We want to treat our books well! That’s why we loved this activity at the library today! Ms. Gordon tasked the 3rd graders with investigating damaged books and analyzing what was wrong with them, also helping us understand how we should treat the books we own our check out!

We ended today by continuing our read aloud of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” before turning to the 2005 movie for the first song in the book. These 3rd Graders already looked forward to continuing the book daily, but now they have even more to look forward to!

Last week we got the chance to learn some Social Studies…to wrap up our unit on United States history, students got the chance to learn about the history of our 46 presidents!

Yesterday, we had a field trip to the Indiana State Fairgrounds to watch an @IUPUIJaguars game as part of the NCAA/Scholastic Readers are Leaders program! The 3rd Graders had a great time cheering on the Jaguars and celebrating reading!

Some pre-Thanksgiving Break events from last week: Learning area, practicing multiplication and division, visit our STEM buddies, and watching a live drama (our current reading unit) FCPA_MSDPike

Yesterday we tried something new that we heard about from FCPA_MSDPike 5th Grade Team: Math Around the Room. Students were shown a complex problem and had to work together in random groups to solve the problem. It was a great lesson on our math concepts but also teamwork!

Yesterday we tried out a new experiment for both the students and their teacher: dancing raisins! How will raisins react when dropped in soda and why do we think they react that way? We got to test it out in this quick and fun science experiment FCPA_MSDPike

An annual favorite! We ended our animal unit with a science project making “Penguin Vocalization Devices!” FCPA_MSDPike (and I can’t forget to credit Dr. Catherine Hagerman Pangan for the idea!)

We wrapped up Engineeering Week with our yearly project: Ziplines! The 3rd Graders had to design and make a device that would carry a ping pong ball down a zipline in 4 seconds. FCPA_MSDPike

We finished our “Make a Difference” reading unit with a science lesson on renewable energy. We used Mystery Science to learn about 3 forms of renewable energy. Then we created Energy Plans in order to help a town that wants to use a less harmful energy source. FCPA_MSDPike

We had a great time today planting a new tree in front of FCPA_MSDPike ! The 3rd Graders loved having the chance to get outside, use the tools, move the dirt, and plant the tree! They chose to name it after my favorite singer…Billy Joel 😂 Pike Twnshp Schools

Back for year #6, but this time in 4th grade! We had an awesome first day and are looking forward to a great year!

We had a special guest visitor today: My 2 year old niece! She’s already saying she loved school!

2026 Resolution: Do a better job sharing what’s happening in our classroom… On Friday, we continued our Science unit on Waves and Information by studying codes. These 4th Graders worked to crack messages written in Morse Code, Pig Pen, Polybius Square, and Circle Cypher.

Friday Free Write!

Congrats to the Seattle Seahawks! We celebrated Super Bowl Weekend with a Jean/Jersey Day on Friday!

What characteristics define different waves? This was the question we answered on Friday while completing a science experiment. Students used various materials to create different waves and observe their patterns!