Business Items for Den 11

It was great to see the entire Den back together last night. I also want to apologize for the chaos, I had temporarily forgot how short the attention span of 2nd graders was and put to much business into the meeting. I will try to put the business things out via e-mail ahead of the meetings for the future and put more fun activities in.
To recap then, below are the business items that we tried to cover last night.

1. I handed out Den Meeting assignments for November through March. Unfortunately, I did not write down what everyone volunteered for. Please send me an e-mail with what you have.
Den Meeting # 5 & 6 (November)
Den Meeting # 7 & 8 (December)
Den Meeting # 9 & 10 (January)
Den Meeting # 11 & 12 (February)
Den Meeting # (13 March)

Dan Lee, who has December, is looking to trade with someone. If you can trade, please contact Dan. I was also planning on doing a Den Meeting at Fall Family Camping like we did last year. I will need some help with this one as well.

2. Please let me know who is coming to Fall Family Camping, October 8-10, 2010 at Bert Adams Scout Reservation. Be prepared to sign up at the September Pack Meeting (bring your check book).

3. The next Pack Meeting is Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at Garrison Mill. We will be having a Bike Rodeo so bring your bike and your helmet. You can also look at earning the Bicycling Pin if you are so inclined.
Requirements for the Bicycling PinEarn the Bicycling belt loop, and complete requirement 1 below, and do four additional requirements:
1. Make a chart to record at least 10 hours of bicycling. (Required)
2. Participate in a pack, den, or community bike rodeo.
3. Demonstrate how to repair a flat tire on a bicycle.
4. Make a poster illustrating different types of early bikes and show it to your den.
5. Give a demonstration to your den or pack on the proper use of safety equipment and gear.
6. With the help of a parent or adult partner, register or reregister your bicycle.
7. Go on a "bicycle hike" with your family or den. Obey traffic rules related to bicycling.
8. Repair or restore a nonfunctioning bicycle to a safe condition. Include the installation of all proper safety devices.
9. Visit a bicycle race or exhibition.
10. Help set up a bike rodeo or bike competition for your pack.
4. Cub Scout Values Project: Last night the scouts drew pieces of paper to make a board representing each Cub Scout Value. Here are the more specific instructions:
a. Obtain a piece of 1” x 4” board 18” long. If you have scrap wood laying around the house you can use that.
b. Drill 4 holes in the piece of wood so that they can be tied together and hung on a standard (pole). I will supply the twine to tie them together.
c. Engrave, paint, woodburn, or otherwise permanently write your assigned Cub Scout value on the piece of wood.
d. On the back of the piece of paper is the month that we will be talking about the assigned value. Bring your assigned project for the month indicated. You can also bring your project in early if you like.
e. Each scout should talk about the assigned value with their parents and then share what that value means at the appropriate Den Meeting.

5. I handed out the “Year of Celebration” patches last night. These patches and the ribbons you can earn are an optional activity that the scouts and even adults could earn. There are no requirements to wear the patch but the requirements to earn the ribbons can be found on-line at: http://ww2.scouting.org/100years/100years/sitefiles/1000/YourSource/PlanningTools/YOC/YOC_Tracking_Cards.pdf
When you have earned a ribbon, let me know and I will complete the on-line form and order your ribbons. If you want you can also look up the on-line form and do it yourself however, if you go through the pack, the pack will pay for the ribbons.
I did print out the pocket version of the requirements for the scouts and will hand these out at the Pack Meeting on 9/14/2010.

6. Emergency Preparedness Pin
I am very proud of those scouts who earned the emergency preparedness pin. Each year we will continue to update this achievement and each year we will add more advanced learning such as Red Cross First Aid training. For those of you who have not yet completed this activity, you can complete this by doing the following:
a. Complete Wolf Cub Scout Achievement 9 (found in your Wolf handbook)—Be Safe at Home and on the Street. This is a check of your home to keep it safe.
b. Complete Wolf Cub Scout Elective 16 (found in your Wolf handbook) —Family Alert. This elective is about designing a plan for your home and family in case an emergency takes place.
c. Make a presentation to your Den on one thing that you have learned about preparing for emergencies.

7. Child Protection Home Work
Before the next Den Meeting, please review the small booklet found in the front of the Wolf Handbook called, “How to protect your child from child abuse.” Then report back at the next Den Meeting that this has been completed.

8. Next Den Meeting
We are really hard pushed to get some things in this year and September & October are very busy months. With the new school calendar, the Fall Break occupies 2 full weekends in September and there are activities each weekend in October. Therefore, I am moving forward with the next Den Meeting being Sunday 9/26/2010 from 2-3:30 PM at a local Bowling Alley. At this meeting we will work on the Bowling Belt-Loop and Achievements # 3b & 3c
3b. Tell four ways to stop the spread of colds.
3c. Show what to do for a small cut on your finger.

Please let me know if you cannot make this meeting. You can make up these activities then at home.

9. Den Calendar
Attached is the Den Calendar for the year. Note that the further out a Den activity is scheduled, the more likely it is to be rescheduled on another date. For each new sports season, we can also look at the day of the week we are meeting. I will work with you on your meeting plans and if the dates need to be moved. You will note that in March, if all the Wolfs have earned their badges the 3 Dens will have a Wolf party to celebrate. Last year after everyone earned their Tiger Badge, I felt the celebration was a bit anti-climatic and think a Wolf pizza party would be a howling good time.

Wow, that was a lot to cover, no wonder the boys were ready to head for the hills/playground. So what I need from you all is:

1. What Den Meetings did you volunteer for? _________________________
2. Can anyone switch meeting plans (December) with Dan Lee?
3. Are you going on the Fall Family Camping? _________________________

Thanks for all of your support for the scouts and participation in the Den. After one year of Cub Scouts I can definitely see the influence that scouting has had on Alex and that is due to all the parents involvement and support.


