Caroling Beavers!

Hi Beavers,

Tomorrow evening we will meet at the upstairs balcony area of Moncion's Independent @ 6:30PM for some Christmas Caroling Fun. Siblings of beavers are welcome to join in the singing if parents are present!

Bring your Christmas Cheer, See you then!

More Christmas!

Beavers will be in the gym today for more singing practice and Christmas crafts....

Singing Beavers!

Beavers will be in the gym tomorrow night to learn some singing for a special Christmas event - Details to Come! There will also be some crafts and lots of fun! See you tomorrow in the gym!

Beavers Building Christmas!

Hi Beavers,

Lots of exciting things happening! First thing is that we will be learning some Christmas songs tomorrow in preparation for our carolling event! We will be doing that in the St. Jerome gym. Second is that we are invited to the Manotick Christmas Parade. Saturday December 7th; We will meet at the Manotick Arena at 12:00 noon to decorate the floats – the parade starts at 1:00 p.m.

Third is...Popcorn is in and we will be handing that out very very shortly!

See you tomorrow Beavers!

Doh! Next Tuesday Session Cancelled!

Doh! Unfortunately St. Jerome has just informed us that we will not have the gym next week. On such short notice, we will need to cancel the beavers session for next week! Not to worry though the beavers leaders are busy devising something awesome to make up for the cancelled session! We will keep you posted!

Beavers Caring - Ottawa Humane Society

 

Hi Parents!  We are very excited to announce that A Colony has a special meeting coming up next Tuesday, November 12th.  We will be visiting the Ottawa Humane Society to tour their facility, learn about important work they do and meet some of the animals they have rescued! 

We are asking parents to drop off at the Ottawa Humane Society at 245 West Hunt Club Road at 6: 30.  The tour will last an hour.   We will be covering the cost of the tour, but they are always looking for certain items to help run their daily activities and these items can be found on their “Wish List” by clicking the link below.  They would greatly appreciate anything you can provide.

Enjoy the rest of your week and we’ll see you next Tuesday!

http://ottawahumane.ca/gifts/inkind.cfm

Remeberance Day for Beavers!

This Tuesday is in The Gym! To learn what Remembrance Day means for Beavers! And for everybody's favorite activity Parachute time!
See you then, with your indoor shoes!

Beaver Halloween!

We are in the gym! Remember costumes tonight and leave the fragile bits of your costume behind as we will be having lots of activities and fun! See you then!

White Tail Beaver Museum Adventure Sleepover 2013

This year's Sleepover will again be held at the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa. It will be held on three separate nights so don't miss out - REGISTER EARLY!!!

Come and celebrate your White Tails’ last year of Beavers at this special event. This is not your ordinary visit to a museum. It offers adventure, learning, fun, creativity, special visitors, food, songs, games, and excitement. Picture yourself sleeping with the locomotives, or in outer space.

The Sleepover starts after supper at home and includes a variety of activities, a snack before bedtime, and the evening ends with a Campfire/Singsong with 250 other 7-year-old Beavers and adults from all across the Voyageur Council. The following morning includes breakfast, more activities and a Scouts Own. The Beavers will be leaving the museum about 8:45 A.M.

The maximum number of participants for each Sleepover is 250. Over the years the Sleepover has been filled to capacity. This year's fee will be $26 per person and it is important to get it in early for best selection of nights. Let us know tomorrow if any white tails are interested!

Remember Last Weekend for Popcorn!

Collections due next Tuesday.

For payment by check, please make the payable to "1st Manotick - Scouts Group "

The popcorn order forms have to be returned to us at by October 22nd (Next Tuesday). Product delivery, will occur mid November.

Beavers Lost and Found

If this happens to belong to a beaver. We have your jacket, let us know at 6132617583.

Miller's Farm Pumpkin Patch!

