Tic Tac's Geocaching Hike

From Tic Tac:

The Meeting on Wednesday October 1st will be at Centennial Park, located on the corner of the 10th Side Road and the 7th LINE of Innisfil.  There is lots of parking, washrooms, and a covered pavilion in case of inclement weather.  We will meet at the pavilion for a quick little geography lesson about the basics of latitude and longitude and how we use coordinates to locate things.

This will be an outdoor activity, so please dress appropriatly for the weather, and bring a bottle of water.  There is a covered pavilion and washrooms at Centential park, we will meet rain or shine.

Please be there promptly at 6:45 because it is getting darker earlier and earlier.  We will be off on the hunt at 7pm SHARP. 

What is geocaching?

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.
Here is a link to the OFFICIAL GEOCACHING WEBSITE FAQ ABOUT THE ACTIVITY, with a cool little youtube video to give you an idea of what we will be doing with the Beavers

http://www.geocaching.com/guide/default.aspx

Parents are more than welcome to participate in this cache hunt with their own GPS device.  Here is the link to the geocache we will be hunting for, with the coordinates.  If you are planning to give this a whirl,  please pre-program your GPS with the coordinated to save time.  Daylight is our enemy at this time of the year.

http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC194PQ_tree-hugger-2

Here are the coordinates in 3 different formats, depending on your GPS
Decimal 44.28113 -79.64652
DDD MM.MMM N 44° 16.868 W 079° 38.791
DDD MM SS.SSS N 44° 16' 52.068" W 79° 38' 47.472"

Automotive GPSs may or may not be capable for geocaching.  Your AUTOMOTIVE GPS must be able to GOTO a POINT using DIRECT coordinates AND BE CAPABLE OF DIRECT ROUTING, (AS THE CROW FLIES, STRAIGHT LINE FROM POINT TO POINT) to be able to use it for geocaching.  Otherwise, the GPS will just take you to the closet point to the cache on a road. 

There is also an APP section on geocaching.com if you want to try it with your SMARTPHONE.  Here is the link to that.  I used my iPhone and an older Android smartphone and the apps actually works quite well.

http://www.geocaching.com/mobile/default.aspx

If you have ANY questions at all, please email me (Tic Tac) at t4194bd@yahoo.ca and I will try my best to help you out!

Toronto Argonauts - Scouts Night

Scouts Night Fast Approaching

SATURDAY OCTOBER 25, 2014

 

The Toronto Argonauts Football Club presents an exclusive Scouts Night on
Saturday October 25, 2014 from 2:00pm - 7:00pm.

Pre-Game Activities start at 2:00 p.m.
Activities include a Scavenger Hunt around the Rogers Centre,
Scout Popcorn Show-n-Sell, Prizes, Games and much more!

Join us for a fun-filled unique game day of football as the Toronto Argonauts take on their rival the Hamilton Tiger Cats!

Tickets are specially priced at $31ea.
for Scouts, Family & Friends to enjoy the game.

BE SURE TO WEAR YOUR NECKERS | UNIFORMS OPTIONAL

Let us know if you want to purchase tickets

Ringtail's crafty musings: Our Hike

 During our hike with the cubs this past week, we encountered quite a few plants - and of course it is most children's basic instinct to grab, hold and inspect everything they come across. 

Not everything on the trail is necessarily the safest thing for kids to hold though and so we need to encourage them to "see with their eyes and not with their hands".

But what to do with a child like I was - who wanted to collect everything they came across?  Well...give them a digital camera and let them go to work, taking as many pictures as they want.  Copy these to a personal computer and have your child pick the ones they like the best.

With a little digital knowhow - which most kids have in spades, you could put together something like the collage I've created here.  If you ever want ideas of great and free software that can assist with this - let me know.  I personally use Photoshop.

These pictures were taken while I took my kids out yesterday on one of our local hiking trails with the purpose of collecting as many different kinds of leaves as they want.  They were my test subjects for the leaf collection hike we have this coming Wednesday.  I was thinking of different ways to make this craft idea more spiffy...and of course individual shots of colour from flowers would make a large difference.

 

The reality is, there is no limit to what the kids can do...it all comes down to time and imagination.

 

If you have ideas of crafts, please let us know - I'd encourage a guest post!!!

 

Ringtail

 

1st Alcona Apple Day - Sept 26-27

Apple Day is a traditional fundraising event that started right here in Canada. This is an annual event that provides our Scouting youth with an opportunity to show their appreciation to the general public for their support throughout the year. Our youth distribute apples as a way of saying “Thank You” to the community. Donations are accepted in exchange, but apples are not sold.

 

Any money raised during Apple Day goes towards improving the Scouting program through registration fee subsidies, outings, camping equipment, training and many other endeavours.

 

Each Group has a designated area to canvass including neighbourhood stores and other traveled areas. Although participation and date are up to the discretion of the individual groups.

 

The 1st Alcona Apple Day will be taking place on Friday evening (September 26th) and Saturday morning/afternoon (September 27th) in various locations throughout Alcona.  If you have not signed up your child to help out, please contact your section leader (myself for Beavers).  We do ask that a parent or guardian please be present for the event, especially for Beavers or Cubs in case they need to use the washroom.

