West Coast Road Trip (California)

Lots of people have asked us about our road trip last summer so I thought it would be a good idea to scribble down some recommendations, tips and ideas in case others are planning on doing something similar.

Our road trip went as follows: 

3 nights San Francisco

2 nights Monterey

1 night Pismo Beach

3 nights Los Angeles

2 nights Newport Beach

2 nights San Diego

2 nights Palm Springs

1 night Lake Havasu

1 night Grand Canyon South Rim

3 nights Las Vegas

We booked the whole holiday through The American Road Trip Company, who we can't recommend highly enough and who we've booked another holiday through because we were so impressed.  They booked our flights, car and accommodation and sent through a holiday itinerary pack which was so useful when planning the holiday, deciding where to go and driving between destinations. We were recommended The ART Co by a colleague who, in turn, had been recommended it.

Malibu Pier

Best things to do/see/eat in each place

San Fran

Alcatraz - book it 90 days in advance, put the booking date in your calendar and book the very first ferry of the day on your first morning. You'll be jet-lagged so you'll be up early and the island is empty when you arrive. It also means you can get on with your day and get other things done in the afternoon.

The Stinking Rose - a restaurant dedicated to garlic (even with ice cream). Book in advance.

Oracle Park - If you can get to a baseball match, do. They are really cheap and this stadium is so picturesque with views across the water. 

Take the cable car. 

Golden Gate Taproom - great for snacks, sports and drinks. 

Lori's diner - classic and cute

Walk: Lombard St, Steiner and Broadway (Mrs Doubtfire house), Pier 39 (to see the sea lions, no need to spend long here), Alamo Park, Haight/Ashbury, Golden Gate Bridge, Crissy Field. 

We did a hop on/hop off tour between some of these places over the 2 days but also walked a lot. 

Monterey

Whale-watching - We booked a morning cruise (to have the rest of the day). We saw quite a few whales but it was very foggy. Later would have been better but would have broken up the day. 

Paluca Trattoria - Bar which was dressed as a coffee shop in Big Little Lies. Great spot for a prosecco.

Louis Linguinis - have their Clam Chowder

Dust Bowl Brewery Company - good place for drinks, great playlists! 

Cannery Row Brewery Company

Walk: Monterey Fisherman's Wharf to Cannery Row

Pismo Beach

Wooly's - great spot for drinks and food. Delicious fish tacos. 

Walk: Along the beach and on the long pier. 

Los Angeles

Griffith Observatory - absolutely must do. Get an Uber up here an hour before sunset (it gets expensive and busy around sunset time). Beautiful sunset, lots to see. Great views of the Hollywood sign. The best thing we did in LA. 

Warner Brothers Studio Tour - If you like movies, do this. They have Batman, Harry Potter and Aquaman displays. 

Universal Studios - Get there early. I have a great itinerary to do the whole park and avoid crowds given to us by our hotel concierge. Leave a comment if you'd like it! 

Mel's Diner for Breakfast

We really enjoyed the Hollywood Museum - so cheap and quite interesting, particularly the spooky downstairs. 

The Grove - The Fountain for drinks, or Mixology or Bar Verde. 

Walk: Dolby theatre and see the Hollywood sign from the sofa at the back, Hollywood Boulevard, Chinese Theater

Newport Beach 

Corona Del Mar - lovely busy family beach

Balboa Island - We walked around the whole island before getting the ferry to Balboa Peninsula. We then walked from Balboa pier to Newport Pier (an hour walk). We watched sunset from Newport Pier before dinner. 

Dory's Deli - I had the best sandwich EVER here for dinner - it was called Pistol Pete's. Go here if you can! 

San Diego

The Zoo - Get there early, save where you parked (we lost the car), we were there until about 2pm and saw most of it.

San Diego Old Town - worth a visit. We found free parking. Nice to walk around for free and we had fish tacos in the square. 

Sail San Diego - We did the Sunset Sail and it was one of the highlights of our holiday. Fab staff and a great tour. If you want a special evening, do this. 

Walk: The Gaslamp District. We walked all the way from the main city back to Shelter Island (where we were staying) past the airport which was amazing! This meant we saw a few of the ships, airport carriers, lots of the Navy bits and pieces, and the kissing soldier statue. 

Palm Springs

Aerial Tramway - The best thing to do in Palm Springs. Don't miss this. 

Smoking Burger - great place for burgers! 

Walk: Do not walk in Palm Springs! Too hot! 

