Elitches!!

Physics night at Elitches was last night, and we were fearful of a rain-out! Being that there were no refunds or exchanges for rain, we all showed up with our warm sweatshirts and smiles. Ok, most of us had warm sweatshirts, some had coats, and a couple had neither. You would think, as students, they would listen to the advice of their teacher to bring warm clothes! :)

Sam, Teresa, and Carmen had never been on a roller coaster so we made our task to ride all of them first thing. Somehow the consensus to ride 'Mind Eraser' lead us to the craziest ride in the park. I wouldn't have wanted to have my first experience with roller coasters be on that one, but hey, to each his own. They were scared to death watching it zoom above their heads with people flipping and spinning and screaming, but in the end, they all boarded the coaster. The twins sat together and Sam had Max as his guide. Being that Max is smaller (under 5 ft) and only 9 years old gave a sliver of confidence to the others that they wouldn't fall out of the car. Knowing the physics didn't seem to curb their fears at all!

We rode every roller coaster at the park (that was open, which I think only the half-pipe was closed - and TOWER OF DOOM!!! which was so disappointing even though it wasn't a roller coaster) and it seemed that everyone is now a roller coaster lover. After concluding with sidewinder and a 100 step climb, the kids decided to start on their circular motion rides. In my old age, I have acquired motion sickness with spinny-rides, so I sat those out...in the rain.

After the second spinning ride, I noticed that a couple people's smiles had disappeared from their faces, and started looking a little pale. I told Jose Juan in particular that he looked pale. He responded with 'I feel pale' and then was going to use the restroom. The group was excited for the teacups, so Jose Juan forgot his bathroom stop and proceeded to the 3 spinning ride in a row. I went to look for Carmen and Teresa, who ended up being at the teacups and I didn't realize that, while everyone but Fernando and I loaded into two cups.

Fernando started playing the guessing game to win some prizes (they guessed his weight wrong - win a prize!) and mid-game, everyone came running over to the stand laughing and blabbering on about how Jose Juan threw-up on the teacups! Apparently he was yelling for them to STOP!! the ride, but they didn't in time and he successfully closed down the teacups to allow the cleanup crew to get their money's worth. I'm so glad I wasn't there to witness this event, but everyone was fine and yak-free!

The rest of the night just got colder and rainier, so we of course rode a few more rides, got a caricature of the twins and Fernando, did a little shopping in the gift shop (as though we don't live here in Denver) and had a fantastic time! Sam even forgot that he wanted to skip this night to watch 'Fringe' until the night was coming to an end!! How wonderful!! YAY Physics!

Rockets

The seniors finished their last year of school so early, with finals at the end of April in my class!! So, with their few days left before check-out, graduation, and the rest of their lives, I decided the best thing for us to do was to build model rockets and shoot them off outside! We picked the windiest day of all (with gusts in the 60mph range) to launch them because of scheduling conflicts and had a super time! The kids enjoyed building the rockets and preferred cement glue to regular elmer's because they were too impatient to hold the pieces on their rockets for the elmer's to dry!

Sam and Ileana had successful flights, but ended up losing their rockets to the roof or the railroad tracks. David, Vince, and Jose Juan gave us a show of spiraling rockets and fire consumed rockets! It was a lovely end of the semester/year activity that the kids will remember, hopefully!!

Chicago?

I got this crazy idea over Christmas break that I wanted to take my physics class on a field trip. My first thought had been to take them to an amusement park with REAL roller coasters, as opposed to the tiny sized coasters at the local amusement park, in order to study the physics of all the rides. I looked into prices, but found that it would be too crazy of a trip.

After looking through the next chapter of our physics book, I realized that taking the kids to see the Blue Man Group could be my next great idea. We were studying light and sound properties and the Blue Man Group was the ultimate show focusing on both of our topics of study! Out of all the cities they play, Chicago would be the easiest place to take 11th and 12th grade students. Can you imagine Vegas with 17 and 18 year olds? Me either. So the seed had been planted, and my next task was to ask the field trip organizer and the principal.

