Make It Move, Day 2

THIS WEEK'S REQUIREMENT(S) MET: Make It Move, Requirements 2, 3, and started 4 (4 will be completed at home this week and discussed at the meeting next week).

Tonight we continued our Make It Move! requirement, and the boys had a great time working together to learn about pulleys, levers, and Rube Goldberg machines. It was fun to see how they all worked together!

We started by operating 1 pulley to lift a book. How does this thing work?

There we go...

Success!

Next we worked as a group to use 2 pulleys horizontally to pass a message from one end to another. I gave them the supplies, and they had to figure out how to construct their pulley system. They did a fantastic job working together!

Then we tried 3 pulleys together to see how much easier it makes it to lift objects!

Finally, we learned about levers and how we can use them to make it easier to lift heavier objects. The boys worked in pairs to build their own levers.

At the end of the meeting, we watched a short video example of a Rube Goldberg machine called "The Page Turner." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOMIBdM6N7Q. Be sure to ask your scout what he has learned about these types of machines -- they are so much fun to see! The boys will need to complete Requirement 4A at home this week and bring it completed to the meeting next Thursday (see page 216 in the handbook for more information). For this requirement, they just come up with a simple task (opening a door, dropping a ball in a cup, ringing a bell, etc.) and draw a design that would complete this task in AT LEAST 6 steps. They'll share their designs next week at the meeting. (They are NOT expected to build them -- just draw them).

Next week will be exciting -- we will be completing the adventure with requirement 4B, where the boys use materials from around the house to build a Rube Goldberg-type machine together! Please encourage your scout to bring some materials from home that we can use in our machine...things like paper towel rolls, marbles, cups, etc. The more they have to choose from, the more they can use their imaginations to create an amazing machine! :)

And a BIG thank you to all the scouts for remembering to bring their handbooks this week!!!

See you all next week!

Make It Move! Day 1

THIS WEEK'S REQUIREMENT(S) MET: Make It Move, Requirement 1

We started this week with a flag ceremony performed by the visiting Boy Scout troop, and then followed up with an awards ceremony. This was an exciting meeting because our Pack is growing by so much! We welcomed a couple new boys to our Den 6, so we were excited to meet new friends!

Once the awards were finished, we moved to the hallway and started our first elective adventure, "Make It Move!" We talked about kinetic vs. potential energy, and we demonstrated this by building a popsicle stick chain reaction explosion! Be sure to check out the video of our reaction!

We also talked about Rube Goldberg machines a bit -- the boys will be designing their own machines starting next week! Next week we will also be experimenting with pulleys. 

Have a great week, everyone, and please be sure to remind your boys to bring their handbooks to all of the meetings as we will be working from them each week.

Majestic View Nature Center Outing!

THIS WEEK'S REQUIREMENT(S) MET: Fur, Feathers, and Ferns, Requirements 1 - 7

What a fun outing this was! We met at the Majestic View Nature Center during our usual meeting time on September 22nd to fulfill our Fur, Feathers, and Ferns requirement. Our guide was wonderful! During our outing, we did the following:

• Went on a hike around the park identifying signs of wildlife with our binoculars.
• Collected sample plants from the park and brought them inside for examination with magnifying glasses.
• Learned about native plants and why it important to protect them.
• Learned about animal extinction vs. endangerment through the stories of the black-footed ferret and the monarch butterfly. We even got to hold a fossilized wooly mammoth tusk!
• Learned about the importance of compost and how to make it. We even made our own compost with the leftover snacks our guide provided.
• Planted our own herb seeds in eggshells.

Grin and Bear It, Day 1

THIS WEEK'S REQUIREMENT(S) MET: Grin and Bear It, Requirement 1

We had a fun night last night at our Bears meeting!

As I told the boys last night, we are skipping around a bit on the adventures we work on in the beginning because of our outing next week. We started last night on Grin and Bear It, our first required adventure. Part of this adventure will have the boys participate in and help plan a carnival for the whole Pack! The carnival will be on October 27th and should be a blast!

To start this week, we worked on sportsmanship and how to communicate during team games. We played "batting down the line," which involved getting a balloon from one end of the line to the next, "forehead squeeze relay," which had the boys squeeze a tennis ball between their foreheads and get to the finish line (harder than it sounds!), and "line up," where the boys were all blindfolded and had to figure out how to line up from tallest to shortest.

