PACK ADMIN HELPS

ADVENTURES IN BOOKS

Great Salt Lake Council

Welcome, come listen to the stories I have to tell. Many adventures are yet to be told. Each of them can go in many directions. You of all people have a hand in how they unfold. Will you be the hero, forgotten or remembered, or the one who just sat letting things unfold no matter if they are good or bad? Whether or not that you want to admit it, you are helping to create our future. Are you going to help it or hurt it? Just remember as you decide if you will take this task that you are affecting your own future too. How? You really don’t know? Think about it, think hard. You already have the answer inside.

Many believe that homework is just boring. How can it truly be boring? You're testing the mind to solve future mysteries. In the process of learning more the mind develops faster mentally, preparing for future tasks and adventures set ahead. Life is an adventure that is different for everyone. Each individual view makes life interesting and leaves stories to be told to future generations. Funny ones, sad ones, yes even angry ones. But each story has something important to share with others. The better one can read, the better they can write. Writing every day sharing the emotions felt can tend to show others that life over all is not as boring as one would think. Think back to your past. All of the emotions. What could you share that might teach the future what to look out for. How many of those past situations of your life do you look back on and laugh at, cry about, or realize that through maturing or aging now view it differently even though you still remember how you felt back then? Grandchildren love to eat up these stories. People have published books on their childhood experiences. As for the other types of homework it will only help the brain learn how to brainstorm for answers for problem solving that they will need in their future. You may have an award winning author in your midst of the pack. Whether it’s writing about a fictional book or information published that rivals Steven Hawkins, Albert Einstein, or any other scientific or humanitarian aspect.

The Sphinx of legends old asked riddles that many now know. Here are some for you that are new. What is the fastest bird that can move? If you know, how does it dance and can it do the moon walk? One hint, it was newly discovered. Is it possible to swim with crocodiles without getting eaten? I wouldn’t advise it…but the answer is in why do they attack their prey? Can sharks stop swimming and lie on the bottom without dying or jump out of the water and why? There are the Asian elephant and the African elephant, but is that the only way to classify them and is there such a thing as a desert elephant? Do all camels drink just fresh water? Is there something that some call the Unicorn of the Ocean or is it someone’s imagination? Remember that all legends come from some sort of truth, even if it is just to teach a lesson or the facts were changed to make it entertaining to the youth at the time to keep their attention.

Are you willing to share what you have to share, or will you deny what you have to offer until there is nothing left to offer? Your value is beyond what you will ever know. Your imagination boundless. Just open up and you will be accepting destiny. The destiny that was chosen just for you. Seek the disk of knowledge to start your quest.

You have now taken the next step in your quest. You must help the boys to see the real fun and adventure that comes with reading. Help them to realize their potential in affecting the future. Pull out your Cub Scout Handbooks and search through them for the requirements for reading and anything that deals with learning through reading. Stories, newspapers, and more will help you on this quest when you find what you need to go over. What good is a quest if someone always helps you in simple tasks? Teach the boys that don’t know how to look up information in a book so that they can do it for themselves later.

Boys can make their own story or trivia books. An example for the trivia books would be to find trivia card games or books with good information that asks questions or make up your own questions. (Similar to some of the questions on the page in the POW WOW Book for this theme.) Take cardstock or paper and divide each into 6 even pieces. If the paper is too thin then glue 2 pieces together to make it stiffer. Do this until you have enough pages for the question. Place the question on one side of the page and the answer on the back. Punch 3 holes on the left edge so that you can place rings or tie the pages together. You also can make a front and back cover. If you are using trivia cards make sure that you have two sets so that one can be on the front for the question and one on the back for the answer to be shown. (See example diagram below.)

Next, have the boys bring in their Scholastic book order forms from their school. Even if they only pick one book with a small price that they are interested in could help get them to start using their imagination more. Talk to the parents about it. If they can’t afford it talk about finding someone who needs someone to do extra work for them. Pulling weeds, walking the dog, or other easy way for the boys to earn money on their own. Please, what ever you do, make sure that the parents know and trust them enough to let their son work for them. Working to read and reading to work are both important things one must know in life.

