Wolfe Like Tiffany

Some of our school's finest science researchers are investigating how you get head lice for the regional "science expo." This fascinating introduction to lice was written by our own Tiffany in Ms. Arias' class:

How dose lice feel? We had to interview VIP people to know that! We interview Ms. Ramsey, Ms. Arias. We want to www.headlice.org to get a little bit of imformation. We ask people if they had lice before! And them both said yes!

Lice is very itchy! said “Ms. Arias.” At frist you don’t feel it, or you don’t think of it tht much! But when your head itches that when you think you have lice. Or when you hear lice you start to scratch more and more! When there is egg you can’t feel the lice at all!! That what Ms. Ramsey said! It takes some time for them to grow biger! Once they lay eggs and more of them are born, there are a lot on your head. They get really, really, itchy when there are a lot of the actual bugs!!

What you have to do so the lice could go away is that you could use a special shapoo!! That what Ms. Ramsey use to get rid of the lice!! And her mom had to take the killed lice always with her hands!! Ms. Arias, what she did was that they poured gas in her head!! How naste was that!!

You could get lice from playing outdoors, from some one else, They can be spread by clothing, bedding, swimming and material!! So you better watch out for lice!!! It could be anywhere around you!!!!

I told Tiffany that she writes with a lot of "voice." She uses a lot of exclamation points like a very famous New York writer named Tom Wolfe. Wolfe is the man in the picture. He is a social scientist. That means he researches the science of people and society. He also always wears that silly white suit.

Parental guidance is suggested for these related clips (language, explosions):
South Park: "Lice Capades" (TV.com)
TV on the Radio: "Wolf Like Me" Music Video (YouTube)
*Photo courtesy www.achievement.org.

Question: How'd You Like This Knowledge That I Brought?

PS163's Independent Woman (Part 1) answers your questions again. Remember: Science time is for science lessons. I will, however, answer all your personal questions here. All you have to do is read!

Who would win in a fight: Human Torch or the Silver Surfer? Wolverine or Spiderman?
Angel, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
I'll call in my brother as a guest blogger and have him get back to you on that.

Have you seen 300?
Jillianlee, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
No, but I've heard it's pretty amazing. Did you know it's based on an ancient Greek war? Read about the real "300," the Battle of Thermopylae, here at History for Kids. The real story is much grosser and scarier than any movie!

Are you a real scientist?
Jonathan, Ms. St. Marie's class
Yes.

Have you ever done a science experiment before?
Argenis, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
Yes. Many. But my best project was from 8th grade, when I tested different sunscreens on members of my family. We all have fair skin, so they all got bad arm burns. I just watched. And took pictures.

Have you won the Nobel Prize?
Neville, Ms. Arias' class
No. Oh, well. But Alfred Nobel invented dynamite... good times.

What's Yale?
various students
Yale is a college in Connecticut. At Yale I studied history after I graduated from a science high school in Virginia. As a wise man once said, "Yale is at once a tradition, a company of scholars, a society of friends.

You a drama teacher or somethin'?
Jerry, Ms. Arias' class
No, but I played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, my 4th grade class play.

You Irish?
Jose, Ms. Arias' class
I'm 15/16 Irish. Can you draw that fraction?

Image courtesy "Making Science Make Sense"

Water Saves, New York Invests (In Its Future)

Water Saves
by Gaby, Christopher A., and Bryan, feat. Ms. Reinmann
Scientist S.O.M.E. (Studier of My Environment)
Big Mo Records

Water helps to keep us alive
So what we say—it isn't just jive
Unless we start conserving the stuff
You know that soon there won't be enough
When you brush you teeth don't let the water run.
Don't waste in washing dishes or you'll have non
Take a short shower—don't take a bath
The water you waste will be cut in half
In summer don't use too much H2O
When you use the pump, try to restrict the flow
'Cause hydrants need water to help fight a fire
Or he flames will just go higher and higher
Remember everybody just do your part
Don't waste water—use your brains and your heart.

Water Conservation Rap
by Diandre, Walter, Oscar
Scientist S.O.M.E.
Big Mo Records

The water is black 'cause of people
They throw their food like seafood
The nearest river by Chinatown
Is the East where a lot of dirt can be found

Sewers, sewers they're so dirty, dirty
They're on the bottom of New York City
Travel to the East River
Make it smell like liver
'Cause my mom says I wanted to go swim in it
But it was so dirty I couldn't even live in it

Brooklyn Bridge is fallin' down
Plus it looks like my mom when she's stressin' out

OCEANS
They stay fly
They're fresh
We drink it
OCEANS
They're in New York...

Great work, boys and girls!

*Ele-FUN courtesy www.lvwater.org

We Second That Experiment On Oceans

Take two, this time with Ms. Arias' class!

Inquiry Question by Dieshell
-->Why do cities put salt on the streets when it's icy?
Let's say a lady comes out of the store with bag's. There's no salt of the side walk. They ran out of the store than sliped. I don't think the person that own's the store want's to go to cort. Salt melts ice.


