Class B NOVA Brag Shirts

So, some thinking was done. It was decided that a majority if not all of the activities it would be better for the boys to do in their Class B shirts. But I wanted a way for the boys to be able to brag about all the activities they will be doing over the next seven months. When someone sees the pins and NOVA badge on their Brag vest for doing their STEM requirements- the actual amount of work done by each scout to earn those pins and badges would not be apparent. The answer: A Class B NOVA Shirt with Brag Stamps on the back.

To offset the cost for parents in having another Class B shirt for NOVA, iron on transfer sheets for lights shirt colors will be purchased.  By simply going into Microsoft WORD and using the "Word Art" option under the Insert Tab, we are easily able to create an arch and spell out our Pack name, and using an arch of the other direction at the bottom of the page have our affiliation. Stuck dead center in the middle of the two, is the symbol for the Scouting NOVA/STEM program.

Iron on Transfer sheets can be printed on from your home printer. Keep in mind that the color white will never be printed from your printer. These iron-ons, can then be given to scouts at STEM activities to take home and create their own Class B NOVA shirt.

The back of a scouts shirt will be reserved for "brag stamps". Iron on's of activities down by the scout. Scouts will either receive a Pack brag stamp, a den elective brag stamp, or a participation brag stamp.

Activities that are specific like den electives, the scout assigned in scoutlander to that den that attends will receive a  brag stamp specific to that event:

Webelo's for example might receive a brag stamp like this for doing their den specific STEM Elective "Earth Rocks". This would be ironed onto the back of their Class B NOVA Shirt.

Wolves and Bears would receive participation brag Stamps for trying or exploring the Webelo activity. Theirs would appear as such:

                             

          

                         

                                     Wolf Paw Print                                             Bear Paw Print

If a Webelo was to explore the Wolves "Digging in the Past" Elective by trying the Dino Dig, their participation brag stamp would appear as below:

Now Pack STEM events, where all the packs participate together, all the scouts will receive the same participation brag stamp iron on:

What about the Tigers? I'm glad you asked. Even though STEM is not designed for Tigers, we do not want to exclude the Tigers from participating in activity with the older boys, especially as Pack Events.  As the Tigers have no individual STEM den electives, they wold not earn individual den brag stamps. BUT Tigers could earn their own participation brag stamp for exploring electives specific to the older boys dens. 

For every older den specific activity they explore, they would get their own Tiger participation brag stamp. For Pack STEM activities that are specific to no den, the boys would earn the same brag stamp as the other boys when attending these activities.

Boys will get a Class B NOVA front iron-on the first time they attend a STEM event: Webelo to Tiger. All boys will get their brag stamps at the end of an activity event or day. 

Wolf Cub Dino Dig! Part 1: Counselor's Job

As part of the elective requirements for Wolf Scouts in the module Science is Everywhere, the boys must complete their Digging in the Past elective from their cub scout manual.  The requirements read as follows:

Requirement number 1 is made simple and easy by PBS, their popular show Dinosaur Train has fact cards that can be printed out and used in a matching game!

http://pbskids.org/dinosaurtrain/games/fieldguide.html

The Fossil cast requirement in number 3 can be done using baby hand printing mold kits or plaster of Paris!

This one is sold at Michaels for as low as $6

Now, number 4 can be as crazy or as simple as you decide to make it as a counselor. For our boys, I chose the crazy end and went around to different butcher shops and got bone donations pledges to be picked up the day before the activity. This way our boys could unearth real bones! I did this by getting donations not only from a local butcher shop but a meat packing plant from the nearest big city (in our case 30 minutes drive). When I explained what I was doing with the bones, the owners were more than willing to donate for the enjoyment of the bones. Smoked bones will have a brown coloring and can be kept longer un-refrigerated. Fresh pink bones while whiter, still have the marrow intact and will rot if left un-refrigerated. So keep this in mind if going this route. To give you an idea of the sizes of the bones we will be picking up next week, the bone shown below being held by an adult dog, is the femur bone of a cow. This is one of the bone types that will be donated:

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We plan to do the dig at a local state beach to take advantage of the beach sand .  The large bones will already be beneath a layer of sand and the wolves will put smaller bones on top unknowingly/ When asked to dig below, the fun will begin when they find bones bigger then they buried. 

To keep track of the requirements of this activity for tracking, a small amount of cut, paste, and Microsoft word was employed. Wolf Digging in the Past Tracking Form