Flashback Friday: Red Rock

Since I didn't get the chance to write a Flashback Friday last week I figured I would sneak one in today to somewhat feed the nostalgia I've been feeling as of late.  There are many things that I have loved about teaching.  I have kept pages after pages of silly quotes from my students, projects they completed, letters and cards given me in thanks, and thousands of pictures to document it all over the years.

One of my favorite teaching memories took place while I was teaching fourth grade at Sunset View Elementary in Provo, Utah.  Every May, the school would take a group of students, ages 4th-6th grades, on a three day camping trip in Goblin Valley located a couple hours south east of Provo.  They called the program Red Rock.


When I was first asked to attend as a chaperon/group leader I was a little apprehensious to spend three nights camping with over sixty elementary kids.  If you know me and my family, we were raised with the idea that camping included air conditioned rooms at the Marriott, but I agreed to go and have been grateful ever since!  I was able to attend Red Rock three out of the four years teaching at Sunset View; each year creating unique and crazy memories...I will give you a glimpse into the last year I went--Red Rock 2007.

(MAKE SURE TO CLICK ON EACH IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

A few weeks before we left for Goblin Valley students attended a series of different preparation meetings with team building activities.  Group leaders helped the students come up with clan animals, names, and group cheers.  We chose the coyotes and our color was red.  It basically felt like I was an EFY councilor for little kids.  All of the group leaders were teachers from the school whom volunteered their outside time.  You can imagine how much fun we all had since my best friends were the teachers that went along!

We all met up at the school on a Wednesday morning at 7:00am for check in and a parent send off.  We then loaded into the bus (group leaders got to relax and travel in an air conditioned SUV) and drove to Green River.  There we were all able to explore the John Wesley Powell Museum; each student filling out their own homework packet along the way.  After lunch and the museum we continued on our way down to Goblin Valley.  We did three major hikes over the course of the next four days, the first being through the "mushrooms" of Goblin Valley.  It was such incredible beauty and the kids absolutely loved the chance to climb all over the rock.

 After a fun-filled afternoon in Goblin Valley we made it back to our campsite where the students were shown how to put up six large tents (3 girl's tents and 3 boy's tents, each sleeping about 10-12 students.)  Us group leaders, on the other hand, were spoiled with sleeping in a camper!  You gotta love Ron for taking such good care of us!  Although now that I think back, I'm pretty sure Janelle demanded a camper in order for her to be a group leader again, so I guess I should be thanking her?

 The second day was jammed pack with team building activities, owl pellet dissecting, problem solving, rock climbing, journaling, and lots of hiking.  We spent most of the afternoon exploring the San Rafael Swell.  One of the best parts was when Ron and Jason took all of the kids for an hour and allowed the rest of the group leaders to hike back through the Swell on our own.  It's amazing how much fun you can have with seven pent up teachers excited to be given a break from kids!

 I loved my crazy coyotes!  They were such hard workers and never complained.  They tried so hard to get along and work together to solve all the difficult problems we threw at them.  In the picture below you can see a couple of the activities they accomplished throughout the day.

 The third day continued the fun marathon with a hike up to the "Hole in the Sky."  During the hike, students had the opportunity to try repelling if they wanted to.  It was so fun to see some of my TINY fourth graders strap on the harness and show little fear!  After repelling we continued the hike, searching for specific Utah plants and rocks.  This wasn't my favorite day since ALL of the hiking was up along the ridge with little to no shade.  Let's just say we were all melting by the time we reached the top!

 Each night we would eat dinner and then sing songs around the camp fire.  We had a skit night where we acted out the legend our clan created, a cheer off, and then the last night an awards ceremony.  The group leaders had all made beaded bracelets for each of their clan members.  We also spoke a few minutes about each student.  It was pretty sweet and a perfect way to end the evening.

 The fourth and final day, we woke for breakfast and then spent the next couple hours packing and cleaning up camp.  You can see from the picture above that Janelle and Ashlee were much better about completing their camp duties, while I tended to "monkey around" a bit!

I loved Red Rock.
Looking back I feel so blessed to have been a small part of such an amazing program.  The lessons each of us took from this experience were priceless and continue to be some of my most cherished teaching memories.  I'm not sure how Ron, Jason, and Melanie were able to organize and pull off such an intricate and well executed trip for so many years, but I am sure glad they did!