Cyber Chip

This year, the BSA is requiring all scouts earn the Cyber Chip.  This is to encourage internet safety. As fourth graders, I am sure you are all using computers more than ever and the BSA has established the Cyber Chip to help you stay safe while online.  Here are all the resources you need to complete the Cyber Chip:

The Cyber Chip Worksheet

The Scout Law and Online Safety

The Netsmartz Website

The whole process takes about an hour.

Try to get the Cyber Chip information covered over Christmas break. If you complete the Cyber Chip, just let me know so you can get credit for it.

Duty to God

A Scout is Reverent.  

This is one of the 12 points of the Scout Law. Being reverent to God is part of our Duty to God. Reverence is when we go to worship and when we pray before meals. 

As scouts we promise to "Do our Duty to God and our Country". What is our Duty to God. There is not exactly one answer. It is telling someone about God. It is also living in a way that honors God. We can honor God by helping at our place of worship.  We can honor God by helping other people.  We can also honor God by thanking Him for everything he has given us. We should also remember that people of different faiths worship and honor God in different ways. We also honor God by respecting each other in the way that we worship. One other point of the Scout Law is "a Scout is Clean".  This means more than washing your hands and keeping your body clean on the outside. Your Duty to God is to keep your self clean on the inside. Keeping your mind and spirit clean honors God.

Pastor Jude from Windover Hills will be guiding us in out Duty to God this year at our December 9th meeting. This is a Class A event

Into the Woods

In this adventure we discussed different tree types and they ways that we use wood. A guide to Pennsylvania's Trees can be downloaded here - Pennsylvania's Trees

As a Boy Scout you can earn the Forestry Merit Badge. You can see the Forestry Merit Badge Pamphlet by clicking in the merit badge. Earning the Into the Woods Adventure Pin prepares you for this merit badge when you are a Boy Scout. 

We can protect our forests by practicing Leave No Trace and by following the Outdoor Code.

Our forests are sometimes damaged by wildfires and disease.

In the past, American Chestnut trees almost completely disappeared due to disease.

Dutch Elm Disease killed almost all the elm trees that once shaded our neighborhoods,

Recently and visible in our park is the damage inflicted by the Emerald Ash Borer. This is a beetle that eats its way under the bark of ash trees and very effectively kills them. Most of the ash trees in our area have succumb to the Emerald Ash Borer. 

Here is a copy of the Into the Woods Adventure Worksheet

Webelos Camping Adventure

This year, one of the Arrow of Light requirements is the Camper Adventure. To earn this pin the scout must accomplish many things and it ties together skills and knowledge from previous experiences. As scouts we have the opportunity each summer to go to Heritage Reservation for overnight camp. As Webelos we are able to camp as a patrol. It is important to know how to plan for a camp out. 

Planning for a camp out includes: meals, activities and what to do in an emergency. 

Severe weather is something you need to be prepared for.

This is the cover of the Boy Scout Camping Merit Badge Pamphlet. This is the guidebook for Boy Scouts to use to earn their Camping Merit Badge. 

The Camping Adventure Pin starts to prepare the Webelos for the more rigorous Boy Scout camping.

An important skill for the Camper Pin is the Bowline Knot. Here is an illustration on how to tie the Bowline. This is a knot that every scout needs to know.

Map and Compass

The compass has long been a tool used by Boy Scouts. Compasses lead the explorers to the new world and across our country.

We have been talking about compasses every year since Tigers. There have been opportunities at different camps to use different compasses and to earn the old "Map and Compass" belt loop.

If you only have a compass, you can make a map of the area you are exploring. If you have a map and compass, you can navigate.

Different compasses have different characteristics.

This is probably the kind of compass we have all seen. It is made from clear plastic so it can be laid on a map. There is a small ruler and protractor on the base, so you can measure distances and angles. This type of compass is usually reliable and reasonably priced.

This is called a Lensatic Compass.  There is a lens you can look through and a sight.  This type compass is made from rugged aluminum.  This compass has the unique feature of a "glow in the dark" dial. You would be able to orient yourself at night using this type of compass.

This is a liquid filled compass.  This type of compass uses liquid to control the spin of the dial.  There is a sight on this type of compass that you would look through and read your bearing.

This type compass is actually more properly called a Hand Transit. It is really a scientific instrument that has a compass inside of it. You can use this device to determine the height of a hill, the slope of a valley and you can layout a map. The mirror can be used to signal for help too.

The GPS Unit has not yet replaced the compass.  This little gadget will take you from point A to point B very easily, provided you have batteries and satellite reception. A GPS unit triangulates your location by bouncing your point off of orbiting satellites. It takes three satellites to be able to triangulate your position.

 

The old compass may eventually be replaced with the compass app. With a smart phone or an iPod you can have at your fingertips a compass and a GPS unit.

Bobcat Merit Badges

When you join Cub Scouts the first merit badge you earn is the Bobcat Badge. This is earned without regard to your grade level or age. The bobcat journey is the introduction to scouting. It starts the scout along the path by teaching the most fundamental elements of boy scouts. These elements are the Cub Scout Motto, the Cub Scout Sign, the Cub Scout Salute, the Cub Scout Handshake, the Scout Law and the Scout Oath.

Cub Scout motto
Do Your Best

Cub Scout sign

Two separated fingers held up high (like a peace sign)

Cub Scout salute
Two fingers together held above the brow

Cub Scout handshake
Handshake with two fingers extended

In years past, we have learned the Cub Scout Oath and Law. This year we will be learning the Boy Scout Oath and Law.

Scout Oath

On my honor I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake, and morally straight.


Scout Law

A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly,
courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty,
brave, clean, and reverent.

The final step of the Journey to Bobcat is the review of the Parents Guide to Protecting Your Child From Abuse. 

Camp Cooking

You can make camp cooking very simple or very complicated.

If you are on a day hike, you might just bring some trail mix and beef jerky to keep you from getting too hungry, but if you are on a multi-day camp out you will want to have hot food. Your cooking options are only limited to how much you want to carry.

Open flame cooking can be as simple as a hot dog on a stick or it can be a complete meal cooked inside a dutch oven.                   

A two burner camp stove can make cooking as easy as it is at home. This type of stove is about the size of a briefcase. It is not very light but with two burners, you can cook more food, faster.

A one burner stove like this one weighs just a few ounces. It has only one burner and a small fuel tank. This is a great little stove, but would only meet the needs of one or two people. The gas canisters for this type of stove can be hard to find outside of specialty stores.

These two stoves are very small, the little brass stove on the left burns rubbing alcohol. The steel one on the right burns fuel pellets. These two stoves can be brought on airplanes because of the types of fuels they use.