TRASH TREK TEAM BLAST #10 - Tournament Prep, Practice Tournament and More!

Hello teams, I hope your preparations for the upcoming tournament season are going well! 

In this email you will find the following information:

1. Practice Tournament Added (for rookies)
2. RDES, 10 member rule, Consent Forms (TOURNAMENT INFO)
3. Google Drop In Address Change
4. Archived emails

Practice Tournament Added (for rookies)

What: FLL Rookie Practice Tournament 

When: Saturday Nov. 21st 12pm - 4pm 

Where: Toronto French School: 318 Lawrence Ave. East Toronto, Ont M4N 1T7

Cost: $75/team, pay with email money transfer, paypal or cheque to: info@logicsacademy.com

Register by emailing:  murray@logicsacademy.com with team name, coach name and contact information 

RDES, 10 member rule, Consent Forms (TOURNAMENT INFO)

RDES:

When you go to your event, your team will enter three judging rooms (Robot Design, Research Project, and Core Values).  In the Robot Design room you will be asked to present your Robot Design Executive Summary (RDES).  Please see the RDES file which explains the steps to follow.

10 Member Rule:

FLL teams may NOT have more than 10 team members.  Teams with more than ten members competing at an event will be disqualified from winning awards and will not be eligible to advance to the Provincial Championships.

Consent Forms:

Parents of team members must either provide consent in STIMS or with the paper copy of the Consent Form.  Please make sure you have this for ALL team members - they cannot compete without it.  Instructions for STIMS for coaches and parents are here.

Google Drop In Address Change

On Nov 17/24, we will hold the drop-in at the usual time (6-8pm), but at a NEW address.

51 Breithaupt Street, Kitchener, ON

Enter via main *public* entrance, at the back of the courtyard, and take the public elevators to the 4th floor. There will be "FLL Dropin Centre" signs on the main doors to give directions.

The following Streetview link shows the new building with the entrance courtyard, the public doors are shown in the middle of the image:

https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4544178,-80.4994039,3a,75y,173.14h,83.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sRZwk71dCGc1yAfpX2SXFOQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Archived Emails:

If you have missed something or want to review some previous information sent out, please note that you can see all past emails from this season posted on our blog at fllontario.blogspot.ca.  If you subscribe to it you'll receive all updates automatically.

Dave

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

Like us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and follow us on Twitter @CAN FIRST!

Team Blast #9 - Badge Reminder, Tournament Registration complete, Tune up Day

Hello Coaches, 3 items in this week's email blast:

1. Badge Reminder - Deadline to order is November 7th  
2. Tournament Registration Confirmed
3. Tune Up day in Oakville

Badge Reminder

The deadline to order your badges so that they arrive in time for your event is November 7th.  Please do not miss this deadline or you will be disappointed.

Order here!

Tournament Registration Confirmed

By now you should have all received your tournament assignment.  Communication about your event now turns to your Tournament Director moving forward.  If you have NOT received an email from me about your Tournament Assignment please contact me directly (NOTE: this does NOT apply to TDSB teams - your messaging about tournaments will come from Annika Pint). 

Tune Up Day in Oakville

FRC Team 1360 is happy to be able to host an FLL Tuneup drop in morning on Saturday, 21 November at the Sheridan College Skills Training Centre at 407 Iroquois Shore Road in Oakville.  We'll have lots of help available - just come and work out some kinks with our team. 

Date: 11/21/2015

Time: 9am-12pm

Location: Sheridan College Skills Training Centre at 407 Iroquois Shore Road in Oakville

Room: A14
Parking: Free and plentiful
Registration process: No formal registration process but advance notice would be nice.  Just because we didn't get notice doesn't mean you shouldn't come at the last minute.

There's a Horton's across the street and a McDonalds next door.  For parent drivers who don't want to hang around, Oakville Place is a five minute walk.

Contact: George Chisholm <georgechisholm@sympatico.ca>

You can register your intention to attend here.

Reminders:

• You can see old messages (with links to training and other opportunities for your team) here: fllontario.blogspot.ca

Best of luck to all teams with their final preparations!

