Michigan FLL Registration Deadline extended, Website update, Engineering notebook (Team Email Blast 2018.06)

REGISTRATION

As I'm still working through emails and calls from the past few days with questions, and some new teams are just signing up, I'm extending registration through tomorrow at 11:59 pm in an attempt to get all current teams in before we make final assignments.

Remember that we don't use the FIRST Dashboard to register. Instead, please follow the directions at 2018 FLL Michigan Event Registration. I cannot take any registrations or special requests by email. It's all handled through the Google form.

WEBSITE

Our new website is up! The direct link to the FLL page is http://firstinmichigan.us/FLL/. There are three areas that I think will be especially helpful to teams:

Run a Team - a step-by-step guide to starting and coaching an FLL team

Resources - links to  FLL materials, tutorials, and forms

Events - event information, individual event pages coming soon

ENGINEERING NOTEBOOK

In my last email with details about this year's events, I neglected to mention the Engineering Notebook. This is a new resource for teams, but is not a part of the judging process, and it is definitely not required!

All of these Team Email Blasts are archived here (soon to be migrated to the new site here.)

FLL Tournament Information, Registration Reminder, Grant Reminder (Team Email Blast 2018.05)

1. Grade Level Alignment

The FIRST in Michigan progressions of programs includes FLL for only upper elementary school students. Michigan grants and events are only open to teams who are correctly aligned. You can find more details in the registration information, and you will be asked to verify your team's grade level alignment when registering for an event. If you have any questions about your team's situation, please let me know.

2. Judging Format for Michigan INTO ORBIT events

As you begin to prepare for judging at events, here are the Michigan-specific details for the 2018 qualifying events:

• The Core Values poster will continue to be optional for Michigan FLL qualifying tournaments and required for Michigan state championship events. Teams will complete a teamwork challenge in the judging room and are welcome to bring their Core Values poster to show judges if they make one for their qualifying tournaments. 
• Robot Design judging rooms will not have a challenge field table starting this year. Instead, teams will use the Robot Design Executive Summary (RDES, explained on p.31 of the INTO ORBIT Challenge Guide) to tell the judges about their design at Michigan FLL qualifying tournaments. It will be required at Michigan FLL state championship events as well. Robot performance, as always, will be tested during robot matches.
• We are not participating in any other pilot programs this year.

Near the end of registration, I will send an event preparation email with more details about attending a qualifying tournament. You will also receive event-specific details (lunch and parking, for example) in an email from your tournament director about two weeks before your event.

3. Registration

Registration will open tomorrow morning, Oct. 6. You can find the link to register in this information: 2018 Michigan FLL Registration. Fill out one form per team. Each team attends one qualifier. There are many details in this information page, please read through it as it may answer many questions you have. 

All currently registered teams will participate in the fall season of FLL. There has been some confusion about the spring events we ran last year. There is no spring season for FLL. We ran a few informal events this past spring to allow teams who registered the week or two before the MDE grant closed on Nov. 8 to fulfill their event requirement for grant funds.   There are none planned at this time, which is why they are not on the schedule. We will plan them as needed for those teams who register in November. These spots are extremely limited because of facility and volunteer limitations in the spring, and they are not open to returning teams or any teams who registered before fall event registration (Oct. 6-12.) 

4. Rosters and Consent Forms

I will email again with reminders and more specific directions as you prepare to attend events in a few weeks, but there is one thing it might be easier for you to know early. Again this year, the Michigan consent and release form, will be required for every event participant.. You can start having parents sign them now to prepare. One other note: if you have an 8 year-old 4th grader on your team, or a 3rd grader, the FIRST system will not let you register them. You can write their name on the roster when you print it to take to your event and attach paper copies of both consent forms for them (print the FIRST national form from within your Dashboard.)

5. Grants Reminder

Grant applications are still open for the MDE FIRST robotics grant (closes Nov. 8) and the FIRST in Michigan Rookie grant. Two formats for info: Google Doc, Web page.

6. Team Names

You can change your team name at any time in your team Dashboard up until Oct. 19 and it will be shared with your event host for programs, match schedules, etc. After this date, it is not guaranteed (or likely) that your name change will be passed on to event hosts and many materials will already be printed. Please make it a priority to change your name by Oct.19 when I pull team details for all registered teams. You can see the current team list here.

