Next Den Meeting

Our next meeting will be held this Saturday (3-29-08) at 10:00 am. We will be meeting at the LDS Church Building on Wasatch Drive.

The Den Leadership has set this day aside to work on badge advancement, so each leader will be presenting a lecture that will go towards helping our scouts earn their Bobcat, Wolf and Bear ranks.

ADL L.W. will be teaching our Bears.
ADL M.F. will be helping our new scouts learn the Bobcat basics.
DL T.Z. will be holding a class for the Wolves.

It is our hope that regularly scheduled training days will help push our guys towards earning their ranks.
But as always, we leaders can't do it all! :-(

Parents, please take the time to thumb through your child's Cub Scout Handbook and help them complete the achievements required for badge advancement. And for Pete's sake, once you've completed an achievement, report it to the Den Leader so he can update your Cub's records!

Together, the Den Parents and Den Leadership can help our Cubs make the grade and get their badges!

Shavin' & Chippin'...(3-22-08)

No boy's Cub Scouting experience is ever complete without a basic course in pocketknife safety.
This past weekend, the Den leadership embraced the challenge.

It's not an easy course to teach.
There are a ton of bases that need to be covered before the class starts and parental cooperation is a must.
That in mind, I want to thank the parents who participated this weekend.
Your presence made all the difference in holding a safe course. And the 1:1 ratio really allowed the leaders plenty of leeway in keeping the instruction running smoothly.

As with all our classes, the first thing we started on was the basics. In this case, the boys learned the Cub Scout rules about pocketknife use.






The next step of the class was to show the boys exactly how a knife worked.









Displaying various kinds demonstrated to the boys just how versatile a knife could be.







No knife safety course is complete without a "pass the knife" exercise. Using a plastic knife and a little lipstick, the boys practiced passing the knife to their parents. Afterwards, everyone checked their hands for lipstick to see who got cut!





After all the instruction was complete, the guys got down to some soap carving. (With a parent standing by, of course.)






This was the first meeting for our newest scout, J.M. Talk about great timing! The boys gave him a great welcome.







After carving, the Cubs started to clean up, thinking that the meeting was over. But little did they know....







POW! A written test!
The guys were a little surprised, but they retained a lot of the material that was taught to them. I was so proud.
















Speaking of proud, my Baby Girl (A.Z.) showed up around test time to cheer the guys on and distract the leaders. See? She's got M.F. wrapped around her finger!










In the end, the majority of our guys took the pocketknife pledge and earned their Whittling Chip. As a reward, I gave each recipient a Pinewood Derby car kit to be completed by next month's Pack Meeting (4-18-08), when the Pack will gather for our own Pinewood Derby race!

I can't wait to see what the guys can make.

Understanding Utah's Natural History...(3-15-08)

A couple of weeks ago, the Den took a field trip to the Utah Museum of Natural History to learn about Utah's rich and diverse...um....natural history.

It was a great time .
The guys got to play with a bunch of hands-on exhibits, look at a ton of old bones, rocks and bugs and even feed the dino!

You know, I think they even learned a thing or two.

Here's the gang, mugging with the donation dino. They got a big kick out of the garbled recording it gave when we tossed in a few coins.







In the geology hall, the Cubs learned about radioactivity and how this geiger counter was used to test potency.







Inside the Romney mine exhibit, the fellas got a taste of how hard it would be to work as a miner.







The special exhibit on display was called "America's Wildest Places."
That's where they learned that they could cram five Cubs into a Canadian Goose decoy. (Six, if their small.)






In the earthquake section, the boys learned a little about plate tectonics and how a seismograph works.







I don't know why, but old bones are always a hit with kids. Here's our ADL M.F., schooling the boys on the ancient megafauna of the US.







At the Range Creek exhibit, the boys learned about the prehistoric people that lived in Utah.







Yeah, the trip was a big hit.
And we were even able to do it without misbehaving or monkeying around.











Well....almost.

Next Den Meeting...

OK, this next meeting is going to be very important. So please be sure to read and weigh this information carefully.

We will be presenting a special class on knife safety this Saturday starting at 10:00 am, March 22, 2008. The class will be held at the LDS Church building on Wasatch blvd. The class is designed to teach the safe handling and proper care of pocketknives. For our Bear Scouts, this will fulfill Bear Achievement 19: “Shavings and Chips” and allow all our Cubs to earn the Whittling Chip card which is required for any Cub Scout to carry a pocketknife at Cub Scout functions.