"Batting Down the Line" 

 "Forehead Squeeze Relay"

"Forehead Squeeze Relay" 

"Line Up"

Remember, next week we will be visiting the Majestic View Nature Center from 6 - 7:30 to fulfill our Fur, Feathers, and Ferns adventure!

Popcorn Kick-Off!

This was an exciting week, as it was our annual popcorn kick-off! We'd love to make this a big year for popcorn sales for our Pack, and our Bears can make a big dent in the Pack's goal! Here are some of the benefits of selling:

• Sell $500 in popcorn to pay for your Scout's dues next year ($120 value)
• Sell $700 in popcorn to pay for your Scout's entire day camp experience next summer ($80 value)
• Sell $1000 to earn free membership to the Broncos Bunch, including invitations to exclusive Boy Scout events
• Sell $2500 to earn 6% of your  total sales in college scholarship money! If earned, this will continue for the rest of your Scout's years selling popcorn...this year and every year after your Scout would earn 6% of his total sales in a college scholarship!
• Prizes from Boy Scouts at total sales values from $25 to $4500 including lego kits, robots, camping equipment, electronics, and gift cards

And, of course, there are prizes from the Pack, too, including (among other things) the opportunity to throw a pie in the face of den leaders and the Cubmaster for every $300 sold!

We have a $6000 goal for the Pack...let's see if we can shatter that total! Let me know if you missed the meeting and need materials. We also have several Show-and-Sell time slots available next week at King Soopers if anyone is interested in boosting their sales. Just let me know!

Also, we will be having a popcorn blitz this Saturday! If you want to do some door-to-door sales together with the Pack, we will be meeting this Saturday at the Lukas Park (our meeting location). We'll break up into small groups and go around the neighborhood making sales. We'll meet back at the park at noon for a pizza party and will award some cool prizes to the winners of a few different categories!

I hope to see you on Saturday, and if not then I'll see you next week!

Our First Meeting!

Hello everyone -- we had a great first week! This week we didn't get started on any of the adventures yet, as we were getting our den started off with expectations for the year. We started off with a Scout Law activity where the boys paired up and picked words from the Scout Law out from other character traits also listed. The pairs then joined up and put the words in order. They did great!

Then we went over the parent letter (let me know if you need a copy), which outlines expectations for the year and explains rank advancement. Along the same lines, we went over our Code of Conduct for the Den and each of the boys signed it. Please be sure to talk about it with your boys and help ensure that they remember to follow it during the meetings.

As a way of practicing teamwork, we played a fun balloon relay-type game where the boys had to keep the balloon in the air by calling for help from their fellow Scouts. The wind wasn't helping us out much, but it was still a lot of fun!

We finished up with a hand-tracing activity for the Den flag we are working on, wrote our Den cheer, and did a closing activity where the boys shared what they were most looking forward to this year in Scouts. Camping was the most popular choice, with whittling coming in as a close second. Luckily we'll be able to do both of those things! :)

Thank you for sharing your boys with us -- we have a really great group!

Welcome to the 2016-2017 school year! With a new school year brings a new year in scouting, and this year the boys of Den 6 are BEARS! This will be such a fun year! We will be completing 6 required adventures (just like last year). The adventures this year will be:

• Bear Claws (they will earn the coveted Whittling Chip with this adventure, as well)
• Bear Necessities
• Fur, Feathers, and Ferns
• Grin and Bear It
• Paws for Action
• Fellowship and Duty to God (Scouts will complete this at home with their families)

We will also need to complete at least one of the following elective adventures:

• Baloo the Builder
• A Bear Goes Fishing
• Bear Picnic Basket
• Beat of the Drum
• Critter Care
• Forensics
• Make it Move
• Marble Madness
• Roaring Laughter
• Robotics
• Salmon Run
• Super Science
• A World of Sound

My hope for this blog is to keep families updated on what we are doing in our meetings each week. That way, if your Scout has to miss a meeting, you are able to see exactly what was missed in that week. It is the responsibility of each Scout to make up any of the missed activities (including outings) in order to earn belt loops and, ultimately, their Bear rank in May. 

As your Scout's den leader, I have planned a number of fun activities for the year, but I would love your help at the meetings, as well. If you look through the adventures with your Scout and find one that you have expertise in, please let me know! The boys love it when the adults in their lives take the time to participate in what they are doing, and Scouting provides a unique opportunity for you to truly experience the program together. 

Thank you for letting your Scout be part of this wonderful program -- we are looking forward to an exciting year!

Kim Schumm

Den 6 Leader