FIRST Fun to End the Year and Welcome 2017!

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Jr Oregon!

In this post you will find:

1. Request tickets to join FIRST Oregon teams at the Winterhawks (December 28th game)
2. Signup to Attend Juniors Day at the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship (January 14)
3. Expo Registration will open in January

1) Request tickets to join FIRST Oregon teams at the Winterhawks (December 28th game)
Join Oregon FIRST teams as the Winterhawks take on TriCity! Winterhawks have donated several ticket vouchers for our teams to enjoy. Please use the form below to request a voucher (which you will need to take to the ticket office to turn into tickets). Where your team shirts, if you have one, so teams can find each other!
Request your ticket vouchers here

We also are happy to be able to include our volunteers in this activity! If you volunteer with ORTOP, please join us at the game.

2) Signup to Attend Juniors Day at the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship (January 14)
If your team is starting to look towards FIRST LEGO League (the 4th-8th grade competitive LEGO robotics program) please sign up to attend the Juniors Day at the Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship.  FIRST LEGO League Jr teams should who sign up will receive a tour at Liberty High School in Hillsboro on Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 2:30pm.

Sign up with this online form

Teams will get to ask questions about FIRST LEGO League and meet competing teams in the secure pit area after competitions have concluded for the day. Teams should come early to see the robot game competitions in the gymnasium arena.
The Intel Oregon FIRST LEGO League Championship Tournaments are free and open to the public from 9am-5pm on Saturday, January 14 & Sunday, January 15, 2017.

3) Expo Registration will open in January

Registration for the March 18 & 19 FIRST LEGO League Expos as OMSI and the May 6 Expo at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum will open in the second half of January.  To register for an expo your team MUST have a national registration (4 digit team number) through FIRST.

To register your team for the CREATURE CRAZE season, please register your team online at www.firstinspires.org

If you need any assistance navigating the FIRST registration system I am happy to help!

Best Wishes & Happy New Year,
Loridee

Information Sessions NEW Dates!

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Jr Oregon,

In this post you will find:

1. OMSI Information Session TOMORROW!
2. OMSI WeDo Information Night - Rescheduled for October 25
3. Site License Grant Opportunity

1)  OMSI Information Session TOMORROW!

Interested in learning more about FIRST LEGO League Jr? We hope you will join us for a FIRST LEGO League Jr Information session from 6-8pm at OMSI. This is the class that was postponed last week. The session will cover the FIRST LEGO League Jr season, the Creature Craze theme, the new FIRST LEGO League Jr materials, working with schools, and more!  This is an adults information session. Kids will not have much to do while the class is happening.

2)  OMSI WeDo Information Night - Rescheduled for October 25

Is your team curious about the WeDo 2.0 system? Come learn about this LEGO program and how it can add new elements to your FIRST LEGO League Jr experience. Schools and FIRST LEGO League Jr coaches are encouraged to attend. This event will run from 6-8pm at OMSI and will provide an opportunity for adults to get their hands on a WeDo 2.0 system to see what it would be like to use with their team.

3)  Site License Grant Opportunity

FIRST LEGO League Jr and LEGO Foundation are offering site license grants to organizations who would like to run site licenses for the next 3 years. The grant includes the site license for up to 144 students (max of 72 at a time) for the Creature Craze season, funding for WeDo2.0 and tablets. Your organization agrees to run the program for the 144 students and pay the site license in years 2 and 3. To apply please go to: http://info.firstinspires.org/educationgrant

Information Night Postponed until October 18

Due to instructor illness, we are postponing tonight's FIRST LEGO League Jr Information Night for one week. The FIRST LEGO League Junior Information Night will now be held on October 18th from 6-8pm at OMSI in Classroom 1. The WeDo information class is being rescheduled with OMSI. 

Please help us spread the word so those who are planning to attend, but did not get the opportunity to sign up are aware of this change.

Thank  you,

Loridee

FIRST LEGO League Jr Migrates the Newsletter to a Blog!

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Jr Oregon,

From now on, all updates will now come as both an email and as a blog post. Because of the nature of the FIRST LEGO League Jr program, all of our teams are at all different stages of the program throughout the year. Hopefully, this new format will make it easier to find advice for your team at the time you need it.

In this update you will find:

1. OMSI Information Night
2. WeDo 2.0 Training Night
3. LEGO Education Information Day for Teachers
4. Registration Details for Creature Craze
5. Creature Craze Oregon Expos!

1) OMSI Information Night

I am happy to announce that I will be hosting a FIRST LEGO League Jr Information Night at OMSI on October 11th at 6:00pm. We will be meeting in Classroom 1. Please sign up using the form if you are able to attend. I want to make sure I have enough for everyone.

2) WeDo 2.0 Training Night

On Tuesday, October 18, I will be back at OMSI to specifically address questions about the new LEGO WeDo 2.0 system. I hope to help you understand the system and see what it would look like to use this OPTIONAL system with your FIRST LEGO League Jr team.

3) LEGO Education Information Day for Teachers
LEGO Education will be in Oregon with a free workshop for teachers specifically talking about using WeDo 2.0 and LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3. It will all be in Albany at Linn-Benton Community College on October 14th. If you are a teacher, I hope you can join us!  Please register here

4) Registration Details for Creature Craze

If you are not one of the 17 teams already registered to participate in FIRST LEGO Leauge Jr this year, you will notice several changes this season! The forms used to register your team are different. If you are with a school or afterschool group, you may want to consider the site license option that opens in October. Also, what you receive will be different this year as well, so it is critical that you include an accurate shipping address, not a P.O. Box!

To register your team, this year you log in at www.firstinspires.org. Your login information has transferred if you had a FIRST account last year, but you don't need to go any further than the login button on the top right of the screen to get started. After you have updated your profile, you will see last year's team on your Dashboard. You will also see any other FIRST teams you are affiliated with. If you don't have any teams, you want to Start A Team!

Each team must have 2 Adults listed as Coach/Mentor 1 and Coach/Mentor 2. A Team Admin is optional. Both coaches must complete their YPP and Consent form. This can be found under the Outstanding Tasks on each person's Dashboard. After that is complete you may register the team by paying the $75 National Registration. When you do, a box with the Inspire Model, a kit of Elise the bee and her hive, 6 Engineering Notebooks, and a Coach's Guide will be shipped to you - it will not come via USPS, this is why you need a valid shipping address.

Your coach's guide will sync with the engineering notebooks to guide the entire team through 12 sessions of Creature Craze!  Your registration will NOT include any LEGO other than the Inspire Model. If your team wants LEGO or a WeDo system, you will need to use the Purchase Product button on the Dashboard, after your national registration has been paid.

I'll have the details on how to register a site license in October!

4) Creature Craze Oregon Expos!
There was not significant interest in having a November expo this year. We need at least 18 teams to do this. However, we will be having some very exciting spring expos!

• March 18 & 19 at OMSI Auditorium  - we will hold 4 separate expos on those two days
• May 6 at Evergreen Space Museum
• May in The Dalles or Hood River

One other warning! If you are registering your FIRST LEGO League Jr Team, please be aware the FIRST website may be down on September 29th for FIRST Robotics Competition registration that day.

Best Wishes,

Loridee