Tues. Oct. 22

Field trip to Miller's Farm

6158 Rideau Valley Drive

6:30-7:30pm

Wagon ride to pumpkin patch, story time & snack

It is approximately 15 minutes to get the Miller's farm from St. Jerome Elementary School

Directions link here
http://goo.gl/maps/KaKig

ObStaCle CoUrsE NiGhT!

 

Tuesday October 15th

Obstacle Course Night Tonight in the St. Jerome Gym!

Remember indoor footwear!

Investiture Tonight!

 Beavers are Getting There Tails!

 

Opening- caring and sharing time, explanation of investiture, review Beaver promise, law and motto

Campfire craft

Investiture (7:00-7:15)

1.     Parents are invited to stand behind their child

2.     Beavers make beaver salute and repeat law and promise in unison

3.     Beavers then turn to face their parents and repeat the law and promise in unison

4.     Beavers are then given their new tails and asked put on their neckerchief /woggle

 Campfire songs 

See you in the Gym!

Popcorn!

Scout Popcorn is the single most important fundraiser for our Beaver Colony. The money raised from this program, stays with A Colony and funds our entire year. Good programming costs money, and this nation wide program introduced by Scouts Canada that allows for just that.

Popcorn forms went home last week. We encourage you to help support our Colony with this program.

For payment by check, please make the payable to "1st Manotick - Scouts Group "

The popcorn order forms have to be returned to us at the by October 22nd, we will be providing reminders along the way between now and then. Product delivery, will occur in November.

There are some awesome prizes to be won for top performers.

October 1st! Nieghbourhood Hike!

Hi Everyone,

We are meeting in the gym tonight (October 1st) but we will have a short Nature walk around Four Seasons Park and gather things from nature that show us the seasons are changing for part of tonight's activities. Make sure you bring proper outerwear and footwear for the hike.

See you then! Remember to sign in and out on the sign-in sheet!

Beavers! Cleaning the Capital!

 
Who?: A Colony is 'hosting' our 3rd annual Community Cleanup. We've invited the parents and siblings of our Colony, to join us as we help "Take care of the world" right here in our own neighborhood.
 
What? For the second year in a row, we've registered with the City of Ottawa's Cleaning the Capital program.

When? Saturday, September 28. We are asking for one (1) hour of help, between 10AM and 12PM. We know that family weekends are busy, we hope that asking for one hour of time any time within this 2 hour window will provide you with enough flexibility to be able to fit this into your day.

Where? We're setting up in the Mountain Meadows parking lot, off of Spratt Road here in Riverside South. We plan on cleaning the entire park, including the forested area in behind the retail strip, all the way to the fence line that separates the B.G.M. school yard from the park.

Why? Parks get messy, and Beavers like to help.

We will have cleaning supplies (Garbage bags, gloves, and paper compost bags) on site courtesy of the city program. As well as some juice boxes.

Please dress appropriately for spending an hour outside, closed toed shoes are recommended. Beaver hats are encouraged, full beaver uniforms are not required.

Don't Forget! Beavers Tonight!

Where: St. Jerome Elementary School (4330 Spratt Rd)

 

When: Today! Tuesday September 24th, 6:30pm

 

What: Ready for fun and proper indoor gym foot wear

Welcome to the 1st Manotick A Colony Beavers 2013!

Welcome new and returning Beavers to A Colony Beavers! And another awesome year of beaver fun! Remember your caring and sharing experiences so you can tell us about them this Tuesday!

Where: St. Jerome Elementary School (4330 Spratt Rd)

When: Tuesday September 24th, 6:30pm

What: Ready for fun and proper indoor gym foot wear

Parents remember to see beaver leader Sunshine, to sign in and out on the attendance sheet!  We are very excited, can't wait! See you then!

Opening Night and Time Change!

Opening night is Tuesday September 24th at 6:30pm. Yes 15 minutes later so the race after work is not so tight! Whew! We will be at the Gym in St. Jerome Elementary School (4330 Spratt Rd). Please be sure to sign in your beaver when you arrive and sign out after your pick up. A Beaver Leader will have the sign in/out sheet.

