paper. We thought about it. Some suggested we cut a hole in the middle. Well, that hole wouldn't be big enough to fit our whole body through. Miss Greenwell gave us each a sheet of notebook paper and scissors. She explained that we were all going to walk through the paper by PHYSICALLY CHANGING the paper. Look and see!

Lyric steps through her paper.

Sharnecia is stepping through!

It's still paper. The physical appearance just changed.

Shanora, Alric, and Ja'Von had way too much fun!

Science is so much fun!

Prepositions Chant

How Big Is A Foot?

During our study of measurement, we read a funny book titled, How Big Is A Foot? This book explained how different people's feet vary in length. So, how do we measure in feet? It was a good explanation for why we use standard units.

Miss Greenwell let us try to measure using our own feet. It was so much fun! First, we all traced one of our feet on a piece of construction paper and cut them out.

Charles tracing his foot

Next, we measured our feet in inches.

Lyric carefully measured her foot.

Then, we measured each other in our own feet. After we found out how many of our own feet tall we were, we converted that into inches using our measurements from earlier.

Dwinesha measures Alric using his own foot.

Brindarius, Shanora, and Charles showing their feet.

At the very end, we lined up across the room in order from shortest to tallest. We used our measurements to determine the order.

Happy Birthday, Charles!

Charles's mom stopped by with a little surprise for his birthday - cupcakes for everyone!! Charles turned 9 Wednesday! He is such a delight, and we are so glad Charles is in our class. He is always helpful and really funny (even when he doesn't mean to be!). Did I mention that he LOVES football? That is probably why his mom had his cupcakes put together to look like a football field! Thank you for sharing your birthday with us! Happy Birthday, Charles!

Measuring Perimeter

The finale for our unit on measurement was a week measuring perimeter. We learned that perimeter is a skill we will use often in our daily lives. We pretended to be architects this week, planning for tiling a bathroom or putting up a fence. In order to know how many tiles or how much fence we need, we must find the perimeter. To practice, we created shapes on our classroom floor around tiles. We counted the tiles on each side and found the perimeter. It was so much fun learning to measure perimeter by taping the floor! Mrs. Johnson would never let us do this on any ordinary day!

Lyric, Jendaya, and Arrion are adding all the sides to find the perimeter.

Kadajah, Ja'Von, and Selicia have to make sure their tape is straight.

Alric, Dwinesha, Brindarius, and Charles made huge objects!

This rectangle has a perimeter of 14 units.

One side is 4 units long.

Miss Greenwell taught us a "rap" at the end of our perimeter lesson. The song helps us to remember HOW to find perimeter. Listen and learn!!

The next day, we learned how to find the perimeter using rulers. We actually measured each side to the nearest inch and centimeter, added all the sides together, and found the perimeter. This was a great review of measuring with rulers!

Shanora, Antasia, and Sharnecia measure carefully!

Lyric makes sure she gets the exact measurement.

Sharnecia and Shanora measure again just to be sure.

We have really enjoyed learning about measurement! It's a good thing because measurement makes up 31% of our third nine weeks test! And, guess what! The nine weeks tests are in only 2 weeks!!! WOW!

Units of Measurement

During our study of measurement, Mrs. Johnson taught us two different systems of measurement: Metric System and Customary System. We discussed each system, sorting units of measurement into length, weight, and capacity. Mrs. Johnson provided manipulatives to demonstrate each unit. For example, in the metric system, a tape dispenser is about one kilogram and a paper clip is about one gram. We passed these objects around so that we could experience the feel of a kilogram and gram. Mrs. Johnson allowed us to participate in two activities where we chose which unit of measurement to use for a given item.

A couple of weeks ago, Mrs. Johnson guided us in creating circle maps for both the Customary System and the Metric System. Then, we cut and pasted the appropriate unit next to a given object.

Our circle maps

This week, we participated in a rotation to various objects around the room. Mrs. Johnson had pictures of various objects set up all over the room. She let us choose a partner and gave us a clipboard. We walked around the room with our partner to the various objects. Once there, we had to choose, from a list of choices, which unit of measurement was appropriate. As we walked around the room, we justified our opinions to each other in order to decide on the appropriate unit. We enjoyed working and thinking together to make these decisions. When we finished with all seventeen objects, Mrs. Johnson checked them as she went over each object with the class. The group with the highest score was Sharnecia and Jameel! We had a great time!

Arrion and Antasia try to decide whether the iced tea should be measured using quarts or cups.

Would a slice of apple pie weigh ounces or pounds?

Selicia and Brindarius think hard.

Antasia and Jaylin know that a sack of potatoes would be measured in pounds.

Sharnecia and Jameel

Lyric and Dwinesha discuss which unit should be used to measure the weight of a pumpkin.

Charles and Alric figure it out!

Our class certainly exhibits the motto of our school: "We have fun while we learn!"

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!