Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #7

Hello teams and coaches,

Some of you have just completed your qualifying event this past weekend and some of you have yours coming up still in the next couple of weeks.

Congratulations to you ALL for making it this far into the season and providing such a rich experience for the kids on your team.  Win or lose at your event, the kids have all learned so much about teamwork, communication, conflict resolution, time management, decision-making processes, research skills, and most importantly, the impact they can have on their community and/or the world.

Speaking of rich experiences, FLL has an aspect to the season called the Global Innovation Award which is a way to continue to make that research project live on after the event is over.   The winner gets an amazing prize and gets to see their solution protected and brought to the market through huge financial grants.
As many teams' seasons come to a close this is the perfect time to promote the FLL Global Innovation Award to all of you! The website is now open for teams to upload their submissions. The submissions will be private until the competition begins Jan. 17, when they will go public. Go to http://fllinnovation.firstlegoleague.org for more information or watch this teaser.

What have you got to lose?

Dave

Monday, November 11, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #6

Hello teams!!

We start the tournament season in a few short weeks and I thought it was a good time to touch base with final reminders.

In this email:

  1. Consent Forms
  1. RDES (and Core Values Poster clarification)
  1. Coaches' Manual
Consent Forms
Please download this consent form, print for all participants and coaches attending the event and have their parent/guardians fill out and return to you before your event.  Please bring the stack of consent forms in a marked envelope with your team number on the front to the event and hand it in at registration.

RDES (and Core Values Poster clarification)
The Robot Design Executive Summary (or RDES) can be downloaded here.  Please download and follow the instructions in the attachment to prepare your team for their Robot Design Judging session.  Basically, this is a framework for your Robot presentation which should help to guide the students' discussions with the judges.

As a coach, you also receive email from FLL HQ in the US.  You may have read a message with information about a "Core Values Poster".  You can ignore that comment because we are not using the optional CV Poster in Ontario.

Coaches' Manual
You should have received a Coaches' Manual with your Team Registration.  If you don't have a hard copy of it you can download it here: 

This is a GREAT resource for coaches and should be read cover-to-cover if you are just starting out this year or even last year.  In that manual you'll see tips and tricks of running your team, a season schedule of what should be accomplished each week, and a sample tournament schedule (among other things).  

Don't forget about the training calls we have scheduled.  The last one available is on November 21st and is covering final preparations for your tournament.  The link to register is here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/421809654

Dave

Dave Ellis
Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada
www.firstroboticscanada.org

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #5 - Tournament Registration, Practice Tournaments, & Training

Hello coaches, we are approaching the halfway mark of the season in the next few weeks and I hope all is going smoothly.  In this email blast I'm happy to announce that the Nature's Fury Qualifying Tournament Registration system is live!  Below are the two topics for this email.

TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION
PRACTICE TOURNAMENTS
TRAINING
------------------------------------------------------


Tournament Registration
Please note that Ontario is divided into two distinct regions based on numbers and geography.   The short story is that if your team is based west of Toronto you will register for a Western qualifying tournament which will feed into the West Provincial Championships at the University of Waterloo on January 11th, 2014.  If your team is based IN* Toronto or East of Toronto you will register your team for an Eastern Qualifying Tournament which will feed into the East Provincial Championships at UOIT in Oshawa on January 18th, 2014.

Links to register for qualifying tournaments in both divisions can be found on our website here: http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/main/fll-tournament-registration/

You'll notice a tab on the page that says "East Championship Qualifiers" and one that says "West Championship Qualifiers".  Please click on the appropriate tab and then register your team using the link provided in the appropriate box.  There is a PDF of the questions you'll be asked which you should download and read through before registering so you have the necessary information at your fingertips for actually registering (i.e. food order from the kids, etc.).   Please see attached screen shot for further clarification.

Teams may only register for one event at this time.  If space allows we may open up a second round of registrations.  In this case, the 2nd event attended would be simply for fun and no awards or advancement would be provided to teams attending their 2nd event.

Deadline: Please register your team by Friday, October 25th at the latest.
Tournament Fee: The tournament fee is in addition to the Team Registration fee you paid to FIRST HQ/Spectrum.  These fees help to cover the cost of running the event.