Important Dates: Some up coming important dates are September 28th (Capital Cleanup in Mountain Meadows Park) and October 15th (Investiture). Details for both of these events to come!

Registration Night!

Hi Beavers and Beaver Mothers and Fathers, 

Hope you had an awesome summer and are ready for a stellar year of beaver fun and excitement! The beaver leaders are busy starting the dam and already have many exciting events planned for an action packed beaver year!

Registration Night is at the Community Centre (4310 Shoreline Dr) from 7pm-8pm on Tuesday September 10th. Beaver Leader Sunshine will be there to help you register and tend to any questions you might have! Again you can always register at www.myscouts.ca!

Remember the best place to keep posted of Colony A activities is this blog! Keep posted more to come soon! 

Late summer update.

Hello Everybody, a quick blog update from the mid point of August.

A Colony leadership is changing,  and yet to be finalized - we are currently working on establishing the team and plan for this coming session.


Interested in joining? www.myscouts.ca is the place to sign up. Sign up is quick and painless and will get the ball rolling for youth to join and/or renew into the Scouting movement. There will also be an information night where you can stop in and ask question and meet the team, details will be posted once it is confirmed.

2013 Registration

Hello Folks - been quiet over here since we wrapped up a number of weeks ago now.

Just a quick note this AM. Early registration provides a $10 discount - if you want to take advantage of that you only have until end of day today. I wanted to pop on here and let you know.

www.myscouts.ca is the spot, (login on the left) with the email address that you used to register your son last year.

You can go ahead and register at any time between now and Sept, but the cost will bump up to $200 as of tomorrow.

Cheers.

D.

Swim Up - Rain or shine.

From a previous post......

Wednesday May 22 - 1st Manotick "Swim Up" ceremony, at Claudette Cain Park. This is an annual event, to recognize the youth as they 'swim up' to the next level of scouting. Some of our white tail beavers will be 'swimming up' and joining Cub packs in the fall, this is where that happens. You'll spot more info on the 1st Manotick group site by clicking here.

I've just been told that it is rain or shine, we'll see you in the park @6:30 tonight!

Note: Claudette Cain Park is the city park beside the river, across from Moncion's grocery store.

D.

May 21 - End of Year Funhaven Party!!

Hey folks, we talked about this with the Colony last week ..........the excitement was obvious :)

It's end of year party time, and last year was so much fun we doing it at Funhaven again. If you need directions (it's behind IKEA, off of Pinecrest) click on the 'Visit' tab on their website.

Pizza and drinks will be served. Our group booking is from 6PM - 7:30.

Direct from Funhaven, here are some points to keep in mind.

• Socks are a health and safety requirement of our Jungle Gym/Ballocity area. Please ensure your group all have socks, or they will be available for purchase at the facility for $2 per pair.
• Running shoes are a safety requirement for the Climbing Wall, and will definitely make your Laser Tag experience more comfortable! 
• Guests need to be taller than 44 inches to ride the Bumper Cars, and they need to weigh more than 45lbs to experience the Climbing Wall.

NOTE: Swim up BBQ is in Claudette Cain park Wed night. I'll post more details in another post.

For those of you camping with us this coming weekend- expect a blog post on Wed night to talk through the details.

See you tomorrow!!

D.

2013 Beavers. Remaining meetings/events.

He Everyone. Three marquee events ( +one more regular meeting in the Gym) remaining on the 2013 beaver calendar. I need your help pulling together all the details to get our Colony fully registered an accounted for at each of these events. ........Please email me your reply to the yellow highlighted sections below. Thank you :)

Tuesday May 14 - Regular meeting in our Gym. Well, outside of our Gym if possible. If the weather participates we'll be out back having fun in the schoolyard. If it's unseasonably cool, we'll have our last regular meeting in the Gym.

