Sr. Solutions 2012 Team Blast #6

Hello everyone,

I hope your FLL season preparations are moving along nicely!  It's definitely a busy time of year!  This week's Team Blast is pretty short.

1. Team Registration is closing!  Make sure you have purchased your FSK and Robot (if you haven't already)
2. Tournament Registration Opens soon
3. Training is ongoing
4. Mats are creased
5. Reminders (team size and RDES)

Team Registration is closing!

• FLL HQ anticipates Team Registration (at gofll.usfirst.org) will close by Sunday.  The US is already closed early.  You have already registered your team, but did you also purchase all of your materials at that time?  Your team needs a Team Registration, a Robot, AND a Field Setup Kit (FSK) which is the mat and pieces that your robot will interact with on the table.
• If you do NOT have all 3 of those items you need to go back into the registration system and proceed to the Purchase Materials area to buy the rest of your products.  Once registration closes on Sunday (or earlier) you will NOT be able to buy these items.
  

Tournament Registration Opens soon

• Your volunteer Tournament Directors met with me a couple weekends ago and we went through training and discussions.
• Tournament Registration will take place in the coming week or so - it will be communicated in my next team blast and will be posted here on our website under the "Tournament Registration" link.
• Costs, dates, and other specifics vary slightly from tournament to tournament.  Make sure you register early to guarantee a spot in your tournament.

Training is ongoing

• We just had a very successful Kick-Off and Training event with over 300 participants and coaches attending (check out all the presentations and resources here)
  
• We have another training event planned for Saturday, October 27th at St. Mildred's Lightbourne School in Oakville.  Coaches wishing to make a presentation should contact me immediately.  Training will include sessions from Basic Coach Orientation for those who are unsure what's going on, to advanced line following with the robot (and everything in between).  If there's something you want to learn, let me know and we'll try to make that happen.  Registration for the event is via RSVP email.  Information can be found here: http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/main/?p=4886
• We will also be firing up our Online Coach Training Webinars soon - keep an eye out for that in your next team blast.  They typically take place in the evenings from 7:30-9:00 on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays and you participate through your internet connected computer (speakers and microphone are necessary)
  
• FLL HQ has ongoing training calls as well and you can find them here: http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresources

Mats are creased

• the mats come folded in a square box this year (instead of the usual rolled mat)
• they are creased but if you roll it up and put it somewhere warm for a few days (like your car) they tend to smooth out...hair dryers often help as well

Reminders (team size and RDES)

• Just a reminder that your team size cannot exceed 10 members, teams larger than that will not be able to receive awards at events, nor qualify for Championship
  
• Ontario is using the RDES at events this year (Robot Design Executive Summary)...it's a way for your team to communicate with the judges at an event with a formal presentation - more information on the RDES can be found here.

I guess there was more than I thought! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!
Dave

Sr. Solutions 2012 Team Blast #5

Well, we have just had our Tournament Director's meeting this past weekend and plans are rolling along for some great events this year.  Please remember that these individuals are volunteers, giving their time to plan and execute an event for your teams.  Make sure to find them at the event and thank them.  The rest of the info for this week's Team Blast is below.  Have a great week with the kids!

Available Training
Updated Grant Announcement
Tournament Registration

Available Training:

• FLL Ontario Kick-off and Training Event - Saturday, September 22nd 2012 (registration for this event is now closed).
• FLL Ontario's Coach call recordings from 2011 - http://www.firstroboticscanada.org/main/?page_id=2323
• includes all training recorded for the Food Factor season as well as other resources listed at the bottom of this page
• stay tuned for a 2012 Sr. Solutions' schedule
• FIRST HQ Coach Calls - http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresources
• FIRST HQ is hosting on-going Coach Training conference calls which you can find scrolling down on this page
• this page also has other resources listed on it
• St. Mildred's Symposium
• Saturday, October 27th - more details to come
• Coaches will have an opportunity to attend training sessions similar to the ones being held this weekend
  
• Coaches interested in sharing their knowledge are welcome to email me with their ideas or for further information

Updated Grant Announcement
New Team Grant: Already applied for a New Team Grant and have more kids interested than you can have on a team (REMEMBER, there is a limit of 10 children on a team)?  Great news!  We will be opening up our FLL grants on September 20th to those teams interested in a second grant to add an additional team to your school.  You must commit to entering both teams in a tournament this season.  There will be a limit of one additional grant per school/organization. 
2nd Year Team Grant: If you are a Second Year Team and have not applied for your grant, there is still time.  Again, if you apply you are committing to running a team and entering that team into this year's competitions.
Mentoring Grant: If you are an experienced coach and would like to mentor another coach you may apply for the mentor grant. 
All the grant information can be found on my 4th email blast posted on my blog here.