Practice Tournaments
Practice tournaments are one of the most valuable ways you can prepare your team for your qualifier.  I HIGHLY recommend attending one if there is one in your area.  Currently we have 3 events planned...don't know if there is one in your area?  Check out this page to see!  


Training
We had a great turnout at both the FLL Kickoff in September and the Swatposium (last Saturday).   If you missed these opportunities, plan to attend next year.  There is information prepared for all stages of teams from rookie to advanced.  For those of you who want more...we have been hosting our online webinars in the evenings and you can see the upcoming workshops here: http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/main/fll-ontario/training-resources/

You'll also note that all of our webinars are recorded and posted on this same page for you to review in case you can't make it live.

Make sure to tune in on October 15th for our next webinar where we will be discussing the Research Project.  To register for this webinar specifically, click here.



Take care,

 Dave

* The exception to this rule being one TDSB tournament which will be in the West Division to help even out the numbers on each side of the province.  TDSB teams will be contacted directly by their Tournament Directors to indicate which tournament they should attend.


Dave Ellis
Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada
www.firstroboticscanada.org

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Thursday, September 26, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #4 - Coach Training,

Hello Coaches,
I hope your season is going smoothly.
Below are the major topics in this email.  Please read through carefully.

1. Training, training, training...2. Qualifying Tournaments3. Materials
------------------------------------------
1. Training, training, training.

A: FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Headquarters' Coach Calls
FLL HQ hosts Coach Calls which cover a variety of topics.  They are conference calls and the dial in information and topics can be found here (just scroll down the page a bit).  They also record their calls and post them.  Many have already been completed and you can listen to them on your way to work or whenever is convenient for you.

B: FLL Ontario Webinars
We host local webinars in the evenings in Ontario.  The upcoming topics can be downloaded from this file.  Please take a look at the topics that interest you.  I want to highlight our first one which is a season-specific topic kicking us off on TUESDAY evening with a special guest.  This would be a great one for the whole team to chime in on if possible.  Register here for that one and check out the document for the rest (which run Tuesdays and/or Thursdays from 7-8:30 p.m.

C: Face to Face training
October 5th at St. Mildred's in Oakville - keep an eye on our Facebook page for the link to register.

D: FLL Quickstart Video - check it out and tell us what you think?

E: Online resources:
http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/main/fll-ontario/training-resources/http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresourceshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rla4NSfPmM4 (EV3 programming)
http://www.stemcentric.com/nxt-tutorial/ (NXT programming)


2. Qualifying TournamentsMany people have been inquiring about the qualifying tournaments for FLL this year.  They are currently postedhere but not available to register yet.  Ontario is split into two regions (East and West) and there is a championship event for each region.  Certain qualifying tournaments feed into each of these championships.

How do we split Ontario?  We do it geographically so that we have (as close as possible) the same number of teams competing in each half of the province.  This makes the percentage of teams moving on from each event even on both sides of the province.

If your team is located West of Toronto you will have to select a Western Qualifying Tournament which will eventually feed into the West Provincial Championships on January 11th at the University of Waterloo.

If your team is located in Toronto or East of Toronto you will have to select a tournament that is categorized as an Eastern Qualifying tournament and these will eventually feed into the East provincial championships being held at UOIT on January 18th.

The only exception to this rule is the TDSB because they are on the edge of the dividing line for the province.  Teams in the TDSB will be assigned a tournament and teams attending the Runnymede event will be in a Western qualifying tournament while teams in the other three TDSB events will be in the Eastern stream.

Tournament Registration links will be provided on this page (the page is not currently displaying properly but the first 10 events are East and from Sudbury down are all West events).  Contact information for the event will also be posted there.  If you have questions regarding the event you're attending (e.g. you want to know if it's wheelchair accessible, etc.) please contact the person responsible for the event.


3. MaterialsIf you are missing pieces or other details related to your Field Setup Kit, please contact Spectrum Customer Service directly.

To track or ask questions about your FLL or Jr.FLL order, please contact customer service 1-800-668-0600.
For order inquiries, please contact customer service 1-800-668-0600 or customerservice@spectrumed.com

Thanks,

Dave

Dave Ellis
Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada
www.firstroboticscanada.org

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Friday, September 6, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #3 - FLL 2013 Kick-off and Training Event!!