Lake Havasu

Great places to eat and drink: Dry Martini, Barley Brothers' Brewery, Blue Chair (this was one of my favourite bars on the whole trip - great music, quirky atmosphere and a good selection of drinks).

Walk: London Bridge

Grand Canyon South Rim

Sunset - watch from Hopi Point or Mohave Point.  Hopi is probably best for sunrise too (although we watched outside Bright Angel Lodges!)

Use the free buses, they're amazing and you can see so much of the canyon in a short space of time. 

Get up early for sunrise - it's so worth it! 

Las Vegas

Check which shows/gigs are on beforehand and book. 

Giordanos - Have a deep pan pizza here. Have a small one. They are HUGE and incredible. 

Use the Deuce buses - very cheap and you can get everywhere. We went to: Vegas sign, Little White Chapel, Stratosphere. Just go everywhere you can by walking/bus. Go in and out of casinos to stay cool. We also used the monorail for 24 hours but it doesn't go everywhere. 

Top of the World - top of the Stratosphere. Expensive but very nice. 

Hell's Kitchen - go for a late lunch (before 3pm I think) for a reasonable menu, more tables available. Highly recommend the burger and the sticky toffee pudding. Both were delicious. 

McWay Falls, Big Sur

Not-to-be-missed stops along the route

San Fran to Monterey - You absolutely must stop at Santa Cruz. A crazy boardwalk town like Brighton on steroids. Allow at least a couple of hours and have lunch there - delicious food out on the front of the boardwalk. We also stopped at 1 Hacker Way (Facebook HQ and a big like sign for a photo) and the Googleplex. 

Monterey to Pismo Beach - So many beautiful places to stop.  Musts are: Bixby Creek Bridge (Big Little Lies), McWay Falls, San Simeon Seals (find a guide there, they know so much about the elephant seals).  We had lunch at the Big Sur Bakery - great views over the mountains.  Just allow all day to drive Big Sur. We left at 10am and arrived in Pismo around 6pm. We stopped whenever it looked beautiful. 

Pismo Beach to Los Angeles - another great day of driving.  We did all the piers in this day and again left at 10am and arrived in our LA hotel at 7pm!  We stopped in Santa Barbara (did the pier), Malibu (parked an hour's walk from the pier and walked along the beach - so nice. We had a late lunch on the end of the pier - would recommend) and Santa Monica (for an ice cream and ride as the sun was setting).  

Los Angeles to Newport Beach - My favourite pier was Redondo. This is where a lot of The O.C. was filmed. We had a late lunch in the diner they go to a lot in the series - it was so cheap, very understated and so delicious (I had the fish sandwich).  Recently, we saw Redondo Pier in season 2 of You!  It looked like a good place to stay if you want to be near but not in LA. 

San Diego to Palm Springs - We took a slight detour to Pioneertown - an abandoned wild west set built by some directors decades ago. A cute little place but not sure it was worth the detour, unless you're interested in those places!  We also stopped at a few Route 66 shops - crazy and cool but a bit pointless! 

Grand Canyon (on the way in and out) - We stopped in Williams and would highly recommend Brewed Awakenings coffee shop for coffee and an epic bagel! 

Grand Canyon to Las Vegas - Definitely worth stopping at the Hoover Dam. We drove all the way in and paid to park to walk over the dam.  Then we drove up to the Boulder Dam Bridge Parking (for the walkway to the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge for a view of the dam (and the Arizona/Nevada sign). 

On most of the other drives we just went from A to B, without stopping anywhere of note. 

Do NOT stop at the Route 66 diner. We had a horrible breakfast there - worst meal of the holiday. Go to McDonald's instead! 

Oracle Park, San Francisco

The stops

3 nights was ideal for San Fran.  If you're a parkrunner, try and be there on a Saturday to do the Crissy Field park run with views of the Golden Gate Bridge through the fog - stunning. We could have done one more night here. 

We'd recommend 2 or 3 nights in Monterey. 2 was just ok but we could have easily stayed another night.  

Pismo Beach was a really cute town but was so, so foggy when we were there. In fact, we only saw Pismo in the fog.  It has a lovely pier and we ate great food there but we drove past Morro Bay which isn't far from Pismo but was beautifully sunny. We could have stayed there and wonder if we may have had a better sunset if we had. 

Our least favourite stop was Los Angeles. 3 nights was perfect to do the tourist-y stuff but apart from that it wasn't worth going.  We're glad we did but we definitely won't go back. 

