FIRST - Coaches email 11-29-2012

Coaches:

-->2013 Challenge Announced!
FLL is excited to release the 2013 Challenge teaser and season logo for NATURE’S FURY(SM)! Coming August 2013, Nature’s Fury asks FLL teams to “master natural disasters” through exploration of storms, quakes, waves, and more. Teams will discover what can be done when intense natural events meet the places people live, work, and play. Learn more about the Challenge and view the season logo here: http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2013naturesfury

-->Calling all Kid Inventors
Launching January 17, 2013, the FLL Global Innovation initiative challenges FLL teams to bring their Project to the next level. Information on the FLL Global Innovation Award will be available on http://fllinnovation.firstlegoleague.org over the next few weeks. Check out the Past Innovators page on the site to see what teams were up to last year.

-->Parent Page
As we enter FLL tournament season, now is a great time to get caught up on all the new information housed within the FLL Parent page. http://firstlegoleague.org/parents . New content includes articles on why FLL a good fit for your family and reasons why parents should attend FLL tournaments. Encourage your team parents to sign up and be notified when new content arrives.

-->Giving Thanks
Don’t forget to invite your sponsors to your upcoming tournaments. These important individuals/companies have given generously of their time and money and may love to see what your team is up to.

*THIS EMAIL IS FROM FIRST LEGO LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS. BE SURE TO WATCH FOR EMAILS FROM YOUR LOCAL PARTNER.*
With High 5’s and Admiration,
FLL Team Support

Stay Connected with FLL!
Twitter (@firstlegoleague)| YouTube (youtube.com/fllglobal)|FLL Blog (fllblog.wordpress.com)
FIRST(R) LEGO(R) League (http://firstlegoleague.org) | fllteams@usfirst.org | +1 603-666-3906 x0, +1 800-871-8326 x0 | FIRST(R) (http://usfirst.org) - 200 Bedford Street – Manchester NH USA 03101

FIRST - Thanksgiving Message from SDRA

Received from Robyn Swets 11-20-2012

Happy pre-Thanksgiving!  This year I’m very thankful for all our great coaches, and how hard you’re working!  We really appreciate all the support and understanding as we go through some growing pains this year.

As we get closer to the tournaments, keep an eye out for messages from your local tournament directors.  They will contact you with information about team check-in, schedules, parking, food, etc. for your event.

I know you’re probably worried about getting ready in time.  However, the most important thing to do to get ready is NOT TO PANIC!!!  Seriously.  As one of our tournament directors is fond of saying, even if your robot does nothing but cut cookies for 2.5 minutes, you will still get some points, still learn a lot, and still have a blast with your kids.  Even if you think you aren’t ready, please come to your event, and please participate.  It will get you ready for next year at the very least, but honestly, I have never heard of a team (knock on wood) that wished afterward that they had forfeited, but I’ve heard of several that later regretted not coming.  Everyone has a great time, regardless of any disappointments.  We try very hard to create a positive, uplifting atmosphere for the whole team – it truly is a celebration of how hard they worked all season.

Enjoy your holiday break!  Take some time this weekend to rest and not think about FLL for a little bit! J

GO FLL!!!

Love always,

Robyn

FIRST - Team profile sheets

Coaches and students

You will need to have a team profile sheet (4 copies) for the day of the regional tournament.  One will be turned in a registration and one for each of the three judged rooms.   The link to the profile sheet is:

http://southdakotarobotics.com/team_profile.pdf\

or

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Official_Event_Info/TeamInfoSheet-fixed-12-2-11.pdf

Copy and paste the link to your browser.

The other option is to find the link at the page:

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/event/eventinfo

FIRST - FLL Update and things to prep

Received from Robyn Swets on 11-11-12

Happy Veterans Day!  On this long weekend, I wanted to send out a few more reminders as you all prepare for the upcoming tournaments in the next 2-3 weeks!

