Sly Park - Chaperones/Cabin Leaders

Answering the Call to Adventure

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” - Vincent Van Gogh

The role of supervising students in an academic overnight setting is not to be taken lightly. Sly Park Chaperones, also called Cabin Leaders, give a week of their lives to support ALL students at Sly Park. Chaperones play a key role in creating a safe space for students at Sly Park Environmental Education Center, enabling students to experience a great week.

If not for these adults' willingness to serve, Sly Park would not be able to host up to 8,000 students annually.

chaperone information

Basic Roles of a Chaperone:

Generally supervise students [in cabins, at mealtimes, on trails, during evening activities].
Assist students in arriving to activities on time and prepared [appropriate footwear, outerwear, water bottles, medications, etc].
Firmly, fairly, consistently apply ALL rules.
Contact teachers to assist any students needing disciplinary or medical intervention.

Basic Training for Chaperones:

As preparatory resources, please familiarize yourself with our Cabin Leader Guide and Video. You will receive an in-person training by our staff following lunch the first day.

Cabin Leader Guide
Link coming soon to Chaperone video

Please note that Sly Park Environmental Education Center has mixed schools in cabin groups for over 50 years. It is part of our effort to help student growth during their time here. In the cabin, Chaperones are expected to be a role model and leader for all the students by modeling acceptance of all students.

If you are a Chaperone and/or Cabin Leader and need to register, please click on the registration link below.

REGISTRATION

Click on the tab to find each set of rules and procedures

RESOURCES FOR CHAPERONES
Click on the tab to find each set of rules and procedures

STANDARD DAY SCHEDULE

Time	Activity	Comments
7:00 am	Wake Up Call	Teachers play music on the intercom to officially begin the day. No student activity before 7.
7:30 am	Breakfast Serving Rotation begins	Cabins rotate through a pre-established order for meal servings
8:45 - 11:45 am	Class time with Sly Park Teacher	Students meet with Sly Park teacher.
11:45 -12:10 pm	Recess	Students may choose recess with Visiting Teachers OR down time in cabin
12:15 pm	Lunch Serving Rotation begins	Cabins rotate through a pre-established order for meal servings
1:30 - 4:30 pm	Class time with Sly Park Teacher	Students meet with Sly Park teacher.
4:30 - 4:55 pm	Recess	Students may choose recess with Visiting Teachers OR down time in cabin
5:00 pm	Dinner Serving Rotation begins	Cabins rotate through a pre-established order for meal servings
6:15 - 7:15 pm	Whole Campus Entertainment	Game night! Song night! Skit night! Carnival!
7:15 - 8:15 pm	Night Walk OR Time with Visiting Teacher	CHAPERONE BREAK! unless your group is on a night walk
8:15 pm	Nighttime Calm Down Talk	Sly Park Teachers review Nighttime Procedures
9: 30 pm	Lights Out!	A Rest that is well deserved has arrived.

CABIN TIME

Students are allowed inside ONLY their assigned cabin and only when an ADULT CHAPERONE is present. A student's time in the cabin is generally limited, as the days are packed with activities. Students have two OPTIOINAL recess times before lunch and dinner where they are freee to socialize with peers from other cabins in a designated area. However, not all students choose to go and MUST BE premitted entry to their cabin for some down-time.

BASIC CABIN RULES For the health and safety of all, students are required to behave calmly in the cabins. This will not happen without direct support and presence of Chaperones when students are in the cabin. Chaperones are not responsible for disciplining students who will not respect rules of behavior, but are responsible for calling in the student's teacher to work with the student to redirect.

A student's assigned bunk room and bunk bed are to be their personal space for the week.

Sly Park Behavior Expectations

RESPECT

Respect school and personal property
Follow adult directions
Display good manners
Use appropriate language

RESPONSIBILITY

Put forth best effort
Make safe choices
Walk at all times

READINESS

Be on time
Show up to activities with:
- full water bottle
- inhaler/epi-pen [if you have one]
- layers for adventure

MEALTIME

MEALTIME RULES & PROCEDURES

Cabin groups must arrive together. They will not be served until they are together outside the dining hall on the line.
Students must take a tray and sit at their assigned location.
Students may not take food or bother other students while eating.
Students must bus their tray when finished dining.
Students must return to their table and wait for a chaperone to turn the sign for heading back to the cabin.
Three students must remain at each meal to wipe the tables.

