Japeechen District Day Camp 2012
This is a condensed version of the Leader Information flyer we will be handing out to the Day Camp representatives at the meeting on June 6th. You can print/copy the flyer attachment at the bottom of this page to give to the adults from your Pack who will be attending camp. We will also have a copy of this in your unit packet at camp. Please make sure all of the adults from your Pack have read this page before coming to camp!!
Your Pack's Day Camp Coordinator should:
Information Sheet for Adults Attending Camp TWO DEEP LEADERSHIP IS REQUIRED Communication is important. If you have different parents coming each day, it would be helpful to have the adults who attended camp pass on the experience and routine to the next day’s adults. Morning check-in. Campers will be divided into 6 color groups. Find out to which group your Pack has been assigned by finding the sign with your Pack number and noting the associated color; that will be your color group for the week. Have your boys know their color group and wear their neckerchief totems.
Send one adult to the registration table to pick up your zip-lock packet (schedule/map/bead box/sharpie/pen/notebook), attendance roster folder and blank medical forms needed for adults (put Pack # on top).
Take attendance for both Scouts and adults. If someone is late and you know they will be there, don't check them in; leave a note in the roster folder and we will do that when they arrive.
There is a column on the attendance roster for medical forms. If it is checked, we have a form on file. We must have a medical form on file for everyone in camp. Please make every attempt to turn in completed Scout medical forms before camp so camp staff can be aware of youth health issues in advance. All adults in camp must have a medical form on file as well. We will have blank copies of the medical form at camp. You only need to fill out a medical one time for the week. Clip the new medicals in the folder. (Tot Lot will have a separate registration sheet at camp headquarters; place Tot medical forms with it.)
If there are any notes for early pick-up, clip them in the attendance folder.
We will have voluntary registration of cell phone numbers for emergency contact with your group during camp. Return the zip-lock packet to camp headquarters at the end of each day. You should leave in it all swim tags, beads, neckerchief totems and anything else needed for the next day. These remain at camp.
Anyone not wearing an official Day Camp shirt must wear a wristband issued by camp. Only one wristband will be issued per person, so if you will be attending camp later in the week, please hang on to it.
Late arrivals will need to check-in with the camp director. Anyone leaving early, including adults, will need to sign-out with the camp director. Please inform us if a boy is planning to leave early. Put note in folder.
There will be a brief leaders meeting every morning after the opening (while Cubs report to their first session). One adult per Pack must bring the attendance folder with the roster, new medical forms and any notes from parents. A different adult will take the Cubs to their first station; they must have the bag with buddy tags and schedule. Attendance Folder must be turned in at this morning leaders meeting.
We will try to only go over new information in order to keep the meeting short. Anyone with specific questions concerning their Pack/group or anyone who isn't an experienced Day Camp attendee may stay after the general meeting to get more information. Feel free to stop at headquarters during the day to ask questions. As you move from station to station, make sure that an adult with the group has the packet and schedule and that you are following the schedule correctly. Look for posted changes in the schedule or change of location on the Registration sign. Daily schedules, Pack/color groups, emergency procedures and sign-up sheet for the opening and closing flag ceremonies are posted on the Registration sign. **During
the day, check the sign and table to see if there is a note or if
your Pack folder is out. Your Pack might be paired with one or two others in the same group all week. Please work with the other adults in the group; all are responsible for the safety and welfare of the boys. Have the Packs in the group take turns being first at the BB and archery ranges. You are expected to stay at each range area for your session. It is a good idea to bring games, trivia or other activities to keep the Scouts occupied while waiting, except Monday. On Monday the Scouts will be given directions and they need to watch how the range is being run.
You will follow a specific rotation that varies each day. Please be aware of the time schedule. Do not go early to the next session. If you come to a station and the previous group is still there, wait off to the side and let them leave before you enter. At most stations the boys will need to remove their backpacks and set them aside. Help the staff keep aware of the time schedule. Adults are expected to assist staff at the stations. The staff are volunteers from the district. If we don’t have a volunteer to run a station, we will ask for volunteer(s) that morning during announcements; we will not be able a session without an adult staff member. Please encourage your adults to volunteer. We expect most Packs to have provided at least one staff member during the week. We also need a (certified) medical person every day.
Please enforce these rules; 1. Buddy System - One buddy is always looking out for the other; one Scout can go get help if something happens to the other. A pair of buddies may be sent unsupervised to the restroom, to the trading post or to retrieve a forgotten item, unless you feel an adult is needed. If the buddy system is used properly, there should never be a single lost Scout. Make your boys aware that they must always be with their buddy when going from one place to another. Adults, it is to your benefit if you establish a routine of having your boys line up with their buddy before leaving a station. 2. NO RUNNING (except during sports activities). 3. No stone throwing, this includes sticks.
