In this newsletter you will find:
- FIRST LEGO League Jr Season Pass Grants available! - Due July 14
- FIRST LEGO League Jr Inspire Set, What's Different?
- ORTOP.org is Getting an Upgrade!
1) FIRST LEGO League Jr Season Pass Grants available! - Due July 14
Are you with a school, school district, community organization, library, museum, or any other group that works with 144 or so kids a year in afterschool or weekend programming? FIRST has paired up with LEGO Foundation to offer a Season Pass grant to get you started with FIRST LEGO League Jr.
Apply online before July 14. The grant provides WeDo2.0 for 12 teams, funding for tablets, and a site license for this year, with next year's site license locked in at this year's rate!
A FIRST LEGO League Jr Season Pass is designed to be used with different groups of kids over the course of one year. Use it 2 times to run 12 teams in the fall and 12 teams in the spring. Use it 3 times to run teams in the Fall, Winter, and Spring - if your teams only have 4 members each you can still run 12 teams at a time. Spread out across multiple locations? NOT A PROBLEM! Run your program at one location, then move all your materials to another. Run it in 4th grade in the fall and 2nd grade in the spring! There are many options to make a season pass work for you. Did you know FIRST LEGO Leauge Jr meets many of the current and upcoming standards in elementary science, language arts, and even math?
Not sure if you qualify? Just ask!
Apply online before July 14. Preferences are given to teams working with underservered, low-income, or rural youth.
2) FIRST LEGO League Jr Inspire Set, What's Different?
This year, the cost per team for registration has increased to $99 for an individual team. Much of this additional cost will be brought back directly to your team in new LEGO. This year, everything you need for your FIRST LEGO League Jr season (except for your WeDo/motor/robot kit) will be provided when you register with FIRST. This means no more cobbling together kits, although your team is still welcome to use any LEGO they own. Your team will also have greater flexibility with the "baseplate". Instead of a single large plate, your team can arrange their 6 plates in their Inspire Set in any way they choose. Please consider our location spaces, we will still be sharing tables at many of our expos! Also remember, you will need to transport your models - securing them to your already fixed baseplate can be a good solution!
These are some exciting developments. Also, new this year the Inspire model will come with directions for directly integrating it with the WeDo and WeDo 2.0 sets! What a fun way to get your team programming right away! So before you are shocked, please know that the new Inspire Set is a much bigger value than last year. Think of it as FIRST LEGO League Jr PLUS!
If you have questions about the materials your will receive, please feel free to contact Loridee @ Loridee-Wetzel@ortop.org. AQUA ADVENTURE Sets will ship with Engineering Notebooks and Team Meeting Guides starting August 1.
3) ORTOP.org is Getting an Upgrade!
The FIRST LEGO League Jr website in Oregon has been sitting a bit stagnant. That is because we are working on a new website in an easier to update and mobile friendly system. Please join us as we transition to our new page over the summer months. If you can't find your favorite things, it's ok, your human support is still here! Check back in late-July and early August for our new look. We think it will be rather flattering.
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