Back from Chicago and a Facebook Fan Giveaway!

Ahhh Chicago!  What a busy city!  I've never seen so many people in one place in my whole life!  My colleagues and I had such a good time taking in the sites, sounds, and food on our trip for the Pk-1 Educators' Academy Conference!

 I was on the 96th floor of The John Hancock Building...in the women's bathroom! Yes, this view was from the bathroom (ha!)

That sure is a long way down! Just amazing...

 

They say chocolate is a necessity for teachers.  This trip was no different.  The Hershey's store was fun and smelled ah-mazing!

 

 

The Rainforest Café was a fun (but hot) place to eat! This fish tank was so pretty :)

 

There was never a dull moment with these fun friends! We were always stopping to strike a pose.

 

 

We found a Mexican restaurant for lunch, too! Yummo!

 

Our waiter caught us "cheesing it up" at the Cheesecake Factory! What an awesome bunch of educators.  I'm proud to be able to call them friends! Each of these ladies inspires me to be my best. I love these girls!!

 

 

But for the important stuff...we didn't just eat the whole time we were there although my jeans say otherwise (ha!) We worked hard digging deep into the Common Core.  I loved the way Kim Adsit and Kathy Griffin helped us "unpack" the standards in a meaningful way so we could all make sense of it all!

 

We had some amazing keynote speakers who sparked our love of teaching even more. 

 

I was also fortunate enough to work with a wonderful teacher from the Chicago area.  Nancy was such an inspiration and very insightful.  I loved hearing her stories and listening to her expertise during our hard work understanding the Common Core! Our table had some serious collaboration going on. I loved it!

 

 

This was a very fun and enlightening trip.  I hope to go back sometime :)

 

And for the Facebook Fan Giveaway...

 

Don't forget...we only need 3 more 'likes' on the Preslar's Place Facebook page to begin our giveaway!  One lucky person will receive one item of his/her choice from my TpT store.  Tell your friends about it!