Cub Scouts Pack 20 – Clermont, FL

Den 3 – Bears

Den 3 – Notes for March and Beyond

Den 3’s Go-See-It at the Lake County Landfill

Den 3 visited the Lake County Landfill in Astatula on Saturday, November 14th. We were given an extensive tour of the landfill and learned about recycling waste.

Den 3 – Spirit Yell

Hey there Bears!  Here is our Den Yell… have fun learning this at home, so we can shout it at our meetings to show Scout Spirit!

” I don’t know, but I’ve been told ”

” Cub Scouts have a heart of gold ”

” We’re having fun here, can’t you see ”

” We are the Bears, now GO DEN 3 !!! “

Letter to Parents – Den 3 Bears

September, 2009

Hello fellow Akelas!

We are excited to be the new leaders of Den 3!  We are looking forward to working with all the Bear scouts and their families this year!  We want to tell you a little about ourselves, and give you some information about how we plan to lead our den.

Jamie is originally from Pittsburgh and has lived in Central Florida since 1985.  He is a graduate of UCF (Arts & Sciences), and works as an Operations Manager at Walt Disney World, where he recently celebrated his 20 year anniversary!  Jennifer is originally from New Jersey and came to Florida on the Walt Disney World College Program.  She transferred to UCF and has been a homemaker for many years.  She has currently found success as a substitute teacher for Lake County Schools.  We have two children, Katie (middle school), and Michael, a fellow Bear scout, who has been in Den 3 since Tiger Cubs.

We plan on continuing the strength and success of Den 3, and want to make this year a lot of fun, and create a lot of great memories!   We hope that we can count on your involvement with your son, and possibly help with future den or pack activities.

COMMUNICATION  /  CALENDAR

 We plan on using the Pack 20 website as our main source of communication (http://www.ourpack020.org).  Please check the Den 3 link a few times every week.  In addition to the website, we will send home monthly updates with your son that will share information regarding the monthly den activities such as Denner assignments, achievement homework, deadline reminders, Go See It information, etc…

There will be a pack calendar distributed within the first few weeks of meetings, with all meeting dates, camp-outs, and other scouting activities listed by month/date, to help you plan your involvement with the pack.

We can be reached by home phone (352) 242-2918… Jamie’s cell phone (407) 808-6251…  or e-mail at jjmcleskey@yahoo.com

ACHIEVEMENTS

 There are 12 achievements that the boys are required to complete this year to earn their Bear Badge.  We plan to cover quite a few of them in our den meetings, but the bulk of the responsibility will lie with the scout and his Akela working from home.  Arrow Points (electives) can be earned at any time, but cannot be worn until your son has earned his Bear Badge.  We plan on presenting our scouts with their awards at our monthly Pack meetings.

Achievements are described on pages 24 & 25, and Arrow Points (electives) are described on page 180, of the Bear handbook.

Paul Dalia will continue tracking all achievements, advancements, pins and belt loops for our den.  Please contact him with any questions or if you need to sign-off on your son’s achievements.

MEETING LOGISTICS

Our den meetings will be every Tuesday, from 6:30pm-7:35pm.  Beginning this year, our den meetings will be in the main building (social hall), with all the other dens.  Before every den meeting there will be a mini-pack meeting, with a flag ceremony and announcements from our Cub Master, followed by our den meeting.

We will continue to use the sign-in/out sheet that was used last year.  You must sign your son IN and OUT at every den meeting.  If you plan on a different pick-up person, please let us know during sign-in.  If we are in the courtyard doing an activity when you arrive for pick-up, please wait for us to return to the social hall for dismissal so you can properly sign-out your son.  Your son’s safety is our top priority.

One week per month we will try to plan a “Go See It.”  These may sometimes be scheduled at a different time and/or day than the den meetings.  Please remember that “Go See Its” are optional.  We encourage everyone to attend, and ask that you volunteer to help organize/execute these excursions any way you can.

There will be a pack meeting near the end of almost every month.  Some pack meetings will be replaced with an event such as the Blue & Gold dinner, or they may cancel due to holiday schedules.  We will try to push this information to you monthly, but please check the website for updates and changes.

The 2^nd Tuesday of each month, there will be a Pack Leaders/Parent meeting immediately following the den meeting (7:30pm-8:15ish).  You are invited to attend and participate in all of these meetings.

BEHAVIOR

We plan on keeping the activities moving along, so the boys will stay engaged and interested.  However, we will talk about behavior expectations during our 1^st Den meeting.  The scouts will be creating a Den 3 Code of Conduct Chart.  Once created, all the boys will sign it, and we will give everyone a copy.

We will also have a “conduct” candle burning at each den meeting.  The goal is to keep the candle burning for the entire meeting, by following the Code of Conduct.  If the boys stray too far from good, clean fun during a den meeting, or show poor behavior, we will offer warnings to the den, and if it continues, we will blow out the candle for the rest of the meeting.  If they follow the Code of Conduct well, then the candle will burn down through consecutive meetings, and when the candle has burned down completely, we will have some type of reward for the boys (ice cream, entertainment, etc…), and start burning a new candle at the next meeting.

SCRAPBOOK – ACHIEVEMENT

One of our achievements this year is to create and work on a den scrapbook (achievement 8c).  We do not want this project to be overwhelming, so we will pick 2 scouts per month to individually make a page.  We will supply the paper.  Scouts can use photos (elective 11), draw pictures, journal, or any other creative expression to scrapbook the activities we did that month.  They can be as simple or elaborate as the boys want – we want them to be creative!  The page will be due by the 1^st den meeting of the following month.  By the end of the year, we should have a great memory book and it will be kept for the boys as they progress up through Cub Scouts.   When they get ready to crossover to Boy Scouts, it will be fun for them to look back at all of their Cub Scout memories.

DUES

We have decided to reduce den meeting dues to $2 per meeting (or $40 per year).  These dues will cover supplies and possible activity costs for our den.  You are welcome to pay in full or pay each week, or whenever/however you can.  We will have a “Dues” box near the sign-in sheet.  Please place your dues in an envelope with your child’s name and amount inside. 

If you have challenges with any financial aspect of being in cub scouts, please let us know, and we will work with you and our pack leaders to help find a solution to keep your son in our den/pack. 

HELP WANTED

The pack is asking for two parent volunteers from each den, each week, to help monitor the courtyard before and after the meetings.  We will have a sign-up sheet for volunteers.  The boys are free to run around and burn off some energy in the courtyard, however, we want to keep them safely contained in the courtyard with supervision.

CONCLUSION

We want to thank you in advance for your time, efforts, and patience. We look forward to a fun and rewarding year!

Yours in Scouting,

Jamie & Jen McCleskey

Pictures from 2009 Crossover at Fort Wilderness

We have some photos from the 2009 Crossover at Ft. Wilderness on our Photos page. If you have any photos you would like to share, you can email them to clermontpack20@gmail.com.

No Meeting for Den 3 Wolves March 10th

Since we are not able to meet at the church next week (3/10/09), we have decided to NOT meet next week. This means our next Den meeting will be 3/17/09.

Also just a reminder we are asking for volunteers to please help with pig on the pond Friday and Saturday the 13th and 14th from 6pm till 10pm. Please email brian.zollweg@hewitt.com to sign-up or if you have questions. Thank you for your help