Michigan FLL Qualifying Tournament Application 2018

Qualifying event information is now available for Michigan FLL teams for the 2018 INTO ORBIT season. You can find full details here: 2018 FLL Registration Information and Event List.

Registration will be open Oct. 6-12. The team list is mostly complete, as many final details came in the last few days. It will be complete by Oct. 6 when registration opens, and any added events will be included in the linked document as they are confirmed.

FLL Grants - Applications and Details (MI FLL Team Blast 2018.03)

This email contains information and application links on all grants available to FLL teams in Michigan this year.

See FLL Grants and Application Procedures for complete information on all available grants. If you have a question after reading through this email, it is likely answered in this document.

Participation in an official FIRST in Michigan FLL qualifier is a requirement of all grants.

MDE Grant

MDE FIRST Robotics State Grant is now open for application. The State set aside $3 million of a $3.5 million grant JUST for FIRST teams! Please review this linked letter about the MDE FIRST Robotics State Grant for news and info on the grant, including key dates. Be sure to share it with your school administrators! 

Your district (or school, if not part of a district) cannot apply until your team is registered for the season, so please get registered right away.

• Please remember that ALL of your FIRST teams, from FLL Jr through FRC, go on one single application
• Be sure to wait until ALL of your teams are registered and included on the application before submitting.

Highlights for FLL teams:

• Increased coach stipend to $1,000, cap of one per building.
• Increased rookie team grant to $450; veteran team grant remains at $200.

FIRST in Michigan Rookie Grant 

The intent of the FiM FLL Rookie Team grant is to provide one time funding to a school or youth enrichment 501c3 organization to establish a new upper elementary school team (which includes a team number and Kit of Parts) that is then "owned" by the team's affiliated entity (school/501c3) for reuse year to year. The grant will reimburse up to $810 for the registration fee and Mindstorms EV3 robot kit purchased through the FIRST team dashboard for additional teams at a school. (If you have veteran teams, you must register them before applying for a grant for a new rookie team.) You will need your team and school information and your purchase receipt when you apply. In order to streamline the grant paying process this year, the application works for either FLL or FTC teams; read carefully to fill in all the FLL portions.

Common errors which delay reimbursement:

• Uploaded file is not properly labeled with team number.
• Application does not list correct permanent team number (5 digits starting with 3 or 4)
• Team does not yet have two screened coaches
• Team profile does not list your school or organization affiliation
• 'Name on check' field is an individual's name.
• Veteran teams at school or organization are not yet registered

You can find the application form here: FIRST in Michigan Team Grant Application.  

Ford  Motor Co. Employee Mentored Team Grants

FIRST teams (Jr.FLL/FLL/FTC/FRC) that have a Ford Motor Co. employee as an active team mentor can apply for a Ford FIRST Robotics team grant. The grant amount for FLL teams that meet the criteria is $200. The grant is open and will close in a few weeks. The application will be available on the Ford Motor Co. STEAM website:

http://www.stem.ford.com/STEM/RoboticsOverview. Please review the FAQs on the grant.

Additional Teams

If you want to start an additional team at your school, or you want to start an FTC team for the students graduating from your FLL teams, this is the year to do it, as our rookie grants overlap with an increased amount of MDE funding!  If you know a local school interested in starting a team, please share this information with them and have them contact me. Schools can also directly contact the Michigan FTC director Tammy Damrath at michiganftc@gmail.com for help in starting FTC teams. (Unlike FLL, some FTC grants must be applied for before teams register, so it's important to contact Tammy before registering an FTC team.) 

Coach Trainings and Season Overview Events in September (MI FLL Team Blast 2018.02)

There are three opportunities for coaches and/or teams to learn more about FLL. These are especially helpful to rookie teams or new coaches, but they are also great for returning coaches who want to learn more.

Birmingham and Rochester Hills

In partnership with FIRST in Michigan, The Robot Garage will be offering the following support to FLL and FTC team for Fall 2018

• Sunday Night Studios starting 9/23
• 20% off robotics classes to First in Michigan families
• FLL Season Overviews 9/5 & 9/6

Visit the website below for details and registration information.

http://www.therobotgarage.com/first-robotics.html 

Grand Rapids:

Grand Dial in Grand Rapids will offer the following coach training dates.

• Basic Training on Sept. 15
• Advanced Training on Sept. 20 

You can find more information on their site at Grand Dial FLL Coach Trainings.

