Your First Tiger Meeting

A small amount of advance preparation on your part will make the whole Tiger experience a lot more enjoyable for the whole group. For this meeting,

1. Get a list of scouts that will be in your den from your Cubmaster or Membership committee person. Make sure the list includes home phone numbers. Call each Scout before the meeting and introduce yourself to both the Scout and a parent. Tell them that you're looking forward to the first den meeting and that you plan on having a lot of fun in your den.
2. Make copies of the 'Connect the Dot sheet' referenced below under Gathering Time.
3. Bring about a half dozen ping pong balls to play 'lung ball'. You can optionally bring some short sticks to mark the sides of the 'lung ball' field or you can use books or other items. A 2" x 2" cut into 24" sections works well.
4. Take a few extra pens or felt tip markers.
5. Ask your Cubmaster or Pack Committee Chair what the monthly themes are for the next few months.
6. Prepare a list of your den's meeting dates for the rest of the year. Make sure you take into account that some dates are pack meetings. You can get the Pack's complete calendar of den and pack meeting dates from the Cubmaster or Pack Committee Chair. (Hint: Look on this CD for the Parent Guide, which includes the calendar.) Bring your list of meetng dates in the form of a sign-up sheet. At this first meeting, you'll get other Tiger teams to sign up to lead following meetings. Modify your sign-up sheet to show:
   1. Mark off all dates that are Pack meetings - your den won't have to plan meetings for those nights (but you will occasionally have things to do before Pack meetings to prepare for them).
   2. The first den meeting (i.e., tonight's meeting) is taken - by you, the den leader.
   3. The second den meeting is also taken (again by you)
   4. The third den meeting is a 'Go See It' meeting, also taken by you.
   5. All den meetings after that are open for other Tiger teams to run. You'll have a much better idea of what the den will be doing after the Search portion of your first meeting. During the meeting, other Tiger parents will sign up to lead meetings on specific dates.
7. Read (in the Tiger Cub book) about the use of beads to recognize progress that the Tiger Cubs are making towards their Tiger rank. Ask your Cubmaster or Pack advancement chair person to provide you with the beads so that you can give them out as activites are completed.
8. Read the section of the Tiger book that talks about the uniform so that you can answer questions if they come up.

A gathering time activity will keep the boys busy and interested until all have arrived and at future meetings will give you a chance to take attendance, collect dues, track achievements, etc.

When Tigers and their Adult Partners arrive, give them this Connect the Dot sheet to work on until the meeting starts. Tigers may not know their numbers yet, so make sure that you encourage the Tiger and his Adult Partner to work together as a team. (Don't forget your Tiger!)

If any Tigers arrive at the last minute and don't have time to work on this sheet, make sure that you give them one to take home.

An opening ceremony is the official dividing line between the informal gathering time activity and the organized activiteis that follow.

Explain to all of the Tigers that the Tiger Cub motto is "Search, Discover, Share". Ask them to all repeat the motto with you. Then spend a few minutes explaining why "Search, Discover, Share" is important:

• We Search to find new locations, activities, and situations that help us learn.
• We Discover new facts about our lives that will help us to stay safe and healthy, to have fun, and to be good citizens.
• We Share what we have learned with others to help them learn quicker.

In the Share portion of the meeting, the boys get a chance to share their recent experiences.

At this first meeting, ask each boy and adult partner to introduce themselves by saying their name and a few other details about themselves. Some may be very shy. Ask them questions about the school they go to, whether they have pets, what their hobbies are, whether they have brothers and sisters, etc. If some don't want to talk, ask the adult partner to do the introduction and move on. Let the scouts get used to the Share segment gradually over the next few weeks.

The Discover portion of the meeting is where you will tell the Tigers about the monthly theme, upcoming Pack meetings, play games, work on advancement, do crafts projects, etc.

For this first meeting, start by explaining that each month all of the dens in your Pack meet for a Pack meeting. It would be a good idea to have a den cheer and a den flag for the first Pack meeting. This week we'll work on a den cheer, next week we'll work on a den flag.