Dave

Team Blast #8 - Badges, Tournament Registration Update, and Training

Hello Coaches!

In today's email you will receive information about the following three topics

1. Badges - Time Sensitive!!  Place your order!!
2. Tournament Registration Update
3. Training - SWATPosium!

Badges - Time Sensitive!!  Place your order!!

Last year we piloted an idea of having FLL badges for team members who have competed in 1, 2, or 3+ years of FLL represented by a Bronze, Silver, or Gold FLL badge respectively.  This idea was piloted only at the Provincial Championships and was a HUGE success with 98% uptake by participants.  The badges are iron on and of very good quality.  It was great to see many children walking around at provincials with their badge on their sweater/shirt (we had a heat press at provincials.  NOTE: you probably WON'T have that at your qualifier - you'll need to iron it at home).

Because of that resounding success we wanted to bring this opportunity to ALL FLL participants, not just those teams who made it to Provincials so we have come up with the following plan.

1. Coach orders online for his/her whole team
• If you have a child on your team in their third+ year with FLL you may order that child a Bronze, Silver, AND Gold badge so they have all three.  
• We will sell these next year as well so please only order what you need for your team for this year.
2. Orders are processed and mailed to the Tournament Directors based on your Tournament Assignment
3. You receive your order at your qualifier

You may place your order here: http://first-robotics-canada.myshopify.com/

NOTE: You MUST put your TEAM NUMBER in the "Company" field in the billing address or we will not know where to ship your order.

Tournament Registration Update

NOTE: the following information does NOT apply to TDSB teams.

We are all eager to get Tournament Registration finalized and I had originally told you (all non-TDSB teams) that we would release that information this week; however, last Thursday the public education sector announced that teachers would be ceasing extra-curricular activities starting today and then Kathleen Wynne announced on Friday that she has set a deadline of November 1st for a settlement.  In light of this I will be waiting to send out tournament assignments until that deadline has passed and we have more solid information from the union as this decision could have an impact on whether some events run or not.  

I will send an email Monday (hopefully morning) with details about event registration.

I know this is not an ideal situation and I wish I had better news at this time but I appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this situation in which we find ourselves.

Training - SWATPosium!

A reminder of the sign up for the Training Symposium at St. Mildred's Lightbourne School on Saturday, October 31.  Many of the workshops offered at the kickoff in Toronto earlier in the year will be repeated so if you couldn't make that session, this would be a GREAT way to learn more!  

Sessions include: Programming, Building, Fun Presentation Ideas for the Research Project, and What To Expect At/How to Prepare for a Tournament!

Sign up HERE!

Dave

Team Blast #7 - FLL Curriculum, Tournament Registration, Resources & Training

Hello Coaches, 

Today's team blast has three topics:

1. Survey re: Curriculum Connections
2. URGENT: Reminder of Official Qualifying Tournament Registration - see attachment for confirmation of whether or not you registered yet
3. Resources & Training

1. Survey re: Curriculum Connections

Teachers, have you ever dreamt of integrating FLL into your classroom?  We are very interested in creating some resources for teachers to introduce the FLL experience into their classrooms.  We would like to hear from you as teachers what YOU would need in order to pull that off.  We would truly appreciate your help by filling out this survey to give us your thoughts.

2. Reminder of Official Qualifying Tournament Registration - Tournament registration closes THIS FRIDAY!!  NOTE: This tournament information does NOT apply in any way to TDSB Teams!

Please see the East and West files which indicate whether or not we have received your tournament registration choice.  If you see your Team Number/Name you HAVE registered (final assignments to be sent out next week).  

If you DO NOT see your team represented in these files on 10/21/15 you have NOT registered for your tournament. 

3. Resources & Training

We have a number of resources and opportunities for teams.  

• Please sign up for the Symposium at St. Mildred's Lightbourne School on Saturday, October 31.  Many of the workshops offered at the kickoff in Toronto earlier in the year will be repeated so if you couldn't make that session, this would be a GREAT way to learn more!  

