Plan your trip
Getting started is simple
1.Contact us
Click the button below to fill out a simple form.
2.Talk dates & goals
We will talk about specifics and book your dates.
3.Plan together
Plan the details for an amazing school trip
Trip lengths can range from one to five days. The most popular option is a three-day/two-night trip, which includes:
- 4 courses (chosen from 9 options)
- 4 hours of recreation time
- 2 evening events
- 2 nights lodging
- 7 meals
To see other popular trip lengths, click the button below or contact us for more options!
Science
LIMNOLOGY
Become immersed in Limnology, the study of inland waters. Visit our turtles in the Turtle Barn and study learned behaviors and inherited traits. Hold an actual Red Eared Slider from our turtle touch tank. Take an incredible journey as a water molecule and learn about the water cycle. Become a Limnologist and conduct a water quality analysis in our wet lab using actual scientific equipment. Discover whether the claims on the labels of a fish food producer are accurate by testing them at our test pond. Visit Sky Ranch’s Adventure Pond to collect and identify various types of macroinvertebrates.
FORCES IN NATURE
Explore the Forces in Nature which shape our environment. Learn about gravity and friction while using Sky Ranch’s state-of-the-art potato head zip line. Discover gases and pressure by building and launching air rockets. Take a nature hike to observe the rock cycle and the effects of weathering agents, erosion, and deposition on the landscape.
EXPEDITIONS
Travel to Sky Ranch Expedition’s base camp to observe reptiles, mammals, and arthropods. Determine the difference between learned behaviors and inherited traits. Discover the meaning of a habitat and a niche. Learn the structures and functions of various animals. Compare and contrast compost samples and collect data on the stages of decomposition. See the impact of man on the environment, and learn about how nature recovers from that impact.
History
NATIVE AMERICANS
Allow students to discover Native American culture at our archeological dig site, while observing the effects of the European Exploration of Texas accompanied by a hands-on learning experience. Dig site discovery led our “head archeologist and their team of trusted interns. Build a tipi and compare dwellings of different Native American tribes in Texas.Discover the importance of the fur trade and the Native American economy. Learn how to use a bow and arrow and practice archery skills. Hold tools crafted with bone, stone, and obsidian. Observe hunting strategies used by the Native Americans. Create a bracelet by collecting a relic from each class site.
RANCH LIFE*
Upgraded charge of $6 per person
Experience life on a real Texas ranch! Spend time in the organic garden discovering natural farming methods. Interact with common ranch animals in our petting zoo. Ride a horse in an actual trail ride while learning the history of the Texas cattle industry. Discover the Texas cowboy’s day-to-day challenges as you pack a saddle bag with supplies and learn about famous cattle trails and the importance of barbed wire.
*Horseback riding must meet minimum age requirement of 8 years old and a maximum weight of 250 lbs. Close-toed shoes required.
TEXAS HISTORY
Travel back to the year 1836 and relive events during the Texas Revolution! You will meet Major General Sam Houston and Alamo survivor Susanna Dickinson as they come together in Gonzales to discuss the fall of the Alamo and prepare for the Runaway Scrape. Join Sam Houston as he conducts reconnaissance, sneak through a forest on a scout training mission to locate nearby threats, unload on targets using slingshots in a thrilling Texas Ranger marksmanship exercise, engage with a U.S. salesman in “purchasing” a variety of goods, develop a livestock brand, and learn how to lasso.
Electives
CHALLENGES
Learn the value of good communication, trust, and cooperation in an atmosphere fostering creativity, problem solving, and experiential learning. Become part of a team to solve problems and accomplish goals. Put critical thinking skills into action. Close-toed shoes required.
FISHING
Discover the fun of fishing while learning basic fishing skills including hook safety, casting, and bait selection. Identify fish species located in East Texas such as bass, catfish, sunfish, and crappie. Learn about predator/prey relationships, food web, learned behaviors, and inherited traits.
ORIENTEERING
Learn basic compass skills and navigate your way through an orienteering course through Sky Forest. Become a field ecologist and conduct a plot survey. Set a 10 meter x 10 meter plot and identify each tree species. Measure the tree diameters, coordinates in the plot, and identify tree types within your plot. Using your sample data, construct a mathematical model to estimate the number of trees in Sky Forest.