Give some sample den cheers, such as "2, 4, 6, 8; Tiger Den 4 is really great!", "We are Tigers! We're Den 5! We can really come alive!", or "Our den is almost heaven - we're the Tigers from den 11". Ask the Tigers for some ideas first. Ask the Tiger Adult Partners for their ideas if the Tigers don't suggest any. Try to keep the den cheer simple so that the Tiger Cubs will all remember it. Practice the cheer a few times and write it down so you'll remember it.

Next, play a game. Boys this age love to play games. Try 'lung ball': Place 2 dividers (the boards listed above) on a table (parallel to each other and about 2 feet apart). With one Scout on each side of the table, drop a Ping Pong ball in the center of the area bounded by the boards and table edges. The Scouts blow the ball at each other - if it goes over the side the Scout who blew it over gets a point. No hands allowed!

For a variation, move the dividers a little farther apart and play 'team lung ball' with 2 or 3 Tigers on each side of the table.

Explain that the den needs to search for topics for future meetings.

Further explain that you and your Tiger Cub are going to take care of the next few meetings and that one upcoming meeting is a Pack meeting, but that each Tiger Cub and Adult partner will take turns leading the rest of the meetings.

Explain that the Tiger program includes five main achievements:

1. Making My Family Special
2. Where I Live
3. Keeping Myself Healthy and Safe
4. How I Tell It
5. Let's Go Outdoors

There is additional information on Tiger Cub den meetings in the Tiger Cub book.

Each of these achievements will involve a den activity, a family activity, and a 'Go See It' activity. The family activity should be done at home. The den activity and Go See It activity will be done as a den and each Tiger/Adult team will lead a different one.

The Tiger program also includes a number of electives (see the Table of Contents of the Tiger Cub Handbook). These will also be lead by Tiger/Adult teams. There is no requirement that the achievements be completed before the electives, however in order to receive their Tiger Badge by the time of the Pack's banquet in February the achivements should be given higher priority.

Have the Tiger teams discuss what achievements and electives they would like to lead (and when) then begin filling in the meeting sign-up calendar sheet they you brought. If you have a copy of the Program Helps booklet, you can describe some of the monthly activities recommended to tie into monthly themes.

Have all of the boys form a circle and place their right hand in the center of the circle, one hand atop another. Starting with one Tiger and going around the circle, each boy says one word of the Tiger motto: "Search", "Discover", or "Share" (in order). As he says his word, the Tiger moves his hand to the top of the stack. Start slowly and speed them up when they have the hang of it.

If your first meeting ends before you've used up the whole hour - that's OK! It's probably better to dismiss the den early than it is to keep them for a full hour if you don't have anything else to do. As the den gets more familiar with the program you'll all do a better job of judging how much time various activities will take and you may eventually acquire a 'library' of activities so that you can select a time-filler quickly if a planned activity ends much sooner than expected.

Thank them all for attending the meeting and for behaving well.

1. Clean up your meeting place throroughly
2. Discuss how the meeting went with your Tiger Cub and with some of the other members of the den. Adjust future meeting plans as appropriate.
3. Request a Tour Permit for the Go See It activity that you'll do in a few weeks. (See Your Third Tiger Den Meeting.) Your Cubmaster or Committee Chair can explain the process of getting a Tour Permit. This is very important - without it there is no insurance coverage and you are putting yourself and the Pack at risk. Always request a Tour Permit for activities that your den will participate in if they take away from Sunrise UMC.
4. If any of your scouts have completed awards or advancement report it to the Cubmaster or Pack Advancement chairperson. In general, Tigers won't earn as many awards as the older scouts but there are a few things that they'll earn that you should become familiar with:
   1. Belt loops - read about academic and sports belt loops.
   2. Immediate recognition
   3. Tiger rank badge - when they've completed all 15 items in the Tiger Trail checklist at the back of the book, they'll be presented with their Tiger rank badge. You should set a goal to have all of the Tigers to this point by late January or early February.
   4. Bobcat rank badge - work on this as the last thing that you den does in late April and early February. Your goal should be to present the Bobcat rank to the Tigers at the family campout in May.
5. Review plans for your next meeting.
6. Thank your co-leaders.