Delmont Camping Trip April 18-20

This Week with Webelos 4/21/08

Den Meeting 4/28/08

We'll be working on the Outdoorsman activity badge requirements.

ACTION ITEMS

Please read through the Outdoorman section of the Webelos handbook to familiarize yourself with the requirements.

Also look over the following two Outdoorsman-related items:

Cub Scout Leave No Trace Pledge
I promise to practice the Leave No Trace frontcountry guidelines wherever I go:

For more info go to http://www.scouting.org/CubScouts/resources/LeavenoTrace.aspx

And

The Outdoor Code
As an American, I will do my best to:

Be clean in my outdoor manners
Be careful with fire
Be considerate in the outdoors, and
Be conservation minded.

And don't forget, this Saturday the 26th is Montgomery Township's Annual Tree Give-A-Way. It will be held at the Memorial Grove, which is located off of Kenas Road across from Oxford Lane. This will be the Township's 11th Annual Celebration of Arbor Day. This event will also mark the official dedication for the Memorial Grove.

The Gift Of Trees

Many, many moons ago when the Great Spirit first put man on the earth, man was frightened. “Where will I find food and water?” he asked. The trees laughed softly. “We are your brothers,” they said, “we will help you.” The maple tree spoke up: “I will give you sweet water to drink and make into sugar.” The elm tree said, “Use my soft bark to make your baskets and tie them together with my tough muscles.” The hickory tree said, “My cousins and I will fill your baskets with sweet nuts.” And he called the chestnut, pecan, and walnut to help him. The great pine whispered softly, “When you get tired, little brother, I will make you a soft bed. My cousins the balsam and cedar will help me.” There was sunshine in man’s heart as he set out to explore his new world. But soon he came to a deep, wide river. “How will I ever cross the river?” man asked. The trees laughed and laughed. “Take my white skin,” said the birch. “Sew it together with the muscles of the elm tree and you can make a boat that will carry you across the widest river.” When the sun crossed the sky to his lodge in the west, man felt cold. Then the balsam fir tree whispered to him, “Little brother, there is much sun fire in my heart. Rub my branches together and you will make a fire.” So man made fire. And that night he slept soundly on the branches of the great pine tree. The north wind blew cold, but there was sunshine in the heart of man. Now when children ask how they can repay their friends, the trees, a wise man answers, “They do not ask for payment. But you can give them careful attention. You can give love and care to every plant and flower that makes your life beautiful.”

Webelos Engineers Take On New Project

This Week with Webelos 3/20/2008

Hi Webelos, parents:
We had such a great time at the Academy. The boys have earned the Forester Badge as a result of their late-night efforts. The parents have earned nothing for their lack of sleep, although we're looking into a "sleeping on hard surfaces while surrounded by snoring adults" badge for them (that badge will arrive in the form of a full-size air mattress with ear plug accessories). Thanks for participating!

3/10/08 Den mtg. Summary
Engineer Activity Badge/Pin (page 212)

Requirement #1 -- Kurt discussed engineering as a career:
1) There are many types of engineers … electrical, mechanical, civil, computer;
2) You need to graduate from college to get a job as an engineer;
3) Higher level degrees/experience equate to higher salaries;
4) Pros and cons of engineering
Pros – good salary, flexible hours, fun work
Cons – sometimes long hours, sometimes frustrating, “on-call”

Requirement #6 -- Kevin explained simple (series) circuits. The boys constructed a circuit using combinations of 6V batteries, knife switches, light bulbs, and doorbells. They connected the loads together with wire and alligator clips.

Requirement #8 -- Isaac helped the boys use a block and tackle “crane” to lift various objects. Due to the configuration, the boys learned that the block and tackle setup approximately reduced by half the amount of force needed to lift an object.

4/14/08 Den mtg. Happenings
We plan to continue with the Engineering requirements (page 212)

ACTION ITEMS

At home ... Requirement #2 -- Please have the boys draw a floor plan of their home ... include doors, windows, and stairways. As mentioned in the last email the boys could use Google SketchUp … a FREE download ...
http://sketchup.google.com/index.html.

During Den Mtg. ... Requirement #3 -- We also chatted about using Legos, Tinker Toys, and Lincoln Logs to work on the "construction site" requirement. The boys would work from existing plans to construct a project during the den meeting. We’ll address this in a future email, once we decide how to work this one. James will bring architectural construction plans to show the boys.

At home and during Den Mtg. ... Requirement #7 -- The boys should familiarize themselves with bridge types (page 218) and be prepared to talk about them with the group. We will construct popsicle stick bridges during the meeting. Check out the following link to explore large structures and what it takes to build them (BUILDING BIG, a five-part PBS television series) … http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/ … very cool (highly recommend the companion book, "Building Big" By David Macaulay).






And don’t forget the Boy Scout Oath, Motto, Slogan, and Law (pages 54-57).

Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns, input.

Isaac and James

James' cell 215.470.4738