In this email:  1. In case you missed it…2. Forms, 3. How Qualifiers work, 4. Things to work on

1.  In case you  missed it, here’s the link to the invite from the Robot Geeks coaches to a party next Sunday!  http:// http://southdakotarobotics.com/coach_updates/2012_11_06.pdf

2.  Don’t forget your forms!  Make sure to bring your forms to check in on the morning of your registration, along with your payment of $25 for your team.  Forms are at http://southdakotarobotics.com/fllcoach.php.  You’ll need a consent and release form for each participant, including coaches and mentors.  Please bring 4 copies of your Team Profile sheet, one for each set of judges and 1 to show the MC when you do your robot runs.

3. I’ve had a few questions on how it all works as far as Qualifying Events.  Here’s a quick recap:  All teams must compete on the Qualifying level.  Teams cannot compete in more than one event unless there is room at a later date, then the tournament director has the discretion to let you attend “for fun” but your scores will not count and you cannot win any trophies.  The first event you attend is your official event.  At each event, there will be awards (Champion’s Award, and 1^st place in Robot Performance, Robot Design, Project, and Core Values) and in addition to those awards, the top 54% of the attending teams will receive a “Golden Ticket” that allows them to register for the state tournament.  A team can win an award and not move on, and they can move on without winning an award.  The teams who get to move on must be well-rounded and show excellence in all the areas of FLL.  The awards will simply go to the team that is the best at each of those areas.

Some of your co-coaches are working to put together a secondary, just for fun event for teams that don’t qualify for state so that everyone has a chance to compete again if they want to.  More details about that will be coming soon.

For the teams that move on to state, you will have all of January to take the judge feedback into account and work on the 2 extra pieces required for state, the Robot Design Executive Summary and the Core Values Poster.  Neither of those will be used at the Qualifiers, but they will be at state.  Directions for those will be in your Golden Ticket Packets.

4.  Things to work on – others of you have asked “What should we be working on right now??”  Just remember, the prime thing is to have fun!!  As long as the kids are having a good time and learning about science along the way, you’re doing a great job.  Here are some ideas for what to cover in these last few weeks:

1.       Missions – you will be doing 3 rounds on the robot game table.  Make sure you have a few missions that work!

2.       Project – make sure you’ve completed all the aspects of the project (identify a specific senior mentor, identify your problem, create an innovative solution, and share that solution with someone outside your team before you attend a tournament) in time for your Qualifier.  If that means you haven’t had your kids share the solution with anyone outside your team yet, make sure to schedule someone to come in or a time for your team to go somewhere talk about it.

3.       Project – make a presentation.  After you have all your aspects ready, you need a fun way to tell the judges about it.  It can be a skit, a Power Point, a song, anything!  Remember teams have only 5 minutes from when they enter the room to do their presentation.  That includes set up time!  Coaches are also not allowed to help with the set up, so make sure if you have tech, like a Power Point or video, that the kids can get it running on their own.

4.       Core Values – practice some teamwork activities.  When you come to the  events, you team will go to a room with the judges and complete a teamwork activity, an instant challenge with a only brief directions but plenty of room for the kids to show how they really work together (will they fight, get along, will a leader emerge, will it be chaos, will they respect each other, will they argue?).  The judges will then ask them a series of questions about how their season went.  You don’t have to bring anything specific to this event, but it never hurts to have the kids familiar with the question and answer session they will have to face.

5.       Robot Design – this is where the teams will meet with a set of judges and do questions and answers about their robot.  The judges will ask questions like how did you decide to build this, and what your design process was.  They are looking for a clear plan.  Although cool robots and attachments are always nice, the judges are most interested in the teams having planned and tested their ideas throughout the season.  The best way to prepare for this is to have the teams make some lists of things they tried and that didn’t work, and what the ultimately decided upon and why.  They should be able to talk about their robot and their entire season from a design stand point.

As always I’m here to help!  Don’t hesitate to ask questions of me anytime!

GO FLL!!!

Love Always,

Robyn

FIRST - Tshirt color selection

Link to full size pdf's at Nobe T-shirts

http://nobet-shirts.com/ffl.htm


"FRUIT OF THE LOOM" COLORS

"GILDAN" COLORS

FIRST - Senior Solutions Consent Forms

All student participants will need to have a signed consent and release form.  Teams can not be registered on the day of the competition unless all of the forms are present for every member of the team.

The link to the consent form on the FIRST website is:

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/2012-2013_Consent_and_Release_Form.pdf