4. Do not let boys climb on trees, railings, fences, or the outside of bridges, or swing on vines. 5. Boys should not climb on the hillsides. It causes erosion and there is poison ivy and in-ground yellow-jacket nests on the hillsides. 6. The COPE course and any areas being used by other groups in camp are off-limits. Creek activities : There are NO unsupervised creek activities. We have planned creek activities, for which you will be instructed to bring extra shoes. If you let your boys go in the creek at lunch, you must have an adult at the creek with them and you should make sure they have extra shoes. No bare feet, sandals or crocs.
Restrooms : The flush toilets across the bridge from the Trading Post are for everyone to use. Have adults check to make sure they are being used properly. Report any problems to Camp Staff in Trading Post or us. Pool Restrooms : “Womens” is for women and girls.
“Mens” is for boys only and only during their swim session.
Men may only use the Adult changing/restroom ("Men’s Shower") outside of the pool. The entrance is on the outside rear wall of the Shel-to-wee building. Do not access it by going in or through Shel-to-Wee. The Tot Lot only will use the “Womens” restroom inside Shel-to-wee, their building. Adults & Cubs may not go in Shel-to-wee unless directed by the pool staff during bad weather (thunderstorm).
Photos will be taken on Tuesday and Wednesday. The boys will decorate a frame on Friday to take this photo home. Make a note of any absent boy and make sure he gets his photo taken by Thursday. Other photos may be taken and used in promotions. We should have a signed photo release for these (on the reverse side of the medical form). We will be using the buddy system to take the photos. Please have your unit lined up by buddy pairs when coming to have the photos taken. Each boy must wear his group-color neckerchief for the photo so that we are able to identify the group to which he belongs.
Totems and Beads : On the first day of camp during crafts, each Scout receives his group color neckerchief and a leather totem -- a piece of leather with five holes in it. A string will be tied through each hole, representing the five days of camp. Scouts will use leather tools to personalize the totems as well as the additional leather attached to the neckerchief. The leather will be damp on the first day since it needs to be soaked in order to be stamped. After stamping, the neckerchief ends will be tied through the two slots on the totem. The Scouts are to wear their neckerchief every day to identify their group. Collect the neckerchiefs at the end of the day and place them in your Pack's zip-lock; this ensures the neckerchief will be at camp the next day.
A Scout is awarded a bead each time he actively participates in a camp activity. An adult from each Pack should collect the correct number of beads at each station. Use the bead box in your Pack's zip-lock to store the beads until there is time to distribute and place them on the totems (such as while waiting at a range). The bead box must be returned at the end of the week. Make sure the strings are firmly attached to the totem or the beads will fall off. Beads for participation with scavenger hunts will be available at the registration table. Special beads for performing the flag ceremony also will be at the registration table. Please try to have only one adult get the beads for your Pack. Should any beads get lost, have an adult go to that station to get replacements. Archery and BB Ranges : The ranges are run by certified instructors. You must ask permission to enter at the bridge. (Try to do this as a group.) Everyone must follow their directions. If a Scout is unruly or not listening, they can be expelled from the range. This is for the safety of everyone. Please make sure that your boys know this. If they are expelled, it is just for that day and they can come back the next day if they will listen and behave. Bring activities for Scouts to do while waiting their turn. This will help to keep the Scouts' energy in check. Swimming / Swim tags. Camp Guyasuta runs a GPC-BSA pool and the pool staff are lifeguards. On the morning of the first day of camp, the boys will take a swim test to determine their level (unless they are pretested and the certification form is brought by the unit leader). The lifeguards will be doing up to 100 tests each session. We asking the boys to wear their swim suit to camp on Monday so the tests can be started quickly (remind them to pack underwear and shorts to change into afterward). Each Scout will be issued a swim tag. They must have this tag in order to swim, so it is important that a Leader keeps them in the unit packet. The boys will need a swim buddy, preferably with the same level swim tag. If a boy doesn’t want to take the test, he will be given a beginners tag. If a boy misses the first day, check with the lifeguard about testing, otherwise he will be given a beginners tag. There will be “Buddy Checks” every session. The Cubs must understand and follow the buddy system in the pool. The Cubs must be in the section of the pool for which they are qualified and where they have placed their buddy tags on the chart. If they want to go to another section and they have passed that level of swim test, they must exit the pool and move their buddy tags to the corresponding section on the chart. The pool is open to the public so there will be other people in the pool, too. ** If we don't have an adult staff member in Tot-Lot, we will need one adult from each color group to sit in Tot-Lot during the swim session every day. We will have a form for each color group to fill in the name of that person.
