On Monday, April 9th, the Bears began their Pocketknife Safety training. This class is designed to teach pocketknife safety and additional rules that must be followed when using a pocketknife. Bears should immediately start reading the Bear Claws adventure which can be found on page 30 of their handbooks as well as the handouts they were given Monday night (see below).
We started these series of classes by covering the following: what the whittling chip is; the whittling chip pledge; the difference between a tool and a weapon; how the pocket knife, although a useful tool, is considered a weapon in schools; the no school rule; an introduction to various bladed items with their differences and validity of use; the basic parts of the knife; and how to pass a knife to another.
We ask that you ask review these materials with your scout, ask them to show you how they are to properly hand off a pocketknife and help reinforce it at home with any bladed items.
On Monday, April 16th, we will continue our knife safety course by reviewing what was already covered, go into more detail about the parts of a knife, the different types of pocket knives, how to choose a good pocket knife, the rules, safety, and the care of a pocketknife.
Finally, we will have a third installment where we will complete the whittling chip course by having the scouts practice what they learned with apples and/or bars of soap; if time permits we may allow some of them to use other pocket knifes to try whittling a piece of wood.
These next few weeks will complete the Bear Claws Adventure and allow your Bear to earn his or her Whittling Chip Card. We may have activities that allow the use of a pocketknife and having a whittling chip card is a requirement to participate in such activities.
Attached below are a parent letter describing the course, a copy of safety rules and care tips they can keep, and a parent permission slip. Your scout must sign the permissions slip to acknowledge the rules, and a parent or guardian must also sign the slip acknowledging the rules and giving the scout permission to participate and earn his whittling chip. This slip along *MUST* be turned before your scout will be permitted to use a knife for this adventure.
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