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!

Sunday Day 3

February 28^th (Sunday)

Breakfast 8am – 10:00am At your leisure

*Optional: Church – 8:15am or 9:30am Catholic Service at Holy Name Catholic Cathedral[735 North State Street, Chicago, IL‎] Other services can be arranged.

No one went. Sorry parents.

10:45am – Depart hotel for Science and Industry Museum

11:00am – 3:00pm Explore Science and Industry Museum.

We arrived at the Science Museum a little bit early, so we decided a nice picture in front would be the best idea. Mr. Jackson prompted the students that, since we are in front of a science museum, look smart. Jose Juan's response, how do I look smart without looking constipated? I laughed really hard. So...with their smart faces on, they all posed.

One of the most exciting parts of the museum was the body exhibit. We were able to play mind-relaxation games, hear our heart beats, see our veins with near infared light waves, and see pieces of our bodies in new ways. I thought the section of a thigh looked surprisingly like a steak I would get at the grocery store. Eat up! The video is one of the cool exhibits they had in the body section that followed your movements on a big screen. It was fun to interact with other people using the program. Here's a snip-it of me looking ridiculous.

1:00pm –

Live Science Big Bang and Chemistry show

At 1pm we found our way to the main hall of the museum for a chemistry show. They set a lot of chemicals on fire and even exploded some hydrogen.

It was pretty loud, but not as loud as the mixture of hydrogen and oxygen together! It was seriously as loud as the fireworks on the 4th, but inside the building. I FELT the explosion on my pant legs and the kids felt their sweatshirts move as the explosion happened. VERY COOL.

There were a lot of things at the museum that we needed more time to explore, such as the coal mine ride, but we did see many other neat exhibits. There was a lego structure of the entire downtown Chicago area, which somehow connected, through some hills, to Seattle. Go figure. But there was an old trolley the kids found exciting, and we got to see the only German submarine in the United States! It was HUGE!!! By this time, however, the kids were completely starving and therefore didn't explore the submarine area as thoroughly as they could have. Fernando told me they were studying 'this kind of stuff in Mr. Skari's, but this isn't a history trip' so he walked right by the films about the sub. He was the most hungry. Funny how grown kids melt down just like little ones. But! Not to worry, we got some food at the museum and quickly head out to the Blue Man Group show.

3:15pm – Leave Museum and head towards the Blue Man Group

We left the museum closer to 2:45 than 3:15, which put a damper on the whole visit, but the kids were super excited to be heading off to the show that was the reason for our Chicago trip!

3:45pm – Arrive at the Blue Man

Group

We arrived at the Briar Street Theater about 20 min early and had time to hang out and get excited. The show was like nothing any of us had ever seen. Who would have thought it would be funny? But I laughed SO HARD that I cried a little bit. It was a very interactive show that kept the kids' interest for the whole 2 hours. It was easily their favorite part of the trip. Refer to individual 'video diaries' for their accounts of the show.

The show had sooooo many teaching points that I was overwhelmed. While I wasn't tearing with joy, I was noting all the ways I could point out things we have been learning in class.

Their instruments were hand-made and many had to do with tubes. We noted later the length of the tube and it's affect on the sound it produced.

There were many skits that used lazers, lights, and shadows, also on the list of studied topics.

There was a very exciting part that used toilet paper, but I won't give that away in case any of you reading this are going to see the show. It was a highlight, that's for sure. After the show the blue men were out front to take pictures, but the whole after-production closed down quickly and I never got a group shot!!! But here's a couple individual pictures of Mr. Jackson and Jose Juan.

4:00pm – 5:45pm – Blue Man Group Show

6:00pm – Dinner near the show

Well...being that we ate about 3 hours prior to this, we weren't hungry when the show was over. Mr. Jackson and I talked it over before the show, and decided that going to China-town

might be something the kids would enjoy. Teresa, Carmen, and Fernando brought their own chopsticks with them on the trip, so we figured it was a given that they would be interested in going. We won the group over and headed back to the Red line for the journey south. The kids were really excited upon arrival in Chinatown and immediately started souvenir shopping. I'm guessing the most money was spent during this 45 minutes than any other time on the trip!! Many good purchases were made, but nothing beat David's dragon knife-letter opener. 'Hey TSA worker, there's no reason I shouldn't fly! It's just a dragon sword that opens MAIL! No worries.' :) It was pretty cool looking though.

After shopping we headed to a nearby chinese restaurant. Knowing how crazy the twins and fernando were about China-town, I assumed they had eaten chinese food before. Turns out Mr. J and I were the only ones who had had it before....well, once we ruled out Panda Express as 'having had chinese before'. So we ordered some apps for the group and had a grand time. I think this was the best meal we had together, and not just for the food, but more the atomosphere. Once David and Vince got past the idea that we were actually going to eat there for dinner, everyone settled in and laughed a lot. Jose Juan ordered a hot plate and got a wok-seafood soup dish with an open flame under it. I think it confused him. He told us he saw hot plate and thought 'fajitas'. :) This was also when he told us that he should be careful with the shrimp. It took us a little while, but we got him to tell us the meaning of this comment. I assumed at first flatulence was the culprit, but apparently, according to his dad, shrimp gets a person sexually aroused! Who knew?! I never corrected him, telling him I never heard this. I was laughing too hard....slightly embarrassed, as the boys around him all shifted their chairs a little further away from him.

