The English 4 class took their yearly trip to Chicago last Wednesday, February 12.   This is the 4th year Mrs. Hyde has taken her English IV class to Chicago.

Students in English IV must wake up very early to catch the train in Effingham as the train departs at 4;57 in the morning! The class just finished reading The Devil in the White City, a book about the rise of the first American serial killer in Chicago during the same time period that the Chicago World’s Fair was being organized by architect Daniel Burnham.   Because the Museum of Science and Industry is housed in the last remaining building from the World’s Fair, this museum is the first place the group goes every year so that they can have their picture taken in front of the building and lagoon still left from the fair.

From there, Mrs. Hyde leaves it up to the students to decide which museum or museums they want to visit next. The class always goes on one of Chicago’s free days when all the museums are free to Illinois students so they can stay as long as they want or leave 5 minutes into the building if they want.  This year, students chose to remain at the Museum of Science and Industry, spending time visiting the submarine and the weather room before heading to the Field Museum for the dinosaur and Egyptian exhibits.  Afterwards, the group ate a late lunch at an Italian restaurant on their way back to the train station, where they caught the 4 pm train home.

Mrs. Hyde said, “I think students always enjoy it. Over the years I’ve even had students tell me that this trip is why they took English IV!  Some have never been on a train before.  Some have never been to Chicago before.  Some have never been to these specific museums before.  I have had students already planning their next trip to Chicago after they see how easy it was to do. ”

During this time of year, it’s super cold in Chicago, but this year they got lucky and it was actually decent weather. One year they got locked out of the train station when it was 6 below zero!

This year the class walked over 10 miles around Chicago visiting the museums.