Tuesday May 21 - End of year Pizza Party, at Funahaven :) Details to follow.


Wednesday May 22 - 1st Manotick "Swim Up" ceremony, at Claudette Cain Park. This is an annual event, to recognize the youth as they 'swim up' to the next level of scouting. Some of our white tail beavers will be 'swimming up' and joining Cub packs in the fall, this is where that happens. You'll spot more info on the 1st Manotick group site by clicking here.


Needed - If your son is planning on attending Cub's in the fall, please let me know ASAP (Early registration forms will be available shortly). As parents and siblings are invited to attend Swim Up as well (Free bbq!) we need a headcount. Please let me know how many in total from your family will be attending Swim Up on the 22nd.

May 24, 25, 26 - All Sections Camp. - Only one of our five leaders are confirmed available for this full weekend event .....and that would be me (Dan). The show will go on, but as we are short leadership coverage, it will be mandatory for this event that a parent attends with their Beaver. It is worth noting that it is extremely rare for beavers to attend with out a parent even with full leadership coverage, so only one leader should not change much for this weekend. You have the option to arrive on Friday night, or Saturday morning. Details posted here.


Needed - Please RSVP to me via email with: Your (Accompanying parent's) full name. Your Beavers full name. Your planned arrival date (Either Friday or Saturday).

With these events planned, this will wrap up our 2013 A Colony beaver session.  .......what a lot of fun we've had :)

A couple of updates this morning for everybody.

• Bowling tonight, out at the North Gower Bowling Alley. Details in my previous post.

• "Swim up" our year end formal ceremony is Wednesday May 22 at Claudette Cain Park as mentioned previously.

May 7, 2013 - Bowling!

Hey Folks, we've been informed that our Gym is not available to us this week - there is a school function booked.

Instead of meeting in the Gym, we've booked the North Gower Bowling Alley (Google Map Link :) .....Yup, we're taking A Colony bowling. Details will follow, I just wanted to get this posted tonight to provide adequate "heads up" for next week's plan.

EDIT details!!:

We've booked the North Gower Bowling Alley from 6 to 7:30. It's going to be a very casual, fun filled evening of bowling and not much else. There is no cost for the event, but please be sure to bring indoor shoes.

I'll post more details later this weekend.

D.

Opening Day at Watson's Mill

Hey Folks, here's something to do with your Beaver next weekend......

As a proud beaver Colony located in the "1st Manotick" area, we have always had a fantastic supportive relationship with the good folks at Watson's Mill - a local landmark.

They are having a season opening party on May 4th, from 10am to 4pm. Lots of fun stuff to see and do ....... all to kick off another year of programming at the classic Manotick stone grist mill.

Local Scouters will be helping out, and will have a display setup to proudly show how local youth of all ages keep busy with scouting in the area. Feel free to wear your uniform if you plan on attending, and say hi to anyone else proudly wearing their scouting attire.

NOTE: This is not an A Colony event, this is something local that you might want to do as a family.

April 30 2013 - Campfire!

Hey Folks - Quick Tuesday morning update.

Regular meeting in our Gym tonight - as you can see were had a campfire planned, but due to rain and overcast, it's not the best night for that.

See you in the Gym @ 6:15 :)


We've been invited to join D Colony this week out at Camp No'Chimik for a campfire - Awesome!

For those who are not familiar, check out my blog post from earlier in the year when we did our Investiture Ceremony ......directions and site information all provided there.

We will have some rice crispy treats to snack on. We will not be providing drinks, but please feel free to bring along a thermos or travel mug as you see fit.

If you would like help setting up some carpooling to shuffle beavers and families to No'Chimik, please be in touch via email. I'll do my best to connect those in need with empty seats.

See you at No'Chimik!

April 23 - Mer Bleue hike

Together with both other local Beaver Colonies, we'll be meeting at the Mer Bleue Conservation area next week (Edit: TONIGHT! April 23), for our nature walk in this incredible local ecosystem. If you are not familiar with this spot, please have a look at the below NCC video.