Tournament Registration
Tournament registration is set to take place during the week after Thanksgiving Weekend in October.  Please stay tuned for the email blast about that.

Dave


Dave Ellis

Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada

647-225-3283
www.firstroboticscanada.org

Sr. Solutions 2012 Team Email Blast #4

Hello everyone,

I know that many of you are returning to school today and all that that entails for you.  I wish you all the best as your new school year starts off! 

REGISTRATION
We are very excited about this year's FLL season as it marks the 10th year that Ontario has been participating in FLL!  Make sure to be a part of the excitement this year!  I just wanted to let you all know that if you haven't registered yet for the FLL season that you are not too late!  The game and research project have been released already (released August 28th this year) and it looks like another great theme!! 

Please note that if you haven't registered already, Team Registration closes at the end of September.  We have found that teams do much better the earlier they start so if you are still planning on registering, don't delay - Register Today! 

GRANTS
If last year was your first year participating in FLL I have great news for you.  There are a limited number of 2nd Year FLL grants available to you if you register and apply quickly.  The application to apply for the grant can be downloaded from here.  Preference will be given to those teams who received a New Team Grant last year but the door will be opened to all 2nd year teams who apply after September 10th.

If you know of someone who might be interested in starting a new team, feel free to have them register and apply for a "New Team Grant" (we have just been given the go ahead to release 30 more grants since we already handed out the previous 60!!  Help us reach more kids and get to 350 or more teams in Ontario this year!!

TRAINING
In addition, I wanted to let you know about Coach Training that is coming up: 
• There is a series of Coach Calls straight from HQ in New Hampshire which you can either tune into live or download for your MP3 player.  You can view the series outline/dates (among other resources) here: http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/teamresources
• We will also be hosting some Ontario-based Coach Training Webinars (stay tuned for more details).
• We have also scheduled two face-to-face training sessions for teams to attend.  One is coming up in a few weeks (September 22nd) at Crescent School in Toronto (2365 Bayview Avenue  Toronto, ON).  It's going to be a great day and the kids can come too!!  Leave the day with a couple missions completed!  Register here.
• The second face-to-face training session will be on October 27th in Oakville (more details to follow but mark your calendar and plan to attend!)

TOURNAMENTS
Tournament registration will be open in early October after Team Registration has closed.  Qualifying Tournaments across Ontario take place on weekends in November and December and you need to compete in one of these events in order to qualify for the Provincial Championships which take place in January.  Each tournament has a fee which can be up to $150 and includes lunch and awards for the teams.  Many tournaments are looking for volunteers so if you know someone who might be interested in helping out, please email the Tournament Director listed to indicate your interest.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.  Have a great day!

Dave

Sr. Solutions 2012 Team Blast #3

Hello Teams,

We are hours away from the official launch of the game and project for the 2012 FLL Sr. Solutions' season and we couldn't be more excited about this upcoming season!  Did you know it's our 10th anniversary of FIRST LEGO League in Ontario?!  That's a major milestone for us and we have plans to celebrate - more on that later!

Speaking of celebrating, please make sure to bring as many members of your team (coaches and kids) to join us for our 1st Annual FLL Kick-Off and Training event being held on Saturday, September 22nd at Crescent School in Toronto.  The tentative schedule of the day can be found here.  We will have an overview of the game and project to clarify any questions, many talented presenters including several past Provincial Champions leading a comprehensive series of workshops, and we have a long period of time blocked off at the end of the day for your team to work on actually building and programming your robot to accomplish some missions for this year's game before you leave!  That's right, leave with a working robot!  Oh, and did I mention that there will be food...lunch is on us!  AND it gets better, if you sign up today you'll get a set of steak knives ABSOLUTELY free!  OK, no steak knives...but there WILL be cake!!  Cake's good too!

Seriously though, please DO join us for what is shaping up to be a fantastic day of mingling, asking questions, learning, and playing with LEGO! 

To help us plan for numbers, I just ask that you please fill out this simple 2-minute survey to let us know how many people are coming from your team (yes - the kids should come too!!).

Thanks!  Can't wait to see you all at the event!

Dave

Sr. Solutions 2012 Team Blast #2

Hello Coaches,

I hope your summer is going well so far and you're enjoying the warm weather.

