Clayton's Travel Expo

I have a few pictures here documenting Clayton's 5th Grade Travel Expo project.  6 pictures seems like nothing compared to the (insane) amount of time that went into this project.  The students were each assigned a state.  From there they were supposed to choose a vacation destination and given a hypothetical budget of $2,000.00 to spend.  Then they had to caluclate, collect, create, research, plan, imagine, and write-up about a million things which culmintated in a 30-hour 30-page portfolio. (which I have no pictures of).  Here is his display though. He planned a trip to the Havasupai Indian Reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Here is his 3-D replica of Moony Falls complete with actual water. It looked and sounded like the real thing - just smaller. Everyone who stopped by Clayton's project couldn't resist poking their fingers into his waterfall. 

Brigham's teacher is reading Clayton's portfolio in this picture and wondering why, after all my help with this project, he didn't even take me on the trip.  It was a "boys only" trip he said.  But do you want to know the real reason?  It costs more than $2,000 to take our whole family on a vacation.  True story.

I enjoyed talking with all the 5th graders.  But I especially loved seeing my home state on display!  This kid planned his vacation to Southern Utah - Canyonlands and Arches.  He was ready for jeeping, rock-climbing, and camping. Me too!

This girl planned a trip to Salt Lake City.  She really knew her stuff and thought of all the right places to visit.  Listening to her spiel made me so homesick!  She couldn't quite figure out, though, why the Utah State Bird is an "ugly, gross, and boring seagull" or why seagulls would be in Utah anyway since it's not by the ocean.  Great question, right?  So I filled her in on one of Utah's most famous pioneer stories, the Crickets and the Seagulls.  Later I heard her mention it to someone else.

All these vacation planners made me excited to take my own!  Thankfully we will next week!
Unfortunately we won't be headed to the Grand Canyon - at least not with Clayton's itinerary.  The 5th Grade teachers kept Clayton's travel plans and project to use as an example for next year's students. Darn.  I was hoping Isaac could just reuse it when he's in 5th grade.  (The thought of doing 4 more of these makes me exhausted.)