SEQUIOA CLEAN UP DAY
Once a year the scouts (most of the time the boy cubs and girl scouts
together) clean up the Sequioa grounds as a thank you for using the facilities
from the school. This typically happens in the spring but could happen
anytime. (The broader activity that this falls under is Conservation Day.).
Here is what we did last year
March:
- talked to Mrs Brickell to get some potential Friday afternoons for
the activity
- Got in contact with the girl scouts (ask the pack leadership for
a point of contact)
April:
- Finalize the date and time (typically right after school 2:45 – 4:15)
- Notify the pack through the newsletter and an annoucement in the
pack meeting
Announcement last year:
“On May 4th we will have our annual “help out day” (conservation day)
at Sequoia. Specific details will follow but this is the scout way to thank
the school for having us use the facilities and give something back.
We will be doing several tasks like cleaning up, planting flowers, pulling
weeds and other work to be defined by Mrs Brickell.
The girl scouts will join us !”
Before the last pack meeting before the day
- Meet with Mrs Brickell. Discuss:
- A list of what needs to get done in priority order
- What tools are needed (garden tools, work gloves, garbage bags, rakes,
brooms etc.)
- Make separate papers with assignments that you can hand out to each
den. Last year Mrs Brickell had taken care of this which worked great
- Prepare some small activity/treat for at the end (like otterpops,
cookies, drinks, water balloon toss)
Last pack meeting
- Another announcement
- Sign ups, so you know about how many kids will come
- Let them know what to bring (tools and shade hat & water bottle)
- Let them know where we will meet
- Make clear that every den will need at least one adult chaperone
The day
- Meet at the front of the school
- Have a little snack for some energy
- Distribute the assignments, typically per den but you might want
to form some groups. Depending on the tools they bring you can hand out
the tasks. Make sure there is at least one parent per group
- Bring some masking tape and a marker so you can tag the tools so
nothing gets lost
- Have a thank you treat / activity
- Have one or two people that are just there to walk around, to make
sure everybody has all the tools they need, if needed switch some tools
around (make sure you mark the tools), look for more work if groups are
done, be there for questions from the parents.
Ideas after the fact
- Might be nice to have a more organized end to the activity, we had
otterpops but many groups would get their ice cream and go sit somewhere
separately.
- Get a list of names of all the kids and parents that participated
during the clean up. Mrs. Brickell would like to list all the kids and
parents that helped, in the Sequioa newsletter. It is much harder to get
the names after the fact.
2001 - Den 1 - contact Ariane Habets