Newport Beach was our favourite stop. We loved exploring Balboa Island, Newport Beach and Corona Del Mar. We will definitely be back to Newport, probably for a fortnight and we'd bring children here. It's also easy enough to do a day trip to San Diego from Newport so worth keeping that in mind. 

2 nights was perfect for San Diego unless you want to spend a whole day in the Zoo or go to Mexico (you can't take the car into Mexico). 

Palm Springs was a stopover for a pool day in the desert on the way inland. It was so, so hot. Only worth going if you need to stop. 

Again, Lake Havasu was a stopover.  I preferred it to Palm Springs and could have spent another night there exploring the town and walking up and down the river.  Again, only really worth stopping here if you need to. 

The Grand Canyon South Rim was magical. If you want to go there, go.  It's an hour road in and out so it's quite a detour if you're not too fussed. We were fussed and we're so glad we stayed the night there and saw afternoon, sunset, evening, the stars at night, sunrise (05:00) and the morning. Beautiful.

Las Vegas was the surprise of the holiday. So much more enjoyable that expected.  Like New York on drugs! If you're up for the craziness, go! 

The Grand Canyon South Rim

Driving

Driving was much easier than expected. 

All cars are automatic (I was used to this with a Hybrid).

We hired a sat nav - do this. It was almost perfect and only had two errors: it once took us off the highway to come straight back on and it wasn't updated with the new roads on the way into Vegas by the Hoover Dam.

Highways go up to 9 lanes. Providing you have 2 or more people in the car you can use any lane. 

I much prefer crossroads to roundabouts. First come, first served. 

You can turn right at a red light unless it tells you otherwise. 

Just read ALL the signs and do what it says. 

Once you arrive on a highway, you often have to get straight over otherwise you could end up going off again. 

Lanes don't quite work like in the UK: there isn't really a fast/slow lane. You seem to line up according to when you're leaving the highway. 

Driving into LA around 6pm wasn't the best idea but it was fine. We just took it slow and steady.

Filling up the car with gas was interesting: it took us ages to work out how. Park at the pump, go in and pay what you think you're going to need, fill up and then they refund what you don't spend. 

The Mirage, Vegas

Top Tips

Plan where you're going to park. There's nothing worse than driving around aimlessly for a space. I used Google Maps to "save" car parks and we put those addresses into the sat nav. This made parking and getting around so much easier. 

Check out your parking and resort fees. Budget for this amount. Ours really added up so we made sure we saved for them.

Upgrade your car - go big. Our Nissan Altima was ideal. You want all your bags out of sight as you're leaving your car in random car parks full of bags a lot. 

Whenever we're going somewhere, I follow accounts and hashtags linked to the place on Instagram and then "save" places to visit on Google Maps. 

Why do teachers share resources for free?

I saw an idea shared on Twitter that I fancied doing in my classroom. Twitter is a generous, collaborative network as a teacher (most of the time!) so I was sure I could find a copy of the basic outline of the resource somewhere online.  Yesterday I went looking for it.  I did find it. On TES resources. With a cost of £2. Being sold by the person who tweeted about it. 

Last year, I found someone selling my own resources on TES for £1-£3 per item.  Thankfully, after a quick email, those resources were removed (or reverted to have no cost).  I remembered this, so yesterday searched "Read with RIC" on TES Resources. 

There were RIC activities being sold at £2+ per item when there are over 50 free examples here (£100+ worth) and many more are freely shared by other teacher-bloggers.  As well as the RIC activities on TES, there are also two versions of Book Bingo sold at £2 each here and here.  My version is available for free, including editable downloads, on this blog post. 

This whole idea of teachers making a resource for their classroom and then selling it online makes me feel really uncomfortable.  The main reason for this is that so many teachers are sharing the resources they use in their classroom, for free.  James Theo outlines the other reasons in his very succinct blog post. 

So why do so many people share things for free? 
Firstly, I think it should be in a teacher's nature to help people.  Every teacher has used so many resources (ideas/activities/displays etc) that they were able to access for free, either online or through colleagues.  Quite simply, we're all in this together.  So we may as well help those who have helped us.  These resources, already created for a teacher's own classroom, have caused no extra work, over and above what they would normally do.  Therefore, the work requires no extra payment, over and above what they normally earn as their teacher salary.  Saying that, there are many teachers who have create resources over and above what they use in their own classroom and have provided them without cost to other teachers.