Student Development
Paddle Talks
Paddle talks are short talks given by instructors for the purpose of better understanding the instructor and providing examples of how character within a person is formed. These talks are unique and deeply personal to each instructor, providing your students opportunity to relate to our staff through the struggles they may be going through. Typically, a paddle talk will be given in conjunction with the short lesson taught in each class.
Remember
The Remember class is always the last class in a trip. In this class, our instructors will go over everything the students learned while at Sky Ranch. The instructors will also do their final paddle talk(s). Afterwards, your students will be given a wood round and markers to make themselves a personalized token to remind them of the things they learned. Once everyone has completed personalized their wood round, some students will be given the opportunity to share their experience with their peers. Finally, the trip will end by playing a game picked by student majority.
Teamwork
Learning how to be a part of a team is an incredibly important aspect to developing as a person. Whether your students want to become a famous astronaut or an award-winning scientist, they’ll all need to understand the importance of being a team player. In this class section, your students will learn the power of teamwork through multiple means. Our instructors will give your students a short, personal lesson on how being (or not being) a team player affected them. Your students will also gain experience in working together through canoeing on our 90-acre lake. Lastly, they will play interactive, challenging team games requiring commitment in each student for their peer’s success. When your team succeeds, you succeed in the Teamwork class!
Trust
Everyday of our lives, we extend trust to people and things we’ve never met or seen before. Whether it is the clerk behind the counter or the caramel between the chocolate, we expect certain responses from certain things. So why do we extend that trust to things we shouldn’t or refuse to extend it to things we ought? In our Trust class, your students will receive a short lesson on trust from one of our instructors, test the trust of their equipment and operators when going down the ziplines or up a climbing wall, and grow trust in their peers and teachers through playing games wherein relying on others is necessary.
Identity
We mistakenly believe the mountaintop and valley experiences in our life are the sole things defining our identity, often forgetting the arduous steps we took to get there. It’s in the everyday we determine who we are and who we are becoming. In the Identity class, your students will learn about themselves by reflecting on their individual life as well as their life as a part of a group experience. Our instructors will give a brief lesson on group and individual identity where after your students will split into teams to learn further about themselves through fun and introspection. We highly recommend this class for older students only.
Communication
What if I came up to you, said “Doinjefa intak alidnle,” and then walked away? It (hopefully) wouldn’t make any sense to you because from your perspective what I told you was unordered and unrecognizable. Though we hardly ever babble undiscernibly to others, sometimes the outcome of our speech is just the same. It’s unordered and unrecognizable because we don’t do a good job of communicating our desires, goals, and logic to others. In the Communication class, your students will learn the importance of their verbal and non-verbal patterns of speech and actions. Our instructors will give a helpful lesson on how to better engage others in our words and actions. Afterwards, your students will have the opportunity to practice their skills through multiple games, each requiring a unique method of communicating to succeed.
Leadership
It only takes a few years in this world to realize we don’t like how some people do things. I’m sure we all can recall the way our parents, teacher, or someone above us acted in a way we disagreed with, yet we were compelled to follow them regardless. However, we may not have known all the facts, feelings, and facets pressing on them to make the decision they did. In our Leadership class, your students will learn how to lead and how to respect leaders. Our instructors will give a small lesson on the importance of leadership within a group and how to be a good leader of a group. Once the talk is over, your students will be challenged to follow the orders of their peers in a series of low ropes activities and games.
Activities are chosen by the Lead Teacher so students may not do everything on this list. All activities are subject to availability and will be scheduled in advance. Water activities are available during certain times of the year and are ultimately dependent upon water temperature. All activities are subject to weather conditions.
Zones 1-4
There are 4 activity zone rotations. Click below to see what activities are at each zone.
- Adventure Playground
- Dodgeball Arena
- T-Swing
- Gaga Pit
- Mini Golf
- Maze
- Basketball
- Sand Volleyball
- 9 Square
- Gaga Pit
- Soccer Field
- Gaga Pit
- Jumping Pillow
- Sand Volleyball
- Activity Center (Basketball, Gaga Ball, Volleyball, Foosball, and Ping Pong)
Activities Include: TreeTop Towers - an interactive adventure playground with a dozen different elements such as climbing walls, jumping segments, a zipline, and more!