We are very excited about our upcoming season which will launch in just over a month!  We are planning a Kick-Off event for Saturday, September 22nd in Toronto.  At the kick off event we will go over the game in detail and answer questions pertaining to the missions (as best we can).  We are also planning to have a training component to the day where you can bring your team of kids (or as many as you can transport) to the event with your laptop and robot and come away with a pretty decent chassis, some knowledge of programming and building techniques, and perhaps even some missions started!

Along those lines, we are looking for experienced coaches who would be willing to present at this event to small groups of coaches/FLL team members.  I would like to have a beginner workshop on basic building and programming.  I would also like to have an intermediate programming group to teach more advanced concepts and an intermediate building group to teach about modular design and universal attachments.  If you would be willing and are free to teach others and share your knowledge/experience, I would love to hear from you!  Send me an email back or call me and we can discuss further.

More details to follow but for now, please mark you calendars with that date and plan to be in Toronto for the day to learn about FIRST LEGO League and the NXT robotics platform.

Have a great rest of summer!

Dave

Sr. Solutions Team Blast #1

Hello everyone,

As we close out the Food Factor season of FLL with last week's World Festival in St. Louis, we are immediately looking to FLL registration opening again on Monday, May 7th at 12 p.m for the 2012 Sr. Solutions' Season! 

It's very exciting to note that this will be FLL Ontario's 10-year anniversary and is 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 join the movement and register your team, on May 7th go to: https://gofll.usfirst.org/.  Keep in mind that sometimes the registration system is overloaded with registrations right at noon and persistence and/or patience may be required. :)

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.

To receive the grant money to support your new team, please review these instructions.

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 and Facebook, 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
www.firstroboticscanada.org

6th Coach Email blast

Hello teams,

Welcome to another wonderful week of FLL!  :)  I have some VERY important issues to address in this email so please make sure to read through each one.
1) Tournament Registration
2) Robot Design Executive Summary - RDES (Robot presentation requirement - NEW this year!)
3) Advancement Policy to move from Qualifying Tournament to Provincial Championships
4) Training Opportunities - don't miss out!

1) Tournament Registration
Tournament registration closes this Friday.  If you have not registered for your qualifying tournament, please do so by the end of this week.  They are on a first-come, first-served basis with some consideration given to geography.  If you are new to FLL this year, please note that the registration you did in September was your "TEAM Registration".  What we're talking about now is your "TOURNAMENT Registration" and this IS separate.  Please go to this page on our site to find the tournaments available.  On a side note, our Ottawa tournament is still looking for teams so if are interested in heading East to the beautiful city of Ottawa for field trip, please go ahead and sign up for that.

2) Robot Design Executive Summary (RDES)
The RDES is a pilot in which Ontario is participating.  In a nutshell, it's something you need to create ahead of time to use during the Robot Design Judging session to provide a structured way for the judges to get to know what's going on with your robot.  There is a document attached to this email outlining the full details of the RDES.  Please read through it and make sure you are prepared.  All tournaments in Ontario, including the Provincial Championships, will be following this new procedure for the Robot Design Judging process.
3) Advancement Policy
Teams often ask about how they can move on to the next stage.  First of all, please keep in mind that the goal of FLL is not to "get to the next level" or "win an award", but to inspire children with respect to science and technology and to ensure they have fun throughout the process/experience.  Each tournament they attend (whether it is a qualifier or the provincials) should be viewed as a celebration of their learning and a chance to learn from the other fantastic teams they meet.

Having said that, here is the information regarding advancement:

For the purposes of advancement to Provincial Championships, teams at tournaments will be assessed against the Champions' criteria and ranked accordingly against the other teams at the tournament.  Each tournament is allocated a certain number of advancement "spots" based on the size of the tournament (ie. the more teams at a tournament, the more spots that tournament will be given at the Provincial Championships based on a standard percentage).  So, if the tournament you're attending is sending three teams on to the Provincial Championships then your team would have to be one of the top 3 teams ranked according to the Champions' criteria.  More information about this can be found on the FLL FAQ page located here: http://firstlegoleague.org/event/judgingfaq    

4) Training Opportunities!
This week we have our last two training webinars for coaches and a fantastic symposium on Saturday.  All training past, present, and future is FREE - all details can be found here.
Tuesday 7 p.m. Online: Core Values and Research Project
Wednesday, 7 p.m. Online: Intermediate Programming 102
Saturday, 9 a.m. Face-to-face: FIRST Robotics Symposium with many workshops planned.

By the way, if you've missed any of my email blasts or don't want to do a search for them in your inbox, they are all posted on my blog here.

Take care and have a great week!

Dave

Dave Ellis
FLL Operational Partner - Ontario, Canada
www.firstroboticscanada.org