Hello everyone! 

I hope the return to school has gone smoothly for everyone this week.  

In a previous email I mentioned upcoming training and so today I wanted to officially invite you all to our 3rd Annual FLL Kick-off and Training event that is quickly approaching.  We will be holding the training on Saturday, September 21st at Crescent School in Toronto.  We will be A big thank you to the school for donating the space to this event. 

Click here to REGISTER and provide details about your team, who's attending, and your food order.  Registration for this event closes September 16th.

There will be another event coming up on October 5th in Oakville as well.  Details for this event to follow in another team blast.

Dave


Dave EllisDirector, FLL OntarioFIRST Robotics Canadawww.firstroboticscanada.org
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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Update to EV3 Software download

Hello coaches,

If you have downloaded a copy of the EV3 software for the new LEGO Mindstorms robot this year you should have received this notice below.  I'm posting here just to make sure everyone knows about it.  If you're using the NXT robot, please ignore this notice as it only applies to the EV3.

Dave

New LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 Software available
Dear LEGO Education user,
As a valued customer who has recently purchased and downloaded the new LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Software from the LEGO Education Online Resources web site (www.LEGOeducation.com/LERO), we would like to inform you of an important software update.

Due to a number of major bugs found in the EV3 Software, a new version (v1.01) has been released. We strongly encourage you to use this new version going forward.The EV3 Software itself will also notify you about the availability of a software upgrade but In order to upgrade, you need to uninstall the existing EV3 Software version (v1.00) and download and install the new one.

To access the new version of the EV3 Software, simply revisit the LEGO Education Online Resources web site 
(www.LEGOeducation.com/LERO) and repeat the download procedure. With the new files (the file name will state “01-01” instead of “01-00”).

If you have used LEGO ID for product activation, please login with your username and password at the top right corner of the web site. If you have forgotten your username or password, you can get help by clicking “Forgot your password/username?” Once logged in, go to the EV3 Software product page and choose the software download file you need.

If you have activated your product using an e-mail address, you can reuse the Access-Link that was e-mailed to you during the activation process. If you do not have the Access-Link anymore, you can repeat the activation process on the web site by typing in the Activation Code and the same e-mail address you used for the original activation. A new Access-Link will then be e-mailed to you. The Access-Link will take you to the EV3 Software product page where you can choose the software download file you need.

If you have also purchased and installed the EV3 Design Engineering Projects activity pack, then make sure you do not select this file during the uninstall process. If it is uninstalled by accident, download and install it again like the EV3 Software.

Please share this message with all relevant persons/colleagues.

Please contact your local LEGO Education distributor if you have any questions to the above.

We strongly apologize for the inconvenience this is causing you.

Kind regards,

LEGO Education

Monday, August 26, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #2

I hope you're getting as excited as I am about the upcoming season!  I wanted to send off a quick email with some important updates for you.

You can always review these emails by visiting my blog at http://fllontario.blogspot.ca/ and subscribing.

In this email:
1. Field Setup Kits
2. Game Release Date
3. Upcoming Training
4. Tournament Registration


1. Field Setup Kits
Your Field Setup Kits (FSKs) are shipping if you have ordered them.  If you have coached before there is an important update to them...each model you have to build is individually bagged this year!!  This is great news and should speed up your building time considerably!  Just don't dump out all the bags and mix the pieces like you've likely done in previous years! :)

2. Game Release Date
Just a reminder that the FLL Nature's Fury game and project information will be released August 27th.  

3. Upcoming Training
FIRST LEGO League Headquarters sends coaches emails.  They also do coach training via conference calls.  These have already started and you can find more information on these calls at http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresources
FLL in Ontario will also be holding some additional online training and dates for those will be sent to you soon.  
If you are available, we will also have face-to-face training in Toronto at Crescent School on September 21st.  More details to follow soon (save the date!).
Lastly, we will have face-to-face training at St. Mildred's Lightbourne School in Oakville on October 5th.  More details on that to follow soon as well (save the date!).