Secondly, many resources are created as an amalgamation of many people's ideas.  For example, the idea for RIC activities came about in a team meeting with 3 teachers, the logos are Screen Beans which were originally part of the Microsoft package and they are based on media (images, characters, sounds etc) which I did not create.  I would much rather share something for free which is so far from being entirely "mine".

Many teachers are very unaware of copyright terms so it's easier to share something for free than ask for money and be breaking copyright law.  (Please note: you can also be breaking copyright law when sharing something for free with copyrighted material).  When I started collating resources on this site, I looked up the copyright terms for the Microsoft images I use and it was clear that you could use them on items which had no cost.  It was unclear how to go about getting permission to use them on paid items.  In the same way, it is easier to share something for free than be earning an income through sites like TES and having to complete a tax return to declare it and pay tax on it.

There are so many teachers sharing amazing resources for free out there.  Click here to view a list of just a few that people on Twitter recommend.

Needless to say, I didn't purchase the original resource I was after.  

Further reading about teachers selling resources:
Schools Week
BBC

Books I Recommend (for Adults)

I always end up recommending the same books over and over again on Twitter, Facebook and in real life to adults with similar reading habits to me! This will be a working post where I'll collect the absolute best of the best of them.  Each image will take you to the Amazon page for that book which has a synopsis - generally I read them on Kindle when they reach a reasonable price.  All of these books are in the psychological thriller/crime genre and are generally quite fast-paced and gripping. Most were recommended to me by friends and others were recommended by Amazon (which seems to know my preferred genre pretty well by now!).

Preventing Extinction

There is a sound which is slowly become extinct from our spoken language and I'm on a mission to ensure it remains:

'th'

There are over four thousand words in the English language which contain the 'th' sound and some of them are among the most common words used.  However, in the last couple of years I have a noticed a deterioration in the pronunciation of it.  Often, children and adults are replacing it with a 'v', 'ff' or 'd' sound.  

Before training to teach, I spent four months in a children's centre on the outskirts of Mexico City. To bring in some money for the centre, I taught English classes to adult beginners in the evenings.  'Th' is a very unusual sound for South American Spanish speakers; they don't have any sounds which require them to push their tongue forward like that.  I always encouraged them to show their tongue to ensure they were making the right sound.  "Quiero ver tu lengua," (I want to see your tongue) became a regular phrase in the English lessons.  It was hard work for them but when they persevered they made much clearer English sounds.  Why, then, are we not encouraging native English speakers to make the real 'th' sound?

When I first started recognising this as a problem among my primary students, I found it hard to correct children because I felt like it might be an inappropriate thing to insist on.  After all, very few people speak the highest quality English and I was worried about highlighting the fact that children weren't speaking correctly.  It was when I realised this lazy form of speaking was having a negative impact on the spelling of some of my best writers that I started taking action.  

Below you can see some of the errors I've come across since September.  These are from a range of abilities and contexts. 

fin - thin

somefing - something 

ve/de - the

dere/fer - there

dat - that

phrone - throne

deaf - death

over - other

To try and tackle this and prevent the correct 'th' sound from being extinct from some children's speech, I've made it explicit in my class that every time we us a 'th' sound, it needs to be correct.  They can correct me, I can correct them and, most importantly, they can correct each other.  To help remind them, I've put this poster up on our Scribble HQ wall.  

It has quite shocked me the extent to which some children struggle to make the 'th' sound but, with the highest of expectations now, I am hoping to prevent extinction and improve the high-frequency spelling of my class.

UPDATE: I have recently added the poster below to my walls after discovering that well over half my class cannot correctly pronounce the number three.

Teacher Bloopers

I go to the theatre a lot and watch many movies.  Obviously, it's great when things go to plan but I absolutely love it when things go wrong - the bloopers! You'll find me waiting behind during the credits at the cinema to see if they included any funny ones and I'm never happier that when something goes wrong on stage, particularly in my favourite show, Wicked.  I've seen it too many times so I know it by heart.  I know when they forget their lines and when they are ad-libbing certain bits. For me, it adds to the experience and I love having a great theatre blooper to share.  

Now teaching really isn't that far removed from the world of movies and theatre.  There is you, part of the main cast, giving performances on your classroom stage day in, day out.  There is your audience - your pupils - who you must entertain as well as teach, this is a fully-interactive piece! You are judged by the critics and they publish their thoughts.  The directors and producers keep you in check and a backstage team ensure things run smoothly.  However, teaching is a performance of 6+ hours everyday so there are bloopers aplenty.  Here are my favourite 5 from my first few years on stage!