 

Dress according to the weather, wear uniforms if you have them, bring along an Apple shining rag and bring a drink and snack for your child.

 

And for everyone, please donate generously when you receive an apple!

 

Ringtail

Next meeting - Beaver Hike and Leaf Collection

Weather depending, on September 24th, the 1st Alcona Beavers will be taking a short hike in the area close to our regular meeting location.  Please make note of the temperature and have your child dress accordingly.  Outdoor footwear like boots is very important, especially if it has rained any time recent to the meeting. 

Each Beaver should bring a small bag to collect different kinds of leaves or plants for their very own Leaf book.

We will be supplying the necessary materials to create a basic collection book...though we encourage each Beaver to show his own creativity by using whatever craft materials they have of their own - crayons, different types of construction paper, wax paper, etc;  I am currently compiling a list of ideas to hand out at the meeting as well.

We will encourage the Beavers to bring in the book at a future meeting for a show and share.

Any questions, please reach out to me.

Ringtail

Great Canadian Beaver Race & Festival

This coming Sunday, there is an event in Barrie that may be of interest to you.

The 5th Annual Great Canadian Beaver Race & Festival will be held at Heritage park in Barrie.

Tickets are $10.00 each and proceeds go to local charities.

There are great prizes to be had - as much as $10000.00!!!

Further details can be found on their website:
http://www.barriebeaverfestival.com/

Ringtail

Hike with Cubs - Tuesday, September 16th

We have been invited by the 1^st Alcona Cubs to join them on their Trans-Canada Trail hike this coming Tuesday.  The section we would be hiking apparently has some Beaver Dams so it would be a great opportunity for the kids to see.  This is an Optional meeting, not replacing our regular meeting on Wednesday.

Drop off is at the entrance to the trail on the 5th Side Rd. of Essa (just before the 11th Line of Essa) at 6:45pm.  Pick up will be in the parking lot of the Cookstown Foodland near the Tim Horton's at 8:15pm

Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather (the forecast currently shows that day to be 16 degrees and sunny).  Also, please bring a water bottle and a flashlight.

Trail Map - 5th sideroad to Cookstown

Here is the google map:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/44%C2%B012'54.6%22N+79%C2%B042'57.6%22W/@44.2151635,-79.716011,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en

Hope to see you there!

Ringtail

Code of Conduct

1^st Alcona Beavers

 

CODE OF CONDUCT

Leaders and youth members will work together to promote good behavior within the group, while enjoying a program packed with fun and adventures.

Rules of Beaver Behaviour

• All beavers must agree to join in and work as a group.

• Beavers and their leaders will listen to each other when talking.
• Beavers will not punch, hit, slap, grab, bite, take someone’s hat or push another Beaver.
• No Beaver will make fun of anyone else; no bullying or name-calling.
• No Beaver will use language that is inappropriate.

Consequences of Unacceptable Behaviour

• Beavers will be taken away from the group and given a first time warning about their behaviour.

• With a second warning, the Beaver must “sit out” an activity.
• With a third warning, a Leader will speak with the parent to explain the recurring problem, also the Beaver will be sent home with a note which the parent must sign.
• With a fourth warning, a Leader will meet with the parent to discuss other measures, which may include:

 Suspension for 1 meeting, or a written apology from the Beaver or Parental supervision for up to 3 meetings. All warnings given will be recorded.

We hope that with the Beavers, Parents and Leaders working together to enforce these rules we will have the best year yet!

Tim Norton (Ringtail)

Welcome!

On behalf of the Leadership team of 1st Alcona Beavers as well as the local governance committee of 1st child...and the first steps into the larger world of Scouting.

We have a lot of activities already planned, though we aim to be flexible to the needs of each Beaver as balanced in the Colony as a whole – so if you and/or your child has an idea of something
you would like us to do, please don’t hesitate to reach out to myself or any of the other leaders. WE VALUE YOUR OPINION!

We are also always in need of more volunteers, either as a full-time/part-time leader or even somebody willing to work with the group committee on special projects. If you have some time you’d like to commit, let me know. For roles working with the children there are certain prerequisites that need to be completed first.

We are also providing a Code of Conduct that was approved by the team last year. 1st
Beavers is an Anti-Bullying organization and these are the steps we feel are most appropriate to enforce this. Please let us know if you have concerns there as well.

Next to last, please inform us if your child has any health-conditions we need to be aware.  Also, if you are ever thinking of bringing in a treat please check with us in advance. We have at least one child with a severe egg-allergy. It’s very important we remember things like that for times like Halloween or Christmas.

Lastly, we understand if some of you may want to stay during the indoor meetings to watch your child, however we have found that if you are not an official leader this can actually be counterproductive. The children tend to bend our rules when their primary caregivers are present and it’s difficult to manage the meeting effectively. We are okay if you want to stay for a meeting or two, but afterwards we prefer you stay outside of the gymnasium during the regular meetings.

We are looking forward to providing your child guidance in the early stages of the Scouting
movement.

Tim Norton (Ringtail)