Mealtime responsibilities for Chaperones include:

Getting the students to the meal in a timely manner. You will have a meal rotation chart to assist.
Helping monitor that every student recieves an appropriate tray of food (we accommodate several varieties of dietary needs).
Modeling and encouraging proper behavior in a dining hall.
Monitoring that students DO NOT remove food from the dining hall.
Sending one chaperone back to the cabin earlier than the others to give students time to stagger bathroom and showering needs.
Monitoring that the cabin tables are properly wiped down (by students).

SHOWER TIME

SHOWERTIME RULES & PROCEDURES

Showertime Rules:

Students may only be in the shower area if they are actively showering OR timing the person showering.
Students may NOT open or touch the shower curtain of another student.
Students may not change in the shower stalls.

Showertime Procedures:

Cabins have 3 individual showers for students to use. There are shower curtains for privacy. A student may choose to bring a bathing suit for showertime if that makes them more comfortable. Students are expected to bathe every full day of program. Showers are limited to a maximum time of 5 minutes, timers are supplied for students to time each other.

Student shower times include: After meals, during recess, and after evening program unitl 9:10. We provide a shower schedule form for each cabin to use if wanted.

Chaperones may shower before wake up time, after lights out, or on a break fromtheir Sly Park Teaching group.

SICK/INJURED STUDENTS

SICK/INJURED STUDENT PROCEDURES

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY IN THE CABINS

Not Life-Threatening Emergency

Use the phone in your room to call:

Extension 2485 - Sly Park Office
Extension 2774 - Mt. Misery

Life-Threatening Emergency

Call 911 with use of cabin phone, or cell phone

while someone else calls (1) Jeremy Meyers (530) 718-0283, Sly Park Director, or (2) Brent Malicote, Associate Superintendent at (530) 391-2595 and Visiting Teachers (intercom 106).

NON-EMERGENCY SITUATIONS

Basic First Aid

Your cabin has gloves and bandaids for minor cuts and scrapes. All other injuries should be reported to the visiting teacher to address and monitor.

Dehydration: Stomach Aches/Headaches

It is common for students to develop a headache or stomach ache if they do not keep up drinking water. Encourage the student to drink water and to use the restroom. If the pain is severe enough to keep the student from participating in activities, contact a teacher to assist the student.

Homesickness

Many students have not had this much separation from their home life before. DO NOT ALLOW them to call home. Please contact their teacher or a Sly Park Teacher to help them navigate this particular challenge.

Nausea and Vomiting

If a student gets sick while at Sly Park, the student is sent to med bay for care. It is critical to the well-being of all that their items, especially soiled items, are cleaned and/or removed from the cabin. Maintenance is available for cleaning from 7 am - 8 pm. After hours, there are cleaning supplies in the Dining Hall Supply Cabinet-have the teacher get them on their way to transport the student to the overnight med bay quarters.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

MISBEHAVIOR PREVENTION TIPS

Do your best to learn names! Ask Sly Park teachers for their strategies to quickly learn names.
Use the T.R.E.E.S. tickets to reinforce the behaviors you WANT to see.
Have at least one chaperone out and about in the cabin when students are present.
Stop wild behavior before it is wild!
Call in help from a teacher before it is wild!

STRATEGIES FOR INTERVENTION

If a student is misbehaving, have them look at the Behavior Expectatsion posted in cabins to determine which area was out of line. If the student does not correct the behavior, have a teacher talk with the student.
If it is challenging to pinpoint the source of chaos, remove student access to each others' rooms. All students must remain in their assigned bunkroom. If this does not fix it, please call for backup.

ASTRONOMY NIGHT

Astronomy night is an optional activity offered, weather permitting, on the second and third night of program. The Sly Park Teachers on night duty will explain the process to students at the 8:15 group meeting.

Students may choose to attend or not. This is during late night cabin time. Students will not miss any programs, meds, or cookies. Astronomy students will not have time to shower.

If your cabin has attendees, ONE CHAPERONE must accompany the students who attend while ONE CHAPERONE must accompany the students returning to the cabin.

If BOTH (or all) chaperones are excited for astronomy night:

You may NOT require all cabin students to attend so both chaperones may go.
One leader can attend one night and the other the next night, or
Cabin Leaders may go to the front of the telescope line (FASTPASS style) to be able to return early and send the co-leader down.