I had already done my research, so presenting my ideas to the principal was easier than I thought. Data = awesomeness. After talking with him, all systems were a-go, as long as I could raise the money for the trip.My last task was to present the challenge to my class. I knew this would be an easy sell.

Fundraising

Lots of things crossed my mind here. It was too cold for outside activities, such as a barbecue or a car wash, so inside it was. I planned the trip for February, so this also meant that time would tick quickly. After exhausting all sorts of ideas, and shooting down a raffle for an i-pod that we would have to purchase, we came to a consensus that sending Valentine's would be the way to go. A lot of debate went on about which things to purchase because candy was ruled out by the health standards of the school district. We decided that selling stuffed gorillas would be the best path...and fortune cookies. A weird combo that we were hoping would work. See exhibit A, to the left.

All of the fund raising efforts were going to take place the week before Valentine's day, so that meant we were waiting, fingers crossed, until the end of the week to know for sure if our trip would work out or not. The gorillas arrived early, so pre-sales began the Friday before, and looked promising. We added in another fundraiser as well: a raffle. So many generous people offered items to be raffled for free. Nuggets and Avs tickets were the biggest draw, but there were also many other smaller prizes that were exciting as well, such as movie tickets, starbucks, an autograph picture, and a sketch pad. Best idea ever was to include the raffle.

Mid-week before Valentine's, sales were low and depressing. I don't think I was more stressed out than I was that week. By Friday, we had things turned around and sales had been pouring in. I'm attributing this to forgetfullness and procrastination. At the end of the week, we had enough money to cover our Blue Man Group tickets, and the trip was offically set for the end of February!!!

Friday - Day 1 - CHICAGO BOUND!!!

February 26^th (Friday) [ITINERARY IN RED, COMMENTS IN BLACK]

Bring luggage to school. Attend class as normal and report to 8^th hour. We will leave during class.

2pm – Depart for airport. Students will ride with teachers that have volunteered to drive to the airport.

Thanks to Mrs. Downing and Mr. Rivera for driving us!!! It was a riot to see the truancy van zooming ahead of the other car....

Picture: Back row - David, Fernando, Jose Juan, Mr. Jackson, Vince

Front row: Me (Ms. Konwinski), Teresa, Carmen, Ileana

4:50pm – Depart Denver on Southwest flight Depart at 4:50 PM - Arrive in CHICAGO at 8:10 PM

Can you believe that a couple students have never flown before?!?! How EXCITING FOR THEM!! I made sure to grab a couple of 'wings' for them in honor of their first flight! Here's a short video of Jose Juan, excited about being on the plane!

From Midway, travel to hotel: Marriott Fairfield Inn 216 E Ontario St Chicago, IL

Arrive at hotel – approx travel time is 1 hour and a half

This was a complete false assumption. It took is way longer to get our luggage, get train tickets, get to the hotel, and check in. It was 2+ hours before we were ready to function in Chicago without our luggage. First task: Dinner.

According to the guy manning the desk at the hotel, the Lux restaurant, just up the way, was 'cheap' and open late = 11pm. It was about 10:30 as we ventured out for food and the 45 min wait at the Lux + the $12 - $15 per plate meals made us change our plan and head for something else. Mr. Jackson, luckily had his phone attached to his hip (cause where else would it be?!?) and found us the nearest Chili's he could find!

My favorite quote of the night stems from the conversation at the end of the meal. Mr. Jackson got the table chips and salsa and after our meal, there was still some chips left. Jose Juan, to my left, thought that since there were some chips left, that we should get them wrapped up to go. Some time went by and he never asked, so I reminded him that he wanted the chips to go. The next time the server came back, he asked if he could get the rest of the chips and salsa to go. As soon as the waitress left the table, the other kids started asking/teasing Jose Juan about asking for the chips and Mr. Jackson turns to JJ and says

'Jose Juan, what are you doing?'

'I'm getting the chips and salsa to go! I thought since you paid for them, we should at least take the rest home'

'But they are bottom-less chips and salsa. They'll keep bringing them out!'

Luckily, those chips and salsa came in handy for snack time over the weekend. :)

*Dinner will be determined as we travel. There will be options for food at the airport, bringing food in your carry-on, or we will wait to eat until after we have arrived at the hotel. There are pizza places nearby, as well as other local restaurants.