4. Tournament Registration
I have had some questions regarding Tournament Registration recently.  Tournament registration will open after Thanksgiving Weekend and tournaments will take place at the end of November till mid- December.  A fee for the tournament venue you choose will be required at the time of registration (this is different from your own Team Registration Fee you paid to FIRST HQ.

Happy building!!

Dave

Dave Ellis
Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada
www.firstroboticscanada.org

Friday, May 17, 2013

Fundraising Idea - Piggybackr!

Hello everyone,

I came across this company called Piggybackr which is an online way of fundraising for your team.  I have not used it personally but have spent some time looking through the material and it looks like it could be a great way for the children on the team to take an active role in raising funds to help pay for team expenses (robots, registration fees, travel expenses, etc.).

Here's a blurb from them:


Piggybackr is an online fundraising platform that empowers youth to raise support for their teams, causes, and schools. After the "fundraising team leader" sets up the team fundraising page, team members are invited to join the effort, and create fundraising pages of their own. The average donation on Piggybackr is $76, which they believe is so high because the ask comes from the youth participants themselves. Here's an example of what a robotics fundraiser looks like: https://www.piggybackr.com/team980/2013-robotics-student-challenge

To start fundraising: teams can visit Piggybackr, click the orange "Sign up" button, and then enter the invite code FLL2013 at the top right hand corner where it says "Enter code here!" Or if you'd like, you can set up a 10-minute call with Piggybackr Community Director, Brittany Murlas: brittany@piggybackr.com510-207-4913.

Here are two sheets you may find useful - an "About Us" page, and a page fundraisers can customize to give out to parents/kids.


Happy FUNdraising! :)

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Nature's Fury Team Blast #1 - Registration is Open!!


Hello everyone!

Well, we have just returned from the FIRST World Festival where we saw some AMAZING FLL teams which were inspirational as they told us all about ways that they had solved real issues with which Seniors are dealing.  Of course, there is no stopping FLL and so we move right into the next season with FLL registration for the Nature's Fury season opening today.

Last year we were excited about the 10-year anniversary of FLL in Ontario.  This year, we are excited about the first-ever FLL International Open Championship coming to Toronto, ON, Canada!  This will be an event you WON'T want to miss.  What an exciting time to join the movement of changing our culture to one in which Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is celebrated and where becoming a technology hero is something to which our kids will aspire!

To learn more about FLL, feel free to check out these sites:

To join the movement and to register your team, go to: https://gofll.usfirst.org/.  Here's a video explaining HOW to register (including what to buy).

I am very excited to let you know that once again, FIRST Robotics Canada will be offering grants to support the growth of new teams.  If you are interested in starting an FLL team at your school or organizations, please review "How to start an FLL team".  There are additional links on that page which outlines time commitments and costs.

We have GRANTS available for the creation of new teams.  The actual document you need to submit to receive the funding can be downloaded from here.  Grants will be administered in a first-come first served manner and it is anticipated that they will go fast.

There will also be limited (30) grants for existing FLL and/or FRC teams to mentor a new FLL team so if you're an existing FLL team from one of our previous years and want to get a neighbouring school or community group involved and would like some money for your own team, FIRST Robotics Canada has set aside thirty $250 grants for FLL or FRC teams who would like to receive this grant (expectations of you as a mentor are outlined in the FLL Mentor Application and the FRC Mentor Application).

There will also be grants for Jr. FLL (for kids 6-9 years old) which will open for registration in August - for more information on Jr. FLL, please see www.jrfirstlegoleague.org.  Follow us on Twitter andFacebook, and/or FLL Ontario's Blog in order to receive immediate updates on the FLL and Jr. FLL funding as it becomes available.

Go FIRST!

Dave

Dave Ellis
Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada

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2013 FLL Nature's Fury Grants

Hello teams,

If you are looking for some help in offsetting costs associated with running a FIRST Team in Ontario we have some good news.

For new teams, we have this grant available.

NOTE: limit of one grant per organization/school.


If you are mentoring a new FLL team and you are a veteran FLL team or a veteran FRC team, you can also apply for these grants:

NOTE: limit of one grant per mentoring team.

If you have any questions regarding the grants (after reading through them) please feel free to email david.ellis@firstroboticscanada.org

Thanks and good luck!!

Dave