Hypothesis by Jessica
If we put ice on hot water then the temperature is going to decrease.

Observations by Esther
0 min Nothing
1 min the salt observe [absorbs] the ice
2 min it melted
3 min it turn to water a little bit
4 min the ice srinked
5 min it turned to all water
Every minute the salt kept on melt into the ice. By the fifth minute it turned to all water. When you feel it it's cold and feels like ice water.

Data by Adrian
Time Temperature
0 min 12°C
1 min 11°C
2 min 8°C
3 min 10°C
4 min 9°C
5 min 12°C
6 min 8°C
7 min 11°C
The pattern goes from greatest to least.

Conclusion by Kelly
Today in science we learned that when you put salt on ice it first hardens then it melts.

Image of icy Bronx street courtesy luckypauper.com

Question Time

Happy New Year! So many new questions, too. Ms. Miller asked her assistant J. Walter Weatherman to answer a few for you.

What are your favorite bands?
Angel, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
Some of Ms. Miller's favorite bands are Talking Heads, Blondie, the Kinks, the Clash, Radiohead, and Wilco. These are older bands, so if you know any of them Ms. Miller will be proud of you. She is always happy to talk about music after class. If you like Ciara or Rihanna, for example, Ms. Miller thinks you try Kelis, who is better because she is more fashionable and married Nas.

Who is your favorite Degrassi couple?
Clarissa, Ms. Arias' class
The best couple of all time on Degrassi, by far, is JT and Liberty. Ms. Miller's favorite character is Craig.

Do you watch Desperate Housewives?
Jose, Ms. St. Marie's class
Ms. Miller watched the first season. The show was really good until Bree's husband Rex left the show.

Do you have a MySpace account?
Leandro, Ms. D'Ascoli's class
Sadly, no. Ms. Miller wanted Scienceback to be a MySpace page so her students could friend it and message her. But then Nick News told her MySpace can be dangerous, so she made a blog instead.

Do you have friends? Do you have a life?
Manuel, Ms. Arias' class
Teachers have friends, too! They just can't talk about them during class because you have so much to learn.

Send Ms. Miller your questions after class, or write them in your science notebook. She will try to get Mr. Weatherman to answer them here every once in a while.

*Image courtesy kidsrcrafty.com

Mo-tivators -- Food Pyramid

This week's 80 percent or above-ers are below. The Big Mo herself sends a shout out to St. Marie's class for their 73% class average this week! What hard work!

D'Ascoli
Aliah
Shaiasia
Nautica
Evan
Hemanjali
Leslie

Arias
Yehaziel
Zaquan
Tiffany

St. Marie
Aikia
Ariana
Imani
Jonathan
Jose
Kevin R.
Martin
Roy'ell

Samuels
Diandre
Robert
Marlin

Scientist of the Month, PS3 Edition

November's Scientist of the Month winners are...
- Diandre (Samuels)!
- Ismael (Arias)!

They got prizes. (Not a PS3, unfortunately, but they can show you.)

December's Scientist of the Month will be online next Monday...

Mo Miller, Mo' Problems

Another single, she drops...

"Mo Miller, Mo' Problems"
by Manuel and Ismael
with outro by Jerry, Bryan, and Zaquan
Southsidebronx TweenSounds
Big Mo Records

THE BIG MO-TIVATION
THE BIG VOCABULARY
THE BIG KNOW QUIZZES
SO PAY ATTENTION IN CLASS!

Mo-tivators -- Metabolism Quiz

This week I'm not listing the class averages because they were too low for the Big Mo. Come on, kids! You can do better than that! Thankfully, two classes had a long list of Mo-tivators. So, who hit the Big Mo (80% or above) on this week's metabolism quiz?

Arias
Neville
Merlin
Manuel

D'Ascoli
James
Ciara
Aliah (100%)
Amanda
Xena (100%)
Albania
Jhoanna
Jarlenis (100%)

Congratulations to first-time Big Mo winners Manuel, Jarlenis, and James! Let's see it next week, too!

Mo-tivators: Digestive System Quiz

How close did each class come this week to hitting the Big Mo, our goal of 80 percent mastery of each week's learning objectives?

#1 Arias (501), 64.8%
#2 Samuels (233), 60.0%
#3 D'Ascoli (500), 56.3%
#4 St. Marie (502), 53.5%
#5 Rios-Beltran (522), 46.7%

Good work, but we've got a long way to go to hit an 80 percent mean!

The week's "Mo-tivators" are below. "Mo-tivators" scored 80 percent or above on the Big Know weekly quiz.

Samuels
Robert

Rios-Beltran
Jonathan
Josue

D'Ascoli
Ciara
Amanda
Aliah
Xena
Shaiasia
Jhoanna
Leslie

Arias
Gaby
Dieshell
Jennifer
Merlin
Yehaziel
Neville
Kelly
Ryeasha
Christopher

St. Marie
Ariana
Edwin
Imani
Kevin R.