Note: Climbing walls and quickflight only available to Student Development groups.
Café Sky
Grab a soda, slice of pizza, milkshake, and more at Café Sky!
Tree Top Towers
Interactive adventure playground with a dozen different elements: climbing walls, jumping segments, a zipline, and more!
Ziplines
This activity is an additional $6 per person.
Speed down our multi-line ziplines with your friends. A high-flying adventure you'll never forget!
Please note: Ziplining is an additional $6 fee that will be included on your invoice. If you choose to select this as a rec time activity and don’t collect money from students before coming to camp, a teacher or chaperone must be present to collect money at the zipline. Bring change if you plan to collect money this way as Sky Ranch staff are unable to provide change or collect money from students. Following your assigned zipline time, money should be turned in to School Programs leadership to be applied to the school’s invoice. Zipline participation must meet a weight requirement of 50-250 lbs. Close-toed shoes required.
Waterslides
Have a thrilling race down the four-lane mat racers, and then go cruise through the three body slides.
Please note: Water activities are available during certain times of the year and are ultimately dependent upon water temperature.
Party Pool
Kick your feet in the shallow end, play water polo, or challenge yourself on the trapeze!
Please note: Water activities are available during certain times of the year and are ultimately dependent upon water temperature.
Canoes
Enjoy the lake breeze while paddling around Sky Lake! Canoes provide the opportunity for a fun experience.
Corner Store
Enjoy your favorite snack or purchase a camp keepsake from the Corner Store to take home.
Campfire
As smoke swirls and flames dance, enjoy stories, songs, and sidesplitting skits that will make you laught and create long-lasting memories of your Sky Ranch experience.
Please note: Smores not provided. If you want to bring your own supplies for smores, our staff will provide skewers and extra hands to help!
Clue
Mysterious happenings are occurring at Sky Ranch! Do you have a "clue" about what's going on? Use your team work and problem solving skills to dig up the facts and try to unravel this fun-filled Sky Ranch mystery! For this real life versoin of the popular board game, chaperones and teachers have the opportunity to play the suspects as your students become detectives.
Funology Go
Your students will go on a nighttime trek, completing fun, often silly tasks across camp. Students will put their heads together and seeing some hidden corners of camp while on this fast-paced, brain-teasing adventure!
Games/Activity Center
A fun night of games and activities in our spacious Activity Center. Students can play basketball, volleyball, Ping Pong, Foosball and more!
Night at The Livery
This is an upgraded night event that costs $10 per student and $5 per adult.
Kick up your heels during this night of traditional Texas games! Scoot on down to our Sky Ranch covered arena and have a stampede of fun. Activities vary, but could include roping and lassoing skills, bull riding (on our fake bull), arena ball (a fun spin-off of dodgeball), roasting marshmallows for delicious s'mores, and much more!
Here is some useful information for teachers to help you plan the best school trip ever!
Teacher Info Packet
Read through the Teacher Info Packet for everything you need to know to prepare for your trip.
Trip Planning Guide
Use this planning guide and timeline to help plan the best school trip ever!
Trip planning guide
Teacher Tips & Tricks
- Don't forget to print out all journal pages for the classes your students are taking!
- After your arrival on camp, your Event Coordinator will meet with your chaperones and teachers. They will explain Sky Ranch rules and expectations and answer questions. This is a great time for teachers to meet with parents and make any necessary announcements.
- Chaperones must be present during Rec time.
- Students need to be prepared for the day when meeting at Headquarters each morning. They need their camp journal pages, pencil, water bottle, close toed shoes, and weather appropriate clothing.
- Chaperones are encouraged to be involved during class time, but to refrain from giving answers to students. Our staff appreciate chaperone support especially when managing large groups of students.
- Students and chaperones need to be on time when meeting for class, meal times, night events, etc. Being on time helps ensure we stick to the schedule allowing students to experience everything Sky Ranch has to offer.