5 - "wrapped"
As part of our Ancient Egyptian theme at the beginning of year four, children write an explanation of mummification.  Their titles go along the lines of "How did the Ancient Egyptians mummify their dead bodies?".  We focus on past tense and first person.  To help, I made a word bank so that the difficult words were spelled correctly.  Words which featured on the list were: mummification, sarcophagus, embalming, decomposing.  One key word which didn't feature on the list was the word "wrapped".  Many children wrote this word but spelled it without the W and with only one P, totally changing it's meaning among sentences about dead bodies.  Next year, "wrapped" will definitely feature on the word bank!

4 - Lime vs Lime

We were learning about rivers, boats and bridges so I wanted to take my class to a local spring to see the water bubbling up and learn about the history of the spring.  I had diligently researched the paper factory which used to be on the site and set about explaining how the water was useful.  Sheep skin was important, as was the spring water but both were combined with lime.  I told the children that I wasn't too sure how they shipped limes over from more tropical countries in the mid-19th century but they added the limes to the water.  No one batted and eyelid, not my TA or any of the parent helpers and, although it sounded strange, I continued.  It wasn't until the next day when we were back in class that my TA suggested it could be the other lime as in limestone, of which there was plenty local to the spring. Oops! I made my apology and re-explained the paper-making process, this time with the Internet to help! 

3 - Context is everything...
In a lesson about adverbs (I believe), I learned an important lesson about providing clear contexts as I read this sentence afterwards.

Please note the correctly underlined nouns...every cloud! 

2 - Redback on the Toilet Seat
As part of our RIC reading starters, a colleague had planned an activity based on the first two verses of the song "Redback on the Toilet Seat".  I hadn't had time to read the plan so set to teaching the lesson.  The RIC involved children reading through the following poem and answering questions.

There was a redback on the toilet seat, 
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark, 
But boy I felt his bite.
I jumped up high into the air, 
And when I hit the ground.
That crafty redback spider, 
Wasn't nowhere to be found.

I rushed into the Mrs, 
Told her just where I'd been bit.
And she grabbed my cutthroat razor, 
And I nearly took a fit.
I said 'Forget what's on your mind, 
And call a doctor please.
For I've got a feeling that your cure, 
Is worse than the disease.'

When going through the answers to the questions, I noticed that the poem was quite a lot funnier than I'd first thought but tried my hardest to keep this from the children. In our next team meeting, I brought up the question of where the man had been bitten.  The rest of the team answered "his bottom" without hesitation.  I then had to explain that I didn't think he'd been bitten on his bottom...

1 - You're teaching my child...what??!

Picture this... It's the summer curriculum news. The parents of children in my class are gathered in my room a few days after Easter and I'm going over the important topics and events for the term.  I explain that in PE we will be preparing for a performance at the May Fayre.  Quickly, I move onto the next item and then notice a couple of parents grinning, a few sniggering and one man is giggling uncontrollably.  I ask them if I've said something wrong and they all just burst out laughing before one of the manages to control themselves. She informs be that I told them their children will have "weekly pole dancing lessons ready for a performance at the May Fayre".  Thankfully maypole dancing is a tradition at the school and I was swiftly forgiven but it wasn't forgotten!

We all have #TeacherBloopers - are you brave enough to share yours?

P.S. For the record, I don't drink all that much...and never near or under lamp posts!

Things to do in New York City

Background Information: We went for six nights to NYC in Easter 2014.  That's when this blog post was first written. The sun shone for six of the days and we had one day of rain and snow.  We stayed in the Broadway Plaza Hotel which is midtown and so was perfect for walking uptown or downtown.  It was also right near a subway station which we used daily to get elsewhere.  These lists come with the disclaimer that we didn't go everywhere in NYC.  We booked a lot of this in advance and pack tonnes of trips into our seven days.  These may not be the best things in NYC but they were the best things we experienced on a limited budget and from our midtown location.
Since then, we've returned to NYC twice. Once in August 2017 for 7 nights and then again at Christmas/New Years 2018 for 6 nights. We absolutely love the place and can't get enough of it. We've stayed loyal to the Broadway Plaza Hotel and can't recommend the place highly enough. I've added updates since 2014 in italics so you can track our thinking! Easter is still my favourite time to go  - Summer was very hot and Christmas was so busy. 

