31 in Pictures

August 18th - Our First Entry.  

August 19th - First Day 😭

August 19th - Day 2 🤣

August 22nd  - 2025 Back to School Bash 🥳

August 27th  - 2025 Curriculum Night 📚🏫

September 2nd - A day at lunch 🍞🍎

September 2nd - A perfect 8-0 game ⚽

September 3rd - The joys of indoor recess  A bunch of truth or dare!  Please bell ring!!! 😳😖

September 8th - Our 7th-grade trip to Camp Duncan.  Plus, it's so awesome that CD is aligned with so many special needs groups, especially the one closest to my heart, the ISBA (Illinois Spina Bifida Association) 🏕️⛺♥️

September 10th - We're always adding and trying to improve room 31.  Here are some examples.  (Hopefully you see our promotion flyer to help the 5th grade raise $$.  Room 31 loves chocolate 🍫💲💰

September 11th - A way to check any Math room is to look at the recycle bin.  A healthy class has a full or even overflowing bin. 31's requires a pickup 😀 ♻️ 🚮

September 12th - Altar serving training.  While I'm sure they want to serve God and the parish, I think missing class was much more fulfilling (except mine 😀)  ♰ ⛪

September 12th (Bonus) - Before mass began, I grabbed a few quick pics with our kindergarten buddies/friends.  While I dislike pictures of myself, I will ALWAYS love hugs from them!! ♥️ 🧒

September 15th - Arrived at school this morning to see that the carnival for Oktoberfest has arrived.  I am a funnel cake and corn dog fan so I'll be breaking the diet a few times. 🫢😋

September 18th - Our first all school assembly.  The 7th grade was ready. 😀

September 19th - 21st - My first Oktoberfest, and the rumors are true, the rides made me very sick Friday night. 🤢 🤮 Thank you to everyone who helped me that night to get home.  I recovered and thoroughly enjoyed Saturday and Sunday.  It just proves that all of us can get knocked off our feet at times.  The important part of the story is to get back up! 👍 🤸 

Enjoy all the pictures. 📸 

September 23rd - A few new additions to Room 31.  Including our new carnival won friends, now named Joshmole and Guccamolly, in honor of the kids who won them from my game sponsorship. 🏆

September 29th - Had a great time at the "Rose" game featuring our 8th graders.  Fun to root for both sides from midfield. 🌹⚽

October 1st.  Room 31 has begun getting ready for Halloween and our Math Extravaganza that will take place on the 31st.  The event will be for all classes, including prizes and "scary" events.  🎃👻🧛🧟🍫

October 3rd.  Our annual Walkathon.  Students from all grades were ready to go, including our SJB Jaguar 🚶🚶

October 3rd.  Our annual Walkathon - part 2.   However, Molly and the "Four Senoritas" did act a little tired at the end, compared to how they started.  💤 😩 🥱

October 3rd.  Our annual Walkathon - part 3.   Plus, to be fair, the "Senoritas" had the sun in their faces.  Here is how awesome they are up close. The sun is still an issue, but they are just so much fun to teach and have days like today. 😎

October 4th.  Mrs. Nitti-D'Aquila and I attended the The Niles Art Market & Street Fest.  We promoted SJB and gave away some cool stuff.  The only problem was that the sun melted some of the candy. 🥵 🫠🍫

October 7th.  It was a sad day as we had to say goodbye to Avery in Mrs. Starczewski's class.  Mrs. Starczewski and I tried to make her last day here at SJB a great memory.  Avery is such a great kid, and hopefully we can stay in touch.  😢 🫂 🍪

October 11th.  Big playoff win.  On to the next. ⚽ 

October 13th.  Hard-fought loss played at Notre Dame CP, but still an AWESOME season.  Still losing with grace and dignity is part of any sport and a true characteristic of a REAL champion.  Way to go, Jaguars!! ⚽ 🏆

October 18th.  The annual "Spooktacular" was a lot of fun.  Took too many pictures, but as you will see, the kids and adults had so much fun it was hard to stop.  Enjoy!! 🎃👻 🧟

October 25th.  SJB Parish Celebration of Cultures.  Our school hosted the USA table and served our all-American hot dogs, Nachos, and Candy.  Just like at any ballpark in the USA.  🌭 🇺🇲  

November 2nd.  Halloween over, shoes up on the wall hopefully forever.  Room 31 is ready for Thanksgiving and lessons involving fractions as we deal with serving sizes, later this month.  🦃

November 13th.  Finally had the camera out for a Room 31 Birthday.  Plus, Aturina was so touched by the artwork another 7th grader made for her.  This was so classy and a proud moment for me, as while math is the best class, being a great friend is much more important.  👭 😁

November 14th.  First basketball game for the season for me.  The best part of BB games is that they are indoors.  Plus, the girls use math in their routines, as when they prepare to start a new cheer, to get into their set position, each captain starts with 5-6-7-8, even though one of the girls was less than excited for our picture (zoom in & look to the far right 😄).  🏀 📣 🔢

November 18th.  Today, we prepared meals for "Feed My Starving Children" at their Libertyville location.  The focus today was on kids in Haiti.  Of course, the main focus was helping and caring for others, but math is clearly involved.  The numbers below speak for themselves, along with the measuring directions using the Metric system.  ♥️ 🍚 📦

November 21st.  Today, due to the funeral for Danny and the PTC next week, we had to celebrate Thanksgiving, or as it has now been renamed - Mathgivings (per Olivia), a little early.  While we can't serve the favorite bird, we choose to substitute the light and dark meat with chocolate and glazed munchkins, as well as CC and sugar cookies.  At the same time, kids used the numbers and counts from these treats to practice fractions, ratios, decimals, and percents.  🦃🍪🍩➗

December 4th.  Room 31 is in the Holiday mood and getting ready for Math-the-Halls.  🧑‍🎄 🎄 🎁

December 8th.  8th-grade BB Rose Game.  While the boys won with ease, the girls' routine was beyond cool!!  🌹🏀 📣 😎

December 12th

Finally had to refill pencils this morning.  Plus added my Lurie's Mug as more was needed to house the demand.  Math = Pencils.  A true axiomatic statement.  ✏️ ➗ 😜