While I am sure some of you may be concerned with the idea of the boys carrying a pocketknife, I assure you that this program is designed to teach knife safety. Even if a Cub does not receive the certification, the class is important since most boys will use kitchen and other knives in the future. The actual Whittling Chip card will be given to the boys only with a parent's approval at the end of the class. As such, I must require that each Cub intending to receive this card be accompanied by a parent. Any scouts participating in the course without a parent will only be allowed to observe the class and not participate in any knife work.

Besides the basic knife safety rules, the boys will learn these additional rules that must be followed:

1. They must have the card in their possession at all times while using a knife.

2. At any time, Akela (any adult including parents) can ask for the card and it must be presented or the knife will be collected and returned to the parent.

3. No knife will be carried on school property at any time even by mistake. Violation of this rule means permanent loss of the card as well as any punishment from the school.

4. Any injury to another person will result in permanent loss of the card.

5. Any time a safety rule is violated, Akela may tear a corner off of the card. Loss of all four corners will result in the loss of the card which must be re-earned by attending and passing another Whittling Chip class.

Once again: Due to safety concerns, a parent must attend with each boy. This person will make the decision of whether or not the card will be issued.

Parents, please bring a pocketknife suitable for your son to use. (It doesn’t have to be new, just sharp and in good condition.)

Next Den Meeting!

Hello Everyone!

For our next meeting, the Den will be going on a field trip to the Utah Museum of Natural History.
It's going to be a lot of fun! The Museum's chock-full of information about Utah's flora, fauna, geology and geography. On top of that, all Cub attendees will earn an arrow point for American Indian Lore along with a GSLC Museum of Natural History Walk Patch!
Not bad for a Saturday morning, eh?

Since the museum's on the University campus, we will be meeting outside of the museum entrance this Saturday (3-15-08) at 10 am.
For those that don't know, the UMNH is located on President's Circle.

As usual, family and friends are always welcome. Who knows? You might just learn something! ;-)
See you there!

Tom

Stand in the place where you are.... (3-8-08)

This past Saturday, the Den assembled at the University of Utah's J.W. Marriott Library to learn about the geography of the Salt Lake County and the world.

It was an awesome facility!
The conference room we reserved had a huge table for the guys to work on and a screen projector attached to an internet-ready computer!
Google Earth, anyone? ;-)

The world geography discussion was a real treat for the boys. They each had a chance to show off what they had learned in school as well as learn a little in the process.






Once we fired up the A-V, the show really started.
Google Earth let us zoom in to some of the most beautiful places on the planet with incredible clarity.

That's Cairo, Egypt and the Nile River Valley!





The boys loved it.
Seeing these landmarks really put the scale of the Earth into perspective for them.






After the Google Earth lecture, the guys got to work on a neighborhood map of their very own.
Be proud, parents. They're some great little cartographers!





I was totally swept up by the energy and enthusiasm the Cubs brought to the meeting. Their young minds were lean and thirsty for knowledge...I only wish I had more time to show them more about our Earth! (Can you tell I'm a Geography major?)

As for my adult leaders, they were just as gung-ho as I was!!!




Well, mostly.
Granted, this pic was taken a little towards the end of the meeting.



Nonetheless, thanks to all the Parents, Cubs and Leaders that help make this a great meeting! See you next week!

Next Den Meeting! (SNAFU's corrected)

Ok...

Our next meeting is going to be tomorrow (Saturday, 3-8-08) at 10 am.
We will be meeting at the West entrance of the Marriott Library on the university campus.


After we've hooked up, we'll be traveling to room 1705-F which is in the Multimedia Center way in the back.
We should be done before noon.

Please e-mail or call me there is any confusion as to where we'll be meeting.
We will be working towards the Geography Belt Loop, so come ready to learn, guys!

Thank you for your patience and I'll see you tomorrow.

Start Your Engines!!! (03-01-08)

Wow. What a great meeting.

This past Saturday, the Den met for the monthly "Faith in God" lecture put on by the ADL.
This month, he had the boys write letters of appreciation to family members who had helped them out. It was very touching to see who the guys picked for a letter.





After the lesson, the boys met in the gym to finally put their podracers to the test!

It was a ton of fun. The boys raced their rods for fist, second and third place ribbons.








But if you ask me, I think they were all winners in my book!






Congratulations to all the racers for a job well done. Take a bow!