Poetry Slam and Field Trip

The First Annual 2nd Grade Poetry Slam was a success! Phew.... We put a lot into it, and it turned out well. Our turn out was great and I think everyone had a great time. Hopefully, we'll be able to do it again next year- and hopefully it will be a little less stressful for the 2nd grade team! :)

This was our set up in the cafeteria. The mugs were courtesy of me (thanks to my wonderful overhead and clipart), and our permanent sub at the school made the awesome sign.

Friday all three classes went to Brookfield Zoo. We had a great time! Below are some pictures of a few animals. My personal favorite was where the monkeys are held. It is really neat because you travel through several continents to see the different types of monkeys. (This is shown in the first 2 pictures).

An anteater in the monkey house...

I believe this was the South America part of the monkey house.

It was a fun few days at school, and I was exhausted last night when I got home. On a Friday... in bed and asleep at 8:30!! Ahhhhh!!!

Alex and I did a little apartment hunting today. We were basically told (by the few people we talked to) that we were looking too early. :( But... what these people don't know is we don't really have any time to do this come mid-May. We need a place ASAP! So the hunt continues and that is just one more thing to have on my plate.

One more week of April, I can't believe it!

2 Birthdays and a Cubs Game

This week my two closest friends are celebrating their birthdays! So here's to you Brandy and Rox! Its pretty neat that all of our birthdays fall in April... I guess there is just something about an April baby. :)

We went to the Cubs game this afternoon with Fife. We froze our butts off, but had a good time. Unfortunately, they lost to the Astros- but after 10 innings of coldness I was ready for the 5 minute walk back home!

So Much Going On!

What a week it has been!

1. It is the end of the 3rd quarter (wonderful) grades were due (not so wonderful and stressful).

2. Home visits... yes, you read correctly home visits. All classroom teachers are required to visit the homes of each of their students. I luckily planned ahead and visited about 1/2 of them in the fall, so I had less to do this time. But, none the less... its a little stressful as well- mapping out how to get to the various places and trying not to get lost. However, although it is stressful it is a great opportunity to get an insight to the students in my classroom, that I may have otherwise not gotten.

3. Budget meeting on Friday. School was cancelled yesterday for a PD and budget meeting. It went surprisingly well, compared to what most corporations are facing. We are on a salary freeze, so no raises next year and our class sizes are going to increase from 30/31 to 32. Not a huge difference, and again I'll take this over what so many of my friends are dealing with.

4. Content area test this morning. Going through all of the hurdles of getting my official IL teaching license hopefully ended today. I took the elementary/ middle grades content area test this morning at 7:15... on a Saturday!! Boo....

5. Monday-Wednesday are parent/ teacher conferences

6. Thursday we are inviting parents in to a Poetry Slam for all of the 2nd graders. The students have been learning about various types of poetry and they will have the opportunity to read their poetry to their friends and families.

7. Field trip next week to the zoo.

I guess I have a lot on my mind and I will be very happy when all of this is behind me.

Alex and I have begun the hunt for an apartment. Our lease is up at the end of June. I'm ready for the move... Cubs season started up, and well I think we all know how I feel about the extra traffic and crowds that come with that.

We were originally thinking we wanted to move down to the UIC area, its further south for me (closer to work) and also off of the blue line (good for Alex to get to the loop). We walked around the area over my SB and weren't too impressed. Its a nice area, but we mostly saw condos and there just wasn't much there. So now we are thinking Old Town (further south, but still along the red line). This would be nice b/c its close to the lake, lakeshore drive, and all the perks of living in Chicago aka much closer to downtown. I think we would like this area a lot. We just need to find a place in our price range, nice, clean, and with parking. We would love a washer and dryer in the unit, but that may be a little frivolous at the moment.

We are also working on narrowing down our choices for the honeymoon. We met w/ a travel agent and it is actually coming out to be a little less expensive than what we thought. :)

Long post... sorry!!

Its a busy time for us and I only see it getting busier as we get closer and closer to moving, the BAR, and the big day.