Read through the Chaperone Info Packet for everything you need to know to prepare for your trip.
Read through the Parent Info Packet for everything you need to know to prepare for your child's trip.
Lead Teachers, these are important! You will need to print the journal pages and answer pages for every class your students are taking. (Please note that these are updated annually and password protected)
NOTE: All of the journal pages for each class are included in the Journal Pages PDF. You will need to go through and print the journal pages for the classes your students are taking.
| Standard Journal Pages | Standard Journal Answers |
| Modified Journal Pages | Modified Journal Answers |
Helpful Tips for Journal Pages
- Be sure to have all journal pages printed before your trip for every class your students are taking.
- Sky Ranch updates these journal pages yearly. Please make sure students have the most up-to-date copy.
- Adding page numbers to journal pages helps students find the correct pages easily.
- Placing journal pages in a folder or on a clipboard makes filling out the pages easier.
- Attaching a pencil to the journal with yarn helps students to always have a pencil available.
What to Bring
Required Items
Please make sure to label all of your camper's belongings!
| Closed toed shoes | Shorts (if the weather is warm) |
| Sleeping bacg OR sheets and a blanket (standard twin size) |
Swimsuit (weather permitting) |
| Pillow and pillow case | Toiletries |
| Towel, hand-towel, and wash cloth | T-shirts or tops |
| Raincoat or rain poncho | Fleece hat |
| Pajamas | Cold weather layers |
| Blue jeans/long pants | Flashlight |
| Toothbrush, toothpaste | Bug Spray |
| Sunscreen | LABEL EVERYTHING! |
For Class Time
| Small backpack or drawstring bag | Notebook |
| Water bottle | Laundry bag |
What NOT to Bring
| Alcohol |
| Guns |
| Weapons |
| Illegal substances |
| Jewelry |
| Game systems |
| Anything that breaks easily or would cause loss if misplaced |
Sky Ranch is not responsible for lost or broken articles.
We will gladly work with you regarding special dietary restrictions and food allergies. Click the button below to fill out our Special Dietary Needs Form.
If you have specific questions or concerns, please contact our food service department directly by emailing FoodService@SkyRanch.org.
If you have questions that are not answered here, contact us at SchoolPrograms@SkyRanch.org.
What happens in the case of bad weather?
In the case of light rain and colder temperatures, we will continue to hold classes outdoors. In the case of inclement weather, all classes and recreation time will be held indoors. The Sky Ranch leadership team will be tracking potential threatening weather conditions and have plans in place that will be communicated to the school’s lead administrator. Sky Ranch provides radio communication in every cabin to stay in communication, if needed, during nighttime hours.
What are the cabin accomodations?
All room assignments will be gender specific and based on the Sky Ranch recommended ratios. The school will provide a set number of adult chaperones/teachers to stay in the cabin with the students. All accommodations have heating and air conditioning, as well as indoor showers and restrooms with private changing areas.
What is the required ratio for adults to students?
While Sky Ranch does not require a ratio while on camp, we recommend bringing 1 adult per 10 students.
What if a student has special dietary requirements?
We will gladly work with you regarding special dietary restrictions and food allergies. Click the button below to fill out our Special Dietary Needs Form.
If you have specific questions or concerns, please contact our food service department directly by emailing FoodService@SkyRanch.org.
Will there be a nurse present for school trips?
To ensure students have immediate medical care available, each school is responsible for bringing a nurse. Should a student need additional medical treatment, you will be given directions to nearby medical facilities. For additional questions regarding medical needs of students, please contact your school’s lead administrator for the trip.
Are golf carts available?
Golf carts are available to rent for $60 per golf cart per day. While golf carts are not a trip necessity, schools tend to enjoy having one for the sake of quick transportation across camp.
Contact Information
Email: SchoolPrograms@SkyRanch.org
Phone: 469.896.3620
Fax: 903.569.6357
For any questions regarding chaperone information, payment, or school schedule, please contact your school.
The Sky Ranch School Program’s department exists to support the educational development of all students from our partner schools. Sky Ranch’s Outdoor Education programming serves as an extension of our partner schools and their selected educational curriculum.