In rooms by 11pm. -After dinner, we called it a night....unless we had an Xbox in our room...then we stayed up late I think.

Saturday - Day 2

February 27^th (Saturday)

8:00am – 9:15am Breakfast at the hotel – breakfast is included in the price of our rooms

Breakfast at the hotel was pretty decent. Nice modern - up to date hotel, that even had waffle makers! Otherwise the typical breakfast filled us up before we left for the Planetarium.

9:30 – depart hotel for Planetarium

The planetarium is located right on Lake Michigan, which gave us a great opportunity to take some pictures of the city! Mr. Jackson had the kids jump, trying to capture the moment:

10:00am – 1pm Spend time at the Alder Planetarium. Attend the show 3D Universe: A symphony at 12:30

There were so many SUPER COOL exhibits at the planetarium. This was a last minute find, and I'm really glad we went there. One of the biggest hits for the kids was the section on the history of telescopes and optics, which included costumes that could be used to dress the part of scientists of the past. There were also sections of the planetarium that focused on light and sound - very pertinent to our studies - a small dome that allowed kids to venture insdie and get an explanation of the sky over Chicago. There were MANY references to Harry Potter, which made Mr. Jackson and I laugh. Pretty sure the girl that worked there was all about repeating the same jokes and one liners to anyone that would listen! Good times. We also learned about the planets in our solar system.

The 3D-Symphony show was really entertaining! While some kids didn't prefer the orchestra music, the effects of 3D and Hubble pictures gave some stunning effects. My favorite part was seeing spiral galaxies crashing into each other with very dramatic music, and the film took the actual pictures from Hubble and digitized them, allowing for a computer to take the perspective of all angles and show us what it must have looked like in real time!

Saturday evening - Day 2

Still Feb 27th - After the Planetarium

2:00pm – 5:00pm Time on Michigan Avenue – shops, sightseeing

After leaving the planetarium, we decided to stop by Millennium Park to see the sites there. It just so happens it fit in EXTREMELY well with what we have been studying in physics class. There were two large walls that looked like brick walls, but actually displayed the faces of random people. I couldn't help but think how creepy it was, having rotating pictures of close up faces, blinking at me. However, it was a great talking point that focused on how images are displayed using only three colors: red, green, and blue. At first the kids didn't know which three colors I was talking about, but the closer you get to the faces, the more blurred they become and the lights start to shine through. Imagine; physics in the park!!!

After seeing the creepy faces, we made our way to the giant "Bean". The bean is a large mirror, with both convex and concave surfaces, and is shaped like - you guessed it - a jelly bean. Tons of people were around it taking pictures, walking underneath it, and being goofy. We joined right in. We talked about how our images looked different, and why they looked the way they did. The outside, being convex, gave us a great view of downtown Chicago while the inside of the bean gave a nice spiral affect.

Upon leaving the park, we decided to shop along the Magnificent Mile - on Michigan Avenue. This was the first opportunity for the group to break into smaller ones for a bit more freedom. While we stayed together on the street (after exchanging phone numbers and repeating the location of the hotel 5 times each), the kids were able to wander on their own inside the mall on the north end of the strip and then meet back at the hotel, just a few blocks away. I think they enjoyed this small bit of freedom and everyone was responsible and returned on time! :)

5:30pm - Dinner together
Chicago Style pizza was a must, so we found ourselves waiting an hour and a half outside. In order to keep the kids warm, and entertained, I suggested a nice friendly RACE! Each kids raced another until we had two left. David ended up being the winner of the whole group, even beating me....barely. If only I had stretched! We also found ourselves playing 'Red light - Green light' before heading inside to eat some wings and pizza. The pizza was delicious and, at first, I thought I ordered too much pizza for only 10 people (us, plus Mr. Jackson's little "brother") but holy cow!!! Those kids can eat! Each slice was probably 2 inches deep, full of cheese, and I hear one kid threw back 5 slices!!!! Good thing they went swimming at the affiliate hotel up a block! :) t was a good ending to a fantastic day!