First-year teacher putting noses to grindstone

Editor's note: This is the third in an occasional series about Angela Simpson, a first-year teacher, and her first-grade class at Yankee Ridge Elementary School in Urbana. The first story profiled Simpson's first day of school; the second checked in after the end of the first quarter. Now, heading into the last quarter, Simpson is busy getting her students ready for the shift to second grade.

It's 8:07 a.m. Monday, and the hallway of Yankee Ridge Elementary is packed with students waiting for school to start. Angela Simpson watches them, making sure the kids behave, making sure no one gets too loud.

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• Some officials have reservations about Urban League plan
• Deal made to sell current Urban League building
• House bill aims to protect those who serve
• UI's Global Campus starting small
• Teacher takes advantage of initiative to earn degree from Chicago
• Thompson, students thinking outside the answer box
• Second company interested in constructing wind farm
• WILL meteorologist plans tornado safety seminar Thursday
• Obituaries

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