Scholastic has a way for you and parents to get a free newsletter with tips on how to help your child read and learn at www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/family According to Scholastic, there are several ways to connect children to books they want to read. They are: Letting their interests guide their choices. Picture books are great for everyone, especially for family read-alouds. Tell them some of your favorite books. (Have the parents tell their children what some of their favorites are too.) Remember that to help a child become a successful reader they should talk, listen, and read together with others. (If they child is too shy or embarrassed about their reading, have them practice at home or with someone they trust. Eventually they might just open up and read with the pack latter on.) Other things to keep in mind is that from ages 6 to 8 reading does not come naturally and needs to be practiced. Research has showed that children need to be exposed to words around 6 to 60 times before they can memorize and read them fluently without stopping to sound out words. Please remember that some may need more time and help. From the ages 9 to 12 children need ongoing encouragement, and should be surrounded by a book rich environment at home. Exposing them to a wide variety of reading materials like science fiction, mystery, and nonfiction helps build vocabulary and comprehension.

(The following is according to Scholastic.) Start with picture books, then easy readers, then by Kindergarten to 3rd Grade they will be in chapter books and reading on their own. There are two things to remember for those in 3rd Grade to 6th Grade. Fantasy and Mystery are for those who have imaginations that are intensifying by leaps and bounds. Adventure, Family, Friendship and Award-Winners are for those who like family-oriented literature and action-packed adventure. Books about Activities, Sports, and Humor are good for children of all ages with interests in writing, drawing, laughter, or learning more about their favorite sports heroes. And last of all the Reference and Science books are nonfiction books for all ages who want to know who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Go to the local Library for a fieldtrip. While you are there go over how to find types of books they are interested in and get applications for library cards for them. Better yet, let the boys show you how to do things there. If they feel that they know more about something than you do it could boost their self-esteem to help their leader out. If it is new to you then you’ll be able to learn Remember, the one who learns to do for themselves are those who learn to teach others. Those who teach others and remember that they can still learn more from others make the best teacher.

Search to see and understand your boys personalities more by having a book making competition. Encourage all of the boys to pick a topic that they like. Something that deals with an epic adventure they had on a hike, campout, ball-field, or even a park. Other topics can be used if needed, especially for those with disabilities. Some of the funniest stories come from life experiences. Maybe they even learned how to solve a problem with a bully and things improved. Let them know that as long as it’s appropriate in language and what happens in it they’ll do just fine. Competition against others can be a nightmare. But, the secret to this competition is that they are really competing against themselves for improvement. If they have problems spelling at first that’s alright. Just have them write a rough draft first. Let them know that this is the time to make mistakes and they will be fixing them after. If they need to make pictures to help tell their story, let them. For those who are really having problems or are embarrassed to write let them know that you, their parents / guardians or siblings can help them out. Have dictionaries they can use when they are finished. Give them hints on how to use it if they don’t know how. Have them sound it out and think about what it is they should look for first and try looking further by remembering all of the sounds the letters of the alphabet make. Show off their work at the pack meeting. During this time they can pick a character from their favorite story and make a costume so they can act out their story. Remember that some stories the character might be telling the story, so help them learn how to relax so they can have fun sharing the story and acting out what they did while telling it. Just like other story tellers.

When you hand out the awards for their stories, make sure that you have a certificate and maybe small gifts for every boy. The certificates should be for the funniest, most adventurous, or even best moral of the story theme. You can even go to a dollar store to find paper to be used as stationary, pencils, maybe even sharpeners. Place them into clear plastic gift bags with homemade confetti and small paper streamers inside the bag. Tie the bag with blue and yellow ribbon, string or yearn. Maybe now they will believe that their hard work is worth more than thy thought it was.

This is a great time to give the boys courage to search out and discover an adventure to share with others. A perfect time to promote Pedro’s “Say Yes To Reading” program. It’s found in the Boy’s Life magazine. You can also work on the pins and belt loops for Communicating and Computers.

If you are looking for a service project there are a couple things that you can do for your local school library. One is that you can go around collecting books to be donated, or you can do a fundraiser to raise money for a set of encyclopedias and give the money to the school for the reason of adding to the library. Even if you can’t raise the full amount you can at least help them get part of a new set to update the one they have. Check first with the library to see when they last updated their set. They may or may not need one. You could also collect books for the local County Library closest to your pack. Keep your eyes open for sales they have. Your pack could go to the that library and buy any used books on sale. Some could be on tape for those read-alouds.