Sessions include: Programming, Building, Fun Presentation Ideas for the Research Project, and What To Expect At/How to Prepare for a Tournament!

Sign up HERE!

• Please check out FIRST Canada's updated resources page here.  Among other things, it includes: 
• A list of professionals to which you can reach out and ask questions about your Trash Trek Project!  
• Face to face opportunities in Hamilton and Waterloo.
• Trash Trek Resources
• Coach Resources

NOTE: Please remember to register for your tournament if you haven't done so already (check the attachments if you're not sure).  AGAIN, this does not apply to you if you are a TDSB team.

East Division Tournament Registration (for teams IN or EAST of Toronto, including North Bay)

West Division Tournament Registration (for teams WEST of Toronto, including Sudbury)

If you've missed any of my previous emails you can see them archived here: http://fllontario.blogspot.ca/

Dave

Trash Trek Team Blast #6 - Tournament Registration (...and more)!

Hello coaches,

I hope the season continues to move along nicely for you.

In this email you will see information about:

1. Tournament Registration (ACTION ITEM: REGISTER)
2. Training sessions 
3. Opportunities to SHARE with the community (ACTION ITEM [if interested])

1. Tournament Registration

Tournament Registration is finally here!

Ontario is broken into two divisions (East and West).

If you are West of Toronto you will compete in the West Division.

If you are IN Toronto or East of Toronto you will compete in the East Division.

Below are registration links for each division.  You will need to select your top 3 choices of event in your preferred order.  We will try to give you your top choice but it's quite possible that in heavy regions we will have to go to your 2nd or even your 3rd choice.  For example, the Hamilton event has a capacity of 16 teams and there are 25 teams in that area.  Some of these teams will need to go to Niagara (so if you're willing/interested in the Niagara date please make sure to include that in one of your three choices).  If you do not select three unique choices I will follow up with you for additional choices and/or simply place you somewhere based on what I need so it is in your best interest to just select the best three for you.  In the rare case where none of your top 3 choices are an option for you I will contact you directly to discuss.  PLEASE have just ONE coach register your team for the tournaments so we don't have duplicate (possibly conflicting) entries. :)

East Division Tournament Registration (for teams IN or EAST of Toronto, including North Bay)

West Division Tournament Registration (for teams WEST of Toronto, including Sudbury)

2. Training Sessions

Three opportunities here currently:

• Oakville: SWATPosium (October 31):
•  many great sessions:
• What to expect at a tournament
• Creative presentation ideas
• Q&A with an experienced coach
• Programming and building sessions
• Registration details coming soon - SAVE THE DATE!
• Hamilton: MakeShift Robotics Training sessions (see flyer)
• Waterloo: Google Drop In Evening Sessions (Communitech Space) -  October 21st and 28th (more to come)
• entry off Joseph Street (through the courtyard at the intersection of Joseph & Linden Ave). Joseph Street is very busy right now as it has become an alternate thoroughfare due to all the local construction, so caution crossing the street is advised.
• contact Jacob Rampertab for more details

3. Opportunities to SHARE with the Community

• We are still looking for teams for the Ontario Science Centre, Robots Rule event on Saturday, October 24th.  The Sunday spots are all full but we do need someone still for the Saturday.  This is a great opportunity for your kids to work on their stuff while also sharing the FLL experience with visitors to the OSC. In addition, your kids will have access to the Science Centre for free and can take shifts exploring throughout the day.  Also, there are a lot of other cool robots on display during this day from other organizations.
• We are also looking for someone for Science Expo’s 2015 Conference.   The conference is taking place on November 21, 2015 at the MaRS Discovery District in Downtown Toronto. The conference will run from 8:30 AM - 4:45 PM. However, the Exhibitor’s Fair is from 12 PM - 1:30 PM. This is during lunch and it would be when FIRST LEGO League teams could attend to demo the robot.

ACTION ITEM: Please let me know if you're interested in either of these opportunities.

Thanks,

Dave

Trash Trek Team Blast #5 - Tournament Registration, Robots Rule and Reminders!