Monroe:

There will be a Coach Training night at the Monroe County ISD on Raisinville Road in Monroe, MI, in the Professional Development Building on Sept. 13 from 6-9 pm. There is no charge for this training. No registration is required. You can email me if you need further information or directions.

If you would like to host a training event or workshop for teams, please let me know.

Team Registration and Grants, Challenge Release, Coach Training, Events (MI FLL Team Blast 2018.01)

This is the first of the team update emails you will receive about FLL this year.  If you will not be involved with a team this year and do not wish to receive emails anymore, please log into your FIRST Dashboard and remove/change your contact information to the new coach or contact for your team.

Registration and Grants

Registration continues for the 2018 season of FLL! If you have registered, challenge sets are now shipping to teams in order of registration and yours will be on the way. If you need any help with the registration process, don't hesitate to ask! Veteran teams should register with their existing number, and teams should include their school name on their team if they are organized through a school. This season, registration includes the Challenge Set. Instead of a $225 registration fee and a $75 challenge set cost, the registration fee including the challenge set will be $299 this year.

Remember that FIRST in Michigan's progression of programs is different than the FIRST progression. FLL teams in Michigan consist of "upper elementary" students: 4th and 5th graders, as well as 6th graders if they attend a K-6 elementary building.

There are grants available to start additional teams at your school! If you have more students who want to participate, you can start an additional FLL team for free with our rookie reimbursement grants. You can reply to this email for more information. If you are a rookie team, the link to the grant reimbursement form will be available in a few weeks and emailed to all registered teams.

Challenge Release

The new challenge is out! You can find INTO ORBIT resources at the FIRST website, including the challenge guide, coaches' handbook, videos, etc.

Coach Training

There will be opportunities for coach training throughout the fall. I have details on one so far: Grand Dial in Grand Rapids will offer Basic Training on Aug. 18 and Sept. 15 and Advanced Training on Sept. 20 for FLL coaches for a fee. You can find more information on their site at Grand Dial FIRST Robotics Training.

If you are interested in hosting a training or build event to support teams in your area, please let me know. 

Events

We are still finalizing the tournament list for 2018. We do need a few additional events. The $75 registration fee from teams is the basis for the event budget, and there is support throughout the process of planning and hosting the event. Please let me know if you would like more information.

Spring Tournament Applications Open March 22 and Close March 29 for Michigan FIRST LEGO League Teams (MI FLL Team Blast 2017.17)

Hello Teams!

Event application for spring events will open on Thursday, March 22 at 5:00 p.m.

Event application for spring events will close on Thursday, March 29 at 5:00 p.m.

You can view the status of your event applications through your team’s Dashboard, where you initially created the team and paid the team registration fee.  You may access your Dashboard via the www.firstinspires.org website.  In the upper right of the page, choose “Log in”.  You should be able to see the Michigan FIRST LEGO League events when you access your Dashboard.  Please note that some of the events have limited availability, and one has no availability.

You will know you are registered for an event, when you receive a confirmation email from donotreply@usfirst.org that your team is Registered for an event.  The email will be titled: 

     Your FLL team number “team name” is now set to Registered status for event name.

Michigan FIRST LEGO League Spring 2018 Tournament Signup Process (MIFLL Team Blast 2017.16)

Hello Teams!

Welcome to the beginning of our Spring Tournaments!

Who May Participate in a spring tournament?
Michigan FIRST LEGO League teams that meet the following criteria:

1. Team is registered through FIRST and has paid the team registration fee for the 2017-2018 HYDRODYNAMICS season AND
2. Team did NOT compete in a Fall 2017 Qualifier tournament.

Why should I participate in a Michigan FIRST LEGO League tournament?

1. Tournaments are FUN!
2. Tournaments are a critical and important part of the FIRST and the FIRST LEGO League experience.  
3. A tournament is an opportunity for teams to learn, showcase their accomplishments, and celebrate their hard work throughout the season. Even if your team does not feel ready, we encourage and expect all teams to participate in a tournament. 
4. A tournament is an opportunity for you to engage and invite parents, siblings, sponsors, and friends to attend the tournament and cheer on your team!
5. Your participation in a Michigan FIRST LEGO League spring tournament will meet the tournament participation criteria for FIRST LEGO League grants for the kits in the state of Michigan, including the MDE grant and the Rookie Team grant.