Please dress appropriately, we'll be out there rain or shine. We'll be following a 1 km walking trail that is made up of mostly wooden boardwalk, though rain boots are highly recommended. As it is a bit of a distance from our neighborhood, we encourage parents and siblings to join us too.

On your commute to Mer Bleue next week, can I ask that you please reinforce to your Beaver a couple of very important rules that we must adhere to:

• We absolutely must stay on the trails. This area is a protected wetland that is home to many endangered species. As most of the low growth vegetation is still quite dormant, and leaf cover is sparse, it is tempting for little guys to venture off the well marked trails - Please reinforce to your Beaver that this is not to be tolerated.
• The buddy system. We'll be a large group (3 local Beaver Colonies, and associated siblings, leaders and parents) and to reduce the risk of your kiddo experiencing an unplanned solo survival sleepover .... we'll be pairing up our Colony.

This walk was one of my personal highlights form last year, I am already looking forward to next week tonght. See you at Mer Bleue!

Click here for Google Map's directions from St Jerome's to Mer Bleue.

Good Turn Week - 2013

A very cool program kicked off this week, and A Colony is proud to take part. It's Good Turn Week - please click on this link to visit the Scouts Canada page with full program information.

Your beaver will come home tonight with a bracelet of their own, and instructions on how to use it.

Over the years my two boys have been very proud to participate in this event, and pass along the bracelet.

Next week, instead of 'Caring and Sharing' we'll kick off our meeting with a conversation about these bracelets and some of the cool things that were accomplished.

April 16, 2013

At long last folks, we're back in our Gym tonight ........but it's going to be a regular meeting just yet!

Background: Every week, just after opening we have a quick group conversation with our entire Colony to reinforce 2 core Beaver principals. Caring and Sharing. We ask the group to provide some examples how how they helped care for something, or share something in the time since our last meeting. It's fun to see the lil'guys think hard and realize that helping clear the table, taking out some trash, or sharing some M&M's was a big part of their week.

A common theme in the Caring category for our guys, is taking 'care' of their pets. From guinea pigs, to fish, to cats and dogs .......A Colony's households are pet friendly places. We picked up on that, and thought that it would be cool to bring in some other awesome examples of critters and pets to learn about how they fit into the world too.

On April 16 Tom from Reptiles Rock will be joining us. Our full meeting will be a meet and greet with all of the fantastic snakes, spiders, critters and crawdads that 'share' our planet with us.

We're asking each beaver for a small contribution, to help Tom 'care' for his animals. $5 would be an awesome monetary contribution, or beavers can provide one of the following.

• Romaine lettuce.
• Paper towels.
• Garbage bags. 
• Hand sanitizer. 

We'll see you in the Gym Tuesday night folks, should be a great week.

Also, I'd like to take a quick moment to call out one of our (awesome) parent volunteers. Sarah won't be with us this week, for an amazing reason. She is running in the Boston Marathon (Bib #14853). On behalf of our entire Colony, I'd like everyone to scream GO SARAH GO on Monday morning - this is a massive accomplishment and we're proud of you

** Quick update. Sarah safely finished the marathon, she and her family were safely away from the horrible turn of events that occurred yesterday in Boston. She and her family are en route back to Ottawa.

April 9 - Movie Night!!

Hello Folks, tonight is the second half of our annual 'transportation night' theme, that we do with all local beaver colonies combined.

We're having a 'drive in' movie tonight together with all the other beaver colonies. D Colony is hosting, we will be meeting in the St. Francis Xavier Catholic High School Gym (That's "St FX" for short). This is the high school just on the other side of Spratt and Limebank Roads. Popcorn and drinks will be provided.