Sent 10/2/15

Hello coaches,

I hope your seasons are all going well so far!

In this email:

1. Tournament Registration is coming soon
2. Ontario Science Centre (Robots Rule)
3. Reminders (practice tournaments)

TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION

Team registration is almost closed and soon tournament registration will be available for you.  For those who are new to FLL in Ontario, the way tournament registration works is that you will be given a list of tournaments (which can already be viewedhere) and you will either be slotted as a "West Division" team or an "East Division" team.  Depending on which Division you are in you will select your top 3 choices of tournaments in preferred order and once Tournament Registration closes we will notify you which tournament you have been slotted into.  The software we use to slot you into your tournament takes into account when you register so please register as soon as I send you the link if you are concerned about getting your first choice.

Timeline: 

• Team registration closing in the next week
• Tournament Registration opening via an email from me around Thanksgiving weekend
• Deadline to register: Friday, October 23

ONTARIO SCIENCE CENTRE ROBOTS RULE

We have been invited to join the annual Robots Rule weekend at the OSC and as always, we are looking for interestedteams to volunteer to spend the day with us there showcasing your robot and project.  This runs the weekend of October 24-25 and you can choose either the Saturday or the Sunday to participate in.  

Details:

Setup between 9-10 a.m., tear down at 4 p.m.

Lunch is provided

You don't need to have a spectacular robot or project.  The audience will be people who have never seen FLL before and you'll be acting as ambassadors to tell them about the program and share what you're doing as a team.  You can use the day to work on programming missions as we will have an FLL table there with this year's theme on it.  

If interested, please email me back ASAP.

REMINDERS:

• Coach resources can be found here and here
• Read the Coaches Manual - it's GREAT
• There is a practice tournament in Mississauga that still has some space available - see this flyer for more details.

Continued best wishes to you all!

Dave

Trash Trek Team Blast #4: Kickoff, Training, & Practice Tournaments

Sent 09/10/15

Hello coaches,

We hope you've had a great summer and are excited to be back preparing for the new FLL season, Trash Trek!  Since the official game has been released I'm sure you're all as pumped as we are to get going on the challenge!

If you are looking for training or experience before your official event, this is the email for YOU!  In this email you'll find information about the following:

1. FLL Ontario Kickoff and Training
2. FLL Ontario Entrepreneur/team branding/project shaping workshop
3. FLL Headquarters' "Ask an Expert" Series
4. Practice Tournaments

1. FLL Ontario Kickoff and Training (registration required)

On September 26th, in Toronto and in Waterloo there will be a kickoff and training event taking place for teams to gather together and learn more. 

We need to know who is attending and in what numbers so please register for one of these two events using the appropriate links below.

ACTION ITEM:

Toronto Kickoff (Saturday, Sept. 26, Bayview Glen School)

Waterloo Kickoff (Saturday, Sept. 26, University of Waterloo)

2. FLL Ontario Entrepreneur/team building/project shaping workshop

Just a reminder to my previous email on this topic which you can see here.  Please read more about it here and/or register ASAP here if you're still considering attending as spots are almost gone!

3. FLL Headquarters' "Ask an Expert" Series

FLL HQ is hosting a series of webinars in which you can participate.  They have been going on already and continue to do so for quite some time.  If you're interested in any of the topics below, please sign up and join in on the call!  All previous sessions have been recorded and posted on this page: http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresources

4. Practice Tournaments

Many teams have been asking about registering for qualifying tournaments already but that registration will not be opening until early-mid October after Team Registration has closed; however, PRACTICE Tournaments are available in certain locations and I will promote those with you as they become known to me (by the way, YOU can host a practice tournament too!).

These are a GREAT way to improve your team and prepare them for the real competition.  I highly recommend participating in a practice event if there is one in your area.

The first one I've become aware of is taking place in Mississauga on Saturday, November 14th and anyone in Ontario is welcome to participate (this includes East teams).  Please see the attached flyer for more information.

Go Teams!

Dave

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