5 Free Things To Do in NYC 
1) 9/11 Memorial - get your pass beforehand.  Security is tight. Since 2014 this has now changed. You no longer need a pass to go to the memorial. 
2) Walk the HighLine - an abandoned railway line which has been done-up so it's now a romantic half-mile walk through the city rooftops. This is still one of our favourite things to do. 
3) Central Park ($2 map is worth it). Again, a firm favourite. 
4) The Staten Island Ferry - good views of the Statue of Liberty and is free. Most people go around from arrivals to departures and get straight back on the next ferry back to Manhattan. Instead, we decided to take a walk around Staten Island and found the 9/11 memorial and some incredible views across the water. 
5) Find the friends building (Grove Street in Greenwich Village) and the Ghostbusters firehouse (where Varick street and West Broadway cross). We always go back here - it's also a really lovely part of town. 

The view from the 9/11 memorial on Staten Island

 5 Paid-For Activities (prices are approximate for each ticket)
1) WTC Tribute Center Tour (~$20) - people who were in the are on the day tell you their story and take you around the memorial.  This was such a poignant and important addition to our visit to the memorial.  You also get access to Tribute Center which has some exhibitions and donated items. I'm not sure this is still there now. Instead, go for a tour of the 9/11 Museum. Make sure you book in advance for the tour but it was so worth it. 
2) Go to a sports game. We did Nets vs Knicks (basketball) and Yankees vs Red Sox (baseball). (~$50). Since 2014, we have see the Yankees play plenty of times as well as watching the NY Rangers ($150 per ticket for us - ouch!) and NYCFC soccer which is played at the Yankee Stadium.  We loved the ice hockey but it was so expensive. Very interesting seeing a baseball stadium turned into a soccer stadium! 
3) Watch a Broadway show. We did Wicked in limited view seats. ($75-200). We've seen a few shows since and always bought our tickets online in advance for approx $80 each. We've always found the booths more expensive and a gamble  - we've never bought from them although I know lots of people have. 
4) Go up to an observatory. We did Empire State and Rockefeller. The Rock was better. (~$30). Now One World Trade Center is completed you can also go up there.  We always do The Rock as it's the best view in town but the view from One World is pretty awesome looking over the water. 
5) Take the Liberty/Ellis Island Ferry. (~$20)

We'd also recommend, if you're there around Christmas, booking for the 8am slot at the Wollman's Ice Rink in Central Park. 

Yankee Stadium

NY Rangers ice hockey at Madison Square Garden

5 Reasonable Eateries
1) Square Diner (Next to Chambers St and the Ghostbusters firehouse) - the only true diner we found. Food was amazing. We've been back time and again and also seen the diner on a few movies and Law and Order SVU. 
2) Mustang Sally's (on 7th Ave and 20something st) - Great bar that serves delicious, cheap food. Sally's has now closed :( However, we can recommend the wings at Lansdowne Road on 10th/43rd. 
3) Azalea (Next to Wicked theatre - the cast sometime drink and dine there) - Italian.
4) Serafina (in the meatpacking district on Gansevoort Street) - delicious pizza at a good price.
5) Ellen's Stardust Diner (Broadway and 51st) - the waitstaff sing while you eat amazing food. We go here every time...at least twice. Longest we've queued is an hour but that was at Christmas time. Brunch is great and has a shorter queue. 

We would now also add Junior's for a cheesecake (ours is often at 1am!) and the Aria wine bar for food in Hell's Kitchen. 

Cheesecake at Junior's! 

5 Things we saved for next time (or didn't have time to do!)
1) Katz Deli (from when Harry met Sally). We have since been - it's brilliant. Aim for just before or after normal lunch time for 
2) Get off at Liberty and Ellis Island. This was very interesting but we've only done it once. 
3) Walk the Brooklyn bridge. We walked all the way from the Broadway Plaza Hotel (midtown) to the start of the bridge, which is near a lot of SVU filming locations, to Brooklyn and back.  Such a long walk but so many incredible views. We also bought some lovely artwork on the Manhattan side of the bridge. 
4) WTC Museum (opening May 24th 2014). Highly recommended as I said above - book a tour if you can. 
5) Get tickets to a TV filming (SNL, Letterman, Jimmy Fallon and GMA all film in NYC but you either get tickets beforehand or queue for ages) - go to the Rockefeller Center for information. We've still never done this! 

We've still never seen the Knicks, despite having tickets and having to cancel because we postponed our holiday due to the drones. 

Brooklyn Bridge

P.S. I know this is NOTHING to do with Education but I had to put it somewhere! Also I will go through and add links at some point!