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

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: 

http://firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/TeamResources/NaturesFury/FLL%20HANDBOOK%202013%20PDF%20For%20Download.pdf

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