Please note:

Students will return to cabin as late as 9:20. They are to quickly brush teeth and get ready for bed with as little disruption to the cabin as possible.
As the daylight hours extend later into the night, Astronomy night is impacted. In the absence of a moon or planets to view, astronomy night shifts to watching the darkness arrive in the stillness of the night.

CREATING A COHESIVE CABIN

SEL ACTIVITIES

SEL (Social Emotional Learning) Activities

Some students can manage a week away from their regular routine and not skip a beat. However, many students struggle with so many new challenges. Creating a safe space in the cabin helps all students better regulate their Sly Park Experience. Part of creating a safe space is getting students to know and trust each other.

You will find a poster in your cabin with two suggested activities for each day. The activities are intended to help students connect with others they do not already know and to help students practice looking to the adults in a leadership role.

Day One: Human Bingo

Hand out the bingo cards & pencils to everyone.
Start with students in the same room. They walk around trying to find someone who fits each description. Once they find someone who fits a prompt, they write that person’s name in the corresponding square.
A name can only be used in one square per card.
After a few minutes, expand to half cabin and then full cabin.
The first person to fill in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) shouts "Bingo!" and then tries for a blackout.
Collect pencils, recycle or save cards.

Day Two: Line up Challenge

Challenge students to line up on ramp (or inside) according to age OR birth month. It helps to designate youngest to oldest direction.
***Extra challenge NO TALKING while lining up!
Walk to Stone Circle in the new line.

Day Three: Thumb-O-Meter Check In

Refer to chart.
Define the Scale: Think of your thumb as being able to represent a range of feelings.

Thumb Down: Feeling sad, overwhelmed, frustrated, tired, or angry.
Thumb Sideways: Feeling neutral, indifferent, uncertain, or just okay.
Thumb Up: Feeling happy, energetic, calm, productive, or excited.

Ask questions for student responses

How do you feel about skit night?
How are you feeling about being away from home?
How is your energy level?
What is your emotional state while here?

Optional Discussion: Give students a chance to discuss how to relate to someone with a different rating.

Day Four: Heart Rate Check In

Gather students.
Refer to chart. Introduce the 1-5 scale to the students:
Very Low (I feel sad, upset, or angry)
Low (I feel a little down, frustrated, or anxious)
Neutral (I feel okay, not really good or bad)
High (I feel happy, calm, or excited)
Very High (I feel fantastic, joyful, or super positive)

Have them rate…

How much are you missing outside life?
How confident are you that you can make it to the end of the week?
What is your energy level?

Look around, does anyone else have the same rate? A different rate?
Optional Discussion: Give students a chance to share how they rated themselves and why.

SKIT PRODUCTION

Thursday Night YOUR cabin will perform a skit during the evening program. Your cabin has been provided a theme (see cabin binder upon arrival) and a time limit: FIVE MINUTES TOTAL in order to help us stay on schedule.

Your role as a Chaperone, is more of a producer than a director. Please help students gather and organize. Remember, it is more about the experience of being on stage than a *perfect* production.

RECREATION TIME

Students will have a "Rec Time" following class time most days of program. During this time, students are invited to gather on the basketball courts while visiting teachers supervise. Not all students choose to stay active.

Therefore a Chaperone must be available in each cabin for students to return TO THEIR OWN CABIN for a "chill space". Students are not able to enter other cabins, simply their own. During this time, the expectation is that students will relax, read, play card games, talk, rest. Cabins are not a place for horseplay.

All Chaperones are not required to be in the cabin during this time.

BEDTIME ROUTINE

Time	Activity
around 8:30 pm	When cabin is dismissed, swing by Dining Hall to pick up cookie and any nighttime meds
8:30 - 9:10 pm	Some students will shower. Last person enters shower at 9:10. All students brush teeth and put on PJs. Students that are "ready for bed" are free to hang out with firends in cabin.
9:20 pm	ALL students to their respective rooms A,B,C,D
9:25 pm	ALL students in their bunks with flashlight, jacket, and shoes set aside in case of emergency
9:30 pm	LIGHTS OUT for students. This is a great time to read a story or two to them
9:45 - 10:00 pm	Sly Park Teachers will be cruising by to see if there are any cabins that need help settling in. TURN ON DOOR ALARM after your cabin is locked by a Sly Park Teacher.