Dan

Our first Den Meeting will be Thursday September 2, 2010 at Garrison Mill Elementary under the covered playground from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM.

Lisa Baraji and David Janes have determined that Den 11 will stay as it is with no new members. That means that we can dive right into our meeting plan. At the first meeting we will

be making a new Den Flag. I have found out that our Pack has met the requirements for the National Summertime Activity Award and that Den 11 will receive a ribbon for our flag for having 50% of our Den attend each of three activities (Scout Summer Day Camp, Pack Picnic, and the August Den Meeting). So naturally, we will need a flag t

o put the ribbon on. In addition to the ribbon, scouts who attended all three events will receive a National Summertime Activity Pin to be worn on their uniform. I am also looking into if the PTA Flag Ceremony will count towards participation as well.

In addition we will start on a trial to cover the 12 values of Cub Scouts that will take us through the next 12 months. There will also be relay races and fun!

I will then hand out the meeting plans for October through March 2011 and will ask each family to take a months worth of planning (like we did last year).

Right now, I believe the consensus is to meet on Thursday nights. We will plan on two Den Meetings a month with the 1st and last Thursday of each month. However, some meetings will be better suited for a weekend, like some of the Go-See-Its were last year. We will finalize this decision at or first meeting. Let me know ahead of time if you have any concerns.

I did notice that the Calendar on the Den 11 Website is not correct anymore. Please check the Pack 471 calendar for Pack dates.

Welcome to the year of the Wolf for Den 11!

If you have changed your e-mail address over the last year, please be sure to sign up on the Den and Pack Websites to get updates. The calendar for the next year has been posted. This will be the primary means of communication for everyone.

1st Pack Meeting:
The first Pack Meeting will be Tuesday, 8/17/2010 in the Garrison Mill Cafeteria. We will be registering for the next year. Registration will be $75.00 this year to help pay for awards, belt-loops, Pack activities, and recharter. Bring your check-book please.

Den Meetings:
We hold our 1st Den Meeting the week of September 7th. I need to know if anyone has a routine schedule for sports or other activities that would interfere with scheduling our meetings on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. We may vary the second meeting of the month to accommodate trips and activities where we do a “go-see-it.” We may also get some new members after the August 17th Pack Meeting that we will need to incorporate into the Den. At our first meeting, I will be asking everyone to volunteer to take a month of meetings like we did last year.

Assistant Cubmaster
As some of you already know, I have elected to be one of the Assistant Cubmasters. In this role, I will act as a support to the Pack and as a Leader Trainer for other Den Leaders. I will need some help with the Den and making sure they are planned out for the year. If you are interested in stepping up to be the Official Den Leader, please feel free to give me a call. In the meantime, I will be at each Den Meeting and supporting each of you as I did last year.

This Week

Round 2 of the Pack Picnic was a great success. After getting rained out last week, this Saturday's picnic was a great success. The pool felt especially good after helping that morning to do some grounds work at Garrison Mill to get ready for Sneak-A-Peak and the first day of school.

This week we have our Den Meeting Tuesday night at 5:30 at Garrison Mill under the covered playground. For those of your who did not come to the 1st Den Meeting please look at your Wolf Book and complete requirements for Achievement #9 and Elective #16 (the homework I sent out).

This week each scout will need to do a presentation on what they learned about safety to complete the Emergency Preparedness Pin. I will then submit the proper paperwork to get the awards. Please bring props if necessary.

Follow-up to Emergency Preparedness Pin

It was good to see folks again and start back with our Den Meetings. Yesterday, we covered Part 1 of the Emergency Preparedness Pin. For those that were not able to attend, you can catch up on your own bycompleting Achievement #9 and Elective #16 found in the Wolf Hand Book. Since we had the bikes out for the Bike Safety portion of the training we were also able to complete the Biking Belt Loop.

In September the Pack is looking at doing a Bike Rodeo. By completing the Biking Belt Loop, logging on a piece of paper 10 hours of riding, and

attending the Bike Rodeo, the scouts will also be eligible for the Biking Sports Pin.

Part 2 of the Emergency Preparedness Pin will be held Tuesday, August 3rd a Garrison Mill Elementary School (under the covered playground) from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Each scout will need to prepare and present something they have learned from completing the safety requirements of the pin. Even if they did not attend Part 1, if the scouts completed the work at home, they can present at this Den Meeting.

See you at the Pack Picnic this Saturday!

Den Meeting July 20, 2010

Reminder:

Den Meeting
Date: Tuesday July 20, 2010
Time: 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM
Location: Garrison Mill Elementary (Covered Playground)

Things to bring:
Bicylcle
Helmet
What you learned while doing the homework
Ready to have fun!

Note: The restrooms at the school may not be open. Please remember to use the restrooms before coming to the school.

I will bring some drinks to keep hydrated.

Emergency Preparedness Pin - Meeting Dates

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

We will hold two Den Meetings prior to the school year kicking off to work on the Emergency Preparedness Pin. There will be three steps to the pin:

1. Homework: I will send out three checklists this week for homework. This should not take a lot of time but could save lives and prevent injuries in your family.
- Home Safety Checklist
- Family disaster Checklist
- 1st Aid Kit Recommended Supplies

2. Safety Training and Fun: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 (5:30 - 6:30 PM)
- Bring your bicycle to Garrison Mill School for bicycle safety and fun (don’t forget your helmet).
- We will cover the rest of the steps for Wolf Scout Achievement #9 and Elective #16.

3. Presentations: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 (5:30 - 6:30 PM)
- Scouts will present on something they learned. We may then look at presenting to the Pack some of the highlights as a Den.

Please get back with me on these dates. I want to be as flexible as we can so that everyone can participate.