Friday, May 5, 2017

Preparing for AQUA ADVENTURE

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Jr Oregon,

In this post you will find:
  1. Evergreen Aviation Eagle Expo - Saturday!
  2. Where is my team roster/Global Showcase?
  3. National Registration Opens May 11
  4. New National Fees, Same Expo Application Fee
  5. What is a Site License?

1) Evergreen Aviation Eagle Expo - Saturday!
Please join us for the Eagle Expo this Saturday at Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville! 16 teams will be sharing their CREATURE CRAZEsm models and Show Me Posters. Join us upstairs! Opening Ceremonies begin at 10:30am and Closing Ceremonies are scheduled to begin around 12:30pm. We will be in the free area of the museum, museum admission is not required for spectators.

2) Where is my team roster/Global Showcase?
FIRST has already reset their systems for the 2017-2018 AQUA ADVENTUREsm season. This means you will no longer have access to any digital information for the CREATURE CRAZE season. If you still need to create a roster for a May or June expo please have each coach and team member complete a paper consent form and create a roster using Word or Excel. Your Roster needs the official team number, the team name, each coach's name, and each team member's name.  Print the roster and staple the consent forms for each person to the back.
English Consent Form
Spanish Consent Form

3) National Registration Opens May 11
Registration, for the first time, will open on the same day as the other FIRST programs, May 11. This means your team, school, or youth organization can use this year's funds to register for next year's program. Your materials will be shipped in August for the new season!  Additionally, both coaches are not needed to start your registration and pay for your team, this year. Team Admins may pre-purchase teams for the fall and have their coaches sign-up at a later time. Please remember that FIRST DOES NOT offer refunds for team registration. Please only register if you are sure you will have a team!

4) New National Fees, Same Oregon Expo Application Fee
FIRST LEGO League Jr is seeing one big change (with more information to come in June). The Inspire model is being upgraded to a LEGO Inspire kit!
The AQUA ADVENTURE Inspire Set box as seen at the World Festival

To include this bigger LEGO set as part of the team registration the National Registration costs have gone up.  Here is the 2017-2018 National Registration Fees:


FIRST LEGO League Jr
2017-2018 Fee
Single Team Registration
$99
Season Pass (Small) – 144 kids
$895
Season Pass (Large) – 288 kids
$1750

5) What is a Site License?
Organizations who would like to have a multi-session or year-round FIRST LEGO League Jr program may purchase a Season Pass instead of individual team registrations. Each pass may be used on a semester or trimester schedule (you could possibly do quarters, but teams would need to meet more often during that time). The idea is you receive 12 or 24 Inspire Sets (small vs a large pass) that are reused throughout the year by different teams, along with the LEGO or WeDo kits. The teams do not need to meet in the same building. It is perfectly fine to share across libraries or schools in a district. The pass comes with enough engineering notebooks for 144 or 288 team members, and 12 or 24 Team Meeting Guides for the coach, these also need to be transferred with the LEGO. Schools, Districts, Youth Organizations, or even a high school FIRST team can order the season pass to facilitate FIRST LEGO League Jr programs from August through June.

If you think a Season Pass is right for your group, but want to know more. Please feel free to contact Loridee-Wetzel@ortop.org.

Best Wishes,
Loridee