Castlewood Canyon

On Thursday we had the pleasure of taking our students on a field trip! Field trips are tough at our school for several reasons; We have tons of children 330 in the 6th grade. We have many teachers that teach multiple grade levels, so if we need them as chaperons, we have to find coverage for their classes. We have bad luck with parent chaperons being flaky and unreliable. We have to pay for buses, which are pricy! But this year we managed to pull it off! Our social studies teacher was able to arrange for all of us to go to this amazing park in Castle Rock, called Castlewood Canyon. It is one of my most favorite places to go and the kids always have an amazing time.

I teach children who are pretty urban, they don't really have back yards, as most of them live in apartments. The parks in our neighborhood are not always safe and on the weekends they spend their times indoors or at places like the mall or movies. So taking them on an outdoor adventure is a special treat.

Thursday was a glorious day! It was my anniversary, we were going on a field trip and it was a beautiful day!

It was so pretty! 

The kids had so much fun hiking, running, jumping, playing in caves and in the river. I heard so many students say things like, "This place is so amazing!" "I want to come back and bring my family", and "I love being outside all day."

My work bestie and my student teacher. We had to sneak in a picture...

We were so lucky to be on the last bus, it was the nicest and least crowded. It was just our 2 small classes and we got to spend the entire day together, kind of separated from the huge herd.

After lunch we had an hour to kill. While the rest of the classes headed back to the bus, we waited for them to leave and took our classes up to the top of the canyon to go a group picture! They were such a fun and sweet group!

The remains of the old dam. Castlewood Canyon Dam broke back in the 1930's and flooded all of Denver after a few days of rain. Our kids are learning about erosion and primary sources, so this was a great opportunity to show them both!

Our view was amazing! I was right there with that kid who said I wish we could stay outside all day!

Besides our amazing trip, when I got back to school, I had a big bouquet of flowers that Brien had sent to my school for our anniversary. Last night we stayed up with Callie and had a traditional yearly viewing of our wedding video. 

It was the perfect way to end a rather perfect day!