So many funny things happened that night that I could probably not list them all but here are a couple more. Carmen was really excited by the fact that everyone was using chopsticks, even Ileana! We laughed. I was telling the kids about the fruit smoothies with the boba pearls in them (tapioca?) and Fernando whips his head around (he was sitting to my right) and says 'smooooooooooothies????!!!!' with the longest noodle hanging out of his mouth. I almost fell out of my chair. In fact, I kept re-living this moment, and laughed so hard that I had to remove myself from the table temporarily. They all made fun of me. Well deserved I'm sure.

After leaving the restaurant, we really did shove more food into our bellies by getting those smoothies. I drank about 1/4th of the thing, but did make everyone try a boba. It was clear who didn't like them and who did. Fernando did not, and got a smoothie without them. He ended up spilling the smoothie on his jacket and you can see in the picture that he's still not happy about it. Cracks me up.

8:00pm – 10:00pm – Pack and be ready to leave the next day.

We finished dinner late, later than we thought, so the rest of the evening was spend traveling back to the hotel and then packing our bags!

Monday Day 4

March 1^st (Monday)

8:00am – 9:00am Breakfast at the hotel

9:15am – Depart hotel [packed luggage will be left at the front desk of the hotel]

We left the hotel about 9am, instead of the 9:15 as listed on the itinerary. In retrospect, leaving early was the best thing we did. This bothered David multiple times, because I didn't go by the itinerary. But we decided that going to tour the campus before the physics class would be better than touring afterward. I was never able to get an actual tour set up, so self-guided was the best bet. There was one bus that would take us directly where we wanted to go, and we JUST missed it as we walked to the bus stop. Saw it pulling away. With 20 minutes to wait, Mr. J and I decided that we need some starbucks, so everyone needed some starbucks. We started walking the 4 blocks and when we got there, we all streamed in single file style. Somehow, when I turned around, there was a lady nicely nestled between Mr. J and me, and Vince and David. I looked confused for a second and the lady replied that she was there before them. I gave her the best confused-evil eye I could, and she then responded that 'the line usually wraps around the other way'. I told her then, that we were all together and that we weren't from here so how could we know which way the line usually went? I can't believe how snotty she was. So we let her go in front of us. Being that we ended up missing the second bus because of this move, I wish I had stood in front of her and asked the starbucks lady every question under the sun about coffee. But that would've been snotty.

Travel to the University of Chicago via the L. Tour campus depending on time.

Nope,took the bus. Three of them actually. But we made it early enough to walk around, and I like to think I gave a really good campus tour. I didn't know anything about the campus so I started making things up. Funny what students believe. I had to reassure them I was joking and that I didn't know anything about the campus. We did get some time in the book store and walked in the math building for a self-guided tour of some classrooms and views of the campus from the 4th floor. I didn't know the campus was so pretty!!! It had a 'Gothic' style to most of the buildings and I'm sure it's a whole other site in the spring time!

11:30am – 12:20pm – attend a University Physics class taught by David Biron

The main reason for our visit to the University of Chicago was to sit in on a college level Physics class! I knew ahead of time that it was a calculus based class and that they would be talking about electromagnetism. This was a topic we had covered yet, so I tried to assure the kids that it was okay that they wouldn't know everything. In fact, there might be a lot they didn't know.

To overcome this, we gave each student a paper and a pen to take notes with.

They were instructed to take notes on the class, as well as what the students in the class were doing. It was important for them to examine what college students looked like, acted like, and studied like. The demeanor of the classroom was quiet and focused. There were a few students that were reading other materials, listening to ipods, or playing on their computers. This of course was frowned upon by me, and them even!, but we briefly talked about how they (the actual college students) were the ones in charge of their learning and no one could make them do it. It was exciting to watch the kids in class. I could see their confusion, but was interested in how they dealt with this. Carmen and Fernando took a lot of notes, while the others took some. I think it was a worthwhile visit, and I hope the kids thought so too!

12:30pm – Lunch on campus – or nearby

After class we walked to a near-by suggested set of restaurants. None of them appealed, so we walked back to the green line and headed back towards downtown. Unfortunately this took a long time. We walked around campus looking for food, which, looking back, took a lot of our souvenir shopping time. Once we were back on Michigan Ave, we stopped into a couple small shops that sold Chicago gear, and then headed for the hotel.

1:30 – 2:30 Tour the campus and get a feel for campus life at the U

As David previously pointed out to me, here was another time we didn't follow the itinerary. No campus tour. :(

2:30 – Depart for hotel to pick up luggage and return to the airport

About 3:00 we arrived at the hotel, gathered our bags, and headed out to the airport. We had one final picture together, at the request of Jose Juan, in the lobby of our hotel! Everyone seemed a bit sad to go at this point. Maybe one more day of walking miles and miles would've tired them out more?!

6:10 PM – Depart CHICAGO MIDWAY

GOODBYE CHICAGO!!!!!! What a wonderful trip you gave us! I'm sure this will be something each one of us will never forget. Thank you for the fun times, the bonding, and all the learning opportunities you gave us! Till next time- The Physics class.

*Arrive in DENVER CO (DEN) at 7:50 PM