Patrol Meeting Elements

Focus

The Focus portion of the patrol meeting is to provide an academic or instructional element. This is the emphasis of the patrol time together to lay a foundation that the other F’s will build upon. These lessons have an emphases built around the Monthly themes and Meeting Chart listed above.

There are two simple guidelines to help Trail Guides preparing to teach a FOCUS segment:

• Be Creative: Be visual in your teaching if at all possible. Always teach with something in your hands. Any object is a great tool to use to teach the lesson. Use pictures when an object is not the right tool for the lesson. This will help capture the attention of the Trailmen and make the lesson interesting to them. There might be an opportunity to use a poem or song where they can learn the month’s lesson.

• Keep it Simple: Think about your audience and their age. Think about how they will receive what you are communicating. When there are history lessons or lessons about characters from the Bible, the Trail Guide doesn’t need to teach “above” the Trailmen’s knowledge with language or concepts they may not understand. Remember, you want them to leave the meeting with the sense of learning something that they can recall later in life. This is why this segment is labeled FOCUS.

FUN

This portion of the meeting is to allow a time where Trailmen can burn off some energy. This is the time of the meeting for the Trailmen to play games or participate in a physical activity. Some of the games or activities may need to be played indoors due to the weather in your area. If the game or activity is not appropriate for the season in your area, feel free to develop your own ideas and lead something that is more appropriate.

There may be a few items needed to gather for the game(s) before the meeting, so be sure to check the Necessary Resources section and or the lesson plan carefully. This is a great opportunity for one of your assistant leaders to be responsible for and lead.

FOREST BADGE

The Forest Badge portion of the meeting is to help identify the Branches taught and Leaves earned during a meeting for each age group. After the meeting, the Leaves earned should be recorded. The Woodlands Trail curriculum is designed so each age group has a two-year structure. Each meeting is a piece of the two year program toward earning the completed Branch awards and, therefore, the Forest Badge for each particular age group.