TOT-LOT : We can and will run this ONLY if we have at least one adult per day commit to be the Tot-Lot advisor! This is childcare service for children of staff. We will open it to the children of adult leaders/ chaperones in camp with the Packs if there is an adult advisor to remain at the facility. We will have a teenage Girl Scout earning her Silver Award and several jr staff who will plan and lead the Tot-Lot activities. Participants must be at least 2 years old and potty-trained. Non-Scouts (boy or girl) must stay in the Tot-Lot area except during swimming or lunch. Non-Scouts are not permitted at the BB or archery ranges. Tot-Lot costs $5.00 a day for non-staff. Register each child every morning and fill out a medical form for them (one for the week). Children must be picked up at lunch and before closing at the end of the day. The children cannot be at Tot-Lot during the lunch break as this gives the staff a needed break and the building is the staff lunch room. Tot-Lot children will eat with their parent. They cannot be returned to Tot-Lot until the horn sounds ending lunch. There is an additional charge for the use of the pool ($3), if the parent wishes to take the child swimming during their Pack's rotation at the pool. Pool passes can be purchased at the Camp Trading Post. This is the policy of the camp and we have no control of it. If a parent is a staff member (running a station), their non-Scout children can stay for free (additional charge for the pool). Any non-Scout child age 12 and over, who would like to and actually will assist at the Tot Lot can also stay for free (additional charge for the pool). We are in need of Junior Staff for the Tot-Lot, boy or girl, age 14+. Please contact the Camp Director if interested.
CRAFTS — Parents need to help the staff. An adult must accompany Cubs to pick up items from crafts.
Lunch – EVERY Adult, Cub, Webelos and Tot MUST bring a packed lunch. We do not provide lunch for the Scouts or Leaders who are attending camp. You may eat in the shelters (but not the closed buildings such as Seneca Lodge or Shel-to-wee) or on the grass; bring a tarp or blanket and cooler. You are responsible for keeping the lunches cool and safe. Trading post has snack food items, but not real lunches. There are beverage machines. Lunch is provided for Staff and Jr Staff at Shel-to-wee, the Tot-Lot building beside the pool.
After lunch or if you finish early at a station: use as den time, plan and practice for the campfire performance, go to the trading post, play basketball or use the scooters (if the court is not being used for a session) with adult supervision.
Trading Posts – There are two different trading posts. One is our Day Camp Trading Post (Weds-Fri); the profits from these small items are used to provide lunch for our volunteer Staff and Jr. Staff. The other is the Council Trading Post in Seneca Lodge. You can regulate when you want your boys to go. You can take your boys or let them go as buddy pairs. It’s really busy after lunch so you might go there if you finish early at a station.
Lost and Found – Please send old towels and clothes. Put your son’s name on his stuff, especially in his camp T-shirt. They are all the same and when they take them off for swimming, they often get misplaced. Encourage your boys to check the lost-and-found daily, especially on the last day. We will hold the items for a couple weeks and then donate them to a charity. Pool has it’s own Lost and Found, check there as well.
Jr Staff- These are Boy Scout volunteers. They are present to assist at stations. Please remember that they are boys themselves. Offer encouragement. If necessary, in a nice way, remind them why they are there or refer any issues to camp headquarters. Both Cubs and Staff are tired by the end of the day. Please make sure that the Jr. Staff aren’t overwhelmed. They are not expected to manage Cub behavior issues. Cub Scout management is the responsibility of the adults from each Pack. Den Chiefs – You may recruit a den chief from your unit to attend camp to help with the Pack.
No Alcohol is permitted. No smoking around the boys. Guyasuta as a whole is a smoke free camp! No profanity, off-color jokes or bathroom humor. Adults are not permitted in the boys' changing room at the pool. No physical discipline; this includes your own children. Be careful with verbal discipline. If there is any questionable behavior or if any situation gets out of control, please notify the camp director and/or District Executive. Please contact us during camp rather than calling Flag Plaza after camp is over.
Tentative schedule
MON - Swim tests in the morning. Instruction day at the bb and archery ranges. Please be attentive!
TUES - Hike Day (Bring extra shoes to wear during or after the hike.) WEDS - Photo day - (Line up boys in buddy pairs.) It is also a Creek activity day (bring extra shoes).
THURS - Campfire Program following lunch; modified schedule
FRI - Modified schedule with recognition/closing ceremony. Closing Ceremony will immediately follow lunch, followed by afternoon programs. Each group will have bb, archery and craft rotations either only in the morning or only in the afternoon. The other half of the day will be swimming/open choice program either ALL morning or ALL afternoon. You don't have to swim during open program but may take a hike, play a game, etc during this time. If you go in the creek, make sure the boys are supervised at all times and have extra shoes.
What should adults bring to camp?
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