What to Bring: Brown and Blue tails made cardboard vehicles last week, and they are encouraged to bring those tonight to sit in and enjoy the show. If our White tails want to raid the black box and bring a box to sit in as well, that is awesome too. If you don't have a box to sit in, just bring a blanket or pillow to sit on to make the gym floor that much more comfortable.

See you at St. FX tonight!!

(Never been to St. FX? When dropping off your beaver just head to the back corner of the parking lot around to the left of the school, by the portables. Go in that door, and take your first left. The gym is down this hall, on the right.)

One last thing, don't forget that the Spring Beaveree is on the 27th, more info here. I need final numbers tonight, to RSVP for the event. Sign up is on the clipboard.

April 2, 2013 - Please read!

We have a special meeting this week Folks ........ A Colony is hosting a White tail craft, and all the other beavers are gathering with C Colony just down the street.

All the White tails (Grade 2's) from A Colony and 2 other local Colonies will be meeting in our gym (St. Jerome) to do a special woodworking craft. If a parent could stay to help the whitetails build their craft that would be a help.

Our Blue and Brown tails (Grade 1 and under's) will be meeting just down Spratt Road at Bernard Grand Maitre, hosted by C Colony. They will be doing a "transportation" craft night. The Beavers need to bring a large cardboard box (One a beaver could sit in) so that they can make it into a Car or Train or Boat. We will have some other supplies there like Toilet paper and paper towel rolls .........raid your black box this week and bring some cool stuff along for the craft.

We'll be splitting up our A Colony leadership team accordingly, so there will be familiar leaders at both locations for all of our A Colony beavers.

To recap:

White tails - Wood Craft.
When: April 2nd, 6:15 - 7:15
Where: St. Jerome

Blue and Brown tails - Transportation Craft.
When: April 2nd, 6:15 - 7:15
Where: Bernard Grand Maitre (Google Map Link)

March 26, 2012

Regular meeting in the Gym tonight folks. We'll be having a very short (i.e. our last 10 mins) investiture ceremony tonight for our new beavers.

See you in the Gym :)

Spring Beaveree - April 27.

The Rideau Area Spring Beaveree
Saturday, April 27, 2013
1:00 PM to 4:15 PM
At the Canada Aviation and Space Museum

Hey Everyone, the plan is in place for the Spring Beaveree. There is a "Letter to Parents" that I have copied below.

We need to confirm our leadership ratio's and attendance numbers for this event by April 14 - I will have a dedicated sign up form on our weekly meeting sign in/out clipboard along with a cash envelope for payment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Parents/Guardians,

    Our Colony will be participating in the Rideau Area Spring Beaveree on Saturday, April 27, 2013 from 1:00 PM to 4:15 PM at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.  There is NO rain date, but it will be mostly taking place indoors. If your Beaver wishes to attend, be sure to sign up with your Colony Leaders.  Parents are welcome to participate but we ask that siblings not attend due to space limitations.

    What:        Rideau Area Spring Beaveree 2013

    Theme:    Beavers can Fly!

    Where:     Canada Aviation and Space Museum – 11 Aviation Parkway

613-993-2010

    Date:          Saturday, April 27, 2013

Time:     1:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.  

    Please arrive by 12:45 so we can gather as a group & register!  Pickup time is 4:00 p.m.

   

Dress:    While the majority will be spent indoors, there is one outdoor activity. Please dress for appropriately.

Cost:    The cost for the Beaveree is as follows and should be paid to your group representative in advance on or before April 12, 2013.  We need to know how many are expected in order to purchase the correct amount for craft & snack.  

• Beavers - $5.00 (includes registration, craft, activities, and crest)
• Accompanying Parents - $5.00
• Extra crests are available at a cost of $2.00 each.

Snack:     Will be provided.  

       

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Due to the increasing number of youth with allergies to nut products we ask you to please not bring any nut products in to the Beaveree.  Parents of Youth with dietary allergies and/or concerns are responsible for what their child consumes.  Address your concerns to your Colony Leaders prior to the event.