If you are new to this email this is the place where you will find all of the Washington specificFIRSTLEGO League information. Coaches and team administrators in theFIRSTsystem for the CITY SHAPER season will be added weekly. Starting this season, every email from me will be numbered. That number lets you know which update it is, if you miss an update youcan find it on our website.

I have 5 items for you today-

1. Second Weekend Events! Important Changes!

2. Things to Bring to Your Event

3. Volunteer Recruitment for Events

4. FIRST Washington Judging Updates for this Season

5. Register to Provide Event Equipment

Congratulations to the teams that attended our first weekends competitions! I hope you all had fun!

The Second Weekend of Events is Here! Important changes!

Everyone ready? Yeah, I’m not either! But ready or not, it will be fun!

This is the day to celebrate all the teams hard work and to have a good time and cheer your hearts out! Remember, this day is about the students and their accomplishments! Have fun and celebrate them!

We will be changing things up paperwork wise from week 1 at some events. Teams will not receive a printed schedule, there will be a large schedule taped to the check in table for coaches and parents to take a picture of. I will also be posting a link to teams individual schedules on our website here- http://firstwa.org/Team-Resources/FIRST-LEGO-League-Team-Resources/Events Click on your individual event page, and you will see a link to the file with all the teams individual schedules in it. These will be posted on Friday

Feel free to copy yours or print it out if you’d like.

We are trying this in an effort to decrease the amount of paper we are printing for our events. If you have positive or negative feedback about this change I would love to hear it!

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Things to Bring to Your Event

A short list of thing to bring-

Your roster printed from your teams dashboard at firstinspires.org

Any paper consent forms for team members not added electronically

Robot • Extra robot batteries and charger (if rechargeable) • Laptop computer for program changes • Project Presentation • Food, drinks and snacks (unless otherwise noted) • Extension cord and power strip • Team Information Sheet (Optional) – Three copies, one for each judge panel• Robot Design Executive Summary• Activities for team members to do during down time (Optional)• Copies of the game rules and rule updates • Your Gracious Professionalism and a positive attitude!

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Volunteer Requirement for Events

We are still in need of volunteers for some of our events, and will need volunteers for the Semifinals and the State Championships.

Each team is expected to recruit or provide at least one adult volunteer to work a full day at a FIRST LEGO League Qualifier event this season. We need you!

Consider this:

· In Washington, we have over 650 FLL teams

· Each event requires approximately 55 volunteers (for a 1 day commitment)

· Washington hosts 23 events over the first 2 weekends in December

· That means there areOVER 1,200 volunteer rolls that need to be filled over those two weekends!!!

· We are in need of adult volunteers, but we especially need adult judges! (20-30 per event approximately)

· Pleasereach out to your mentors/parents/teachers/neighbors/community and help us fill all of these rolls.

· This is the best way for coaches to learn about the judging process.

· We want to inspire these young students to be technology leaders!

Recruited volunteers should go to the FIRST website, www.firstinspires.org and create an account or log in. Volunteers will complete the process for background screening and should select the event where they want to volunteer.

Volunteers with an affiliation to your team should work at an event where the team is not competing. When you fill out your event registration, coaches will be asked to provide the name of your volunteer for this season. Start recruiting now!

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FIRST Washington Judging Updates for this Season

This season you need to be aware of some changes to the judging process.

We will no longer have tables in the Robot Design judging rooms. Instead we will have a large laminated print out of the mat for teams to write on if they want to show the judges the paths their robots take. I also highly recommend teams print out copies of their code to show the judges. You should still plan to bring your robots and attachments to show the judges. A Robot Design Executive Summary is required at all levels this season, using either this worksheet- https://firstwa.org/Portals/0/FLL_Files/2019%20Season/RDES-CityShaper.pdf?ver=2019-11-12-130930-540 or your own format. A prepared presentation is not expected.

Core Values posters will not be required at any level of competition in Washington.

Teams should be aware of changes FIRST HQ made to the Champion’s Award and advancement criteria this season. To review all of the FIRST LEGO League frequently asked judging questions- http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/into-orbit/judging-faq.pdf

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Register to Provide Event Equipment

All events need support from the attending teams in order to have enough tables and Challenge Sets for the Practice tables. For those events that are in more remote locations, Practice Field Monitor is a great role for a person affiliated with your team to apply for to still fulfill the volunteer requirement. To provide Challenge Sets and Tables for event use, please register your equipment here: http://bit.ly/2OifaC9

Upcoming Events/Dates

· December 14&15: Qualifier Tournaments

· January 18&19: Semifinals

· January 18: Eastern State Championships

· January 26: Western State Championships

Useful Contacts

· National Team Registration, Youth Protection, Student Registration, Challenge Information:firstlegoleague@firstinspires.orgorwww.firstinspires.org

· Tournament Registration & Participation, Local Information, Facebook:Jacque Grimm,jacqueg@firstwa.org

· Robot Game Questions: WA Regional Head Referee, Kevin Torrico,fllheadreferee@firstwa.org

· FIRSTGame Questions:fllrobotgame@firstinspires.org

· Fundraising, Grants, Advocacy:FIRSTWashington President, Erin McCallum,erin@firstwa.org

· Booster Accounts (setup or using funds), Invoices and Payments:FIRSTWashington Accounting,accounting@firstwa.org

Important Links

· Event Pages: https://firstwa.org/Team-Resources/FIRST-LEGO-League-Team-Resources/Events

· Past Coach Communications:https://firstwa.org/Team-Resources/FIRST-LEGO-League-Team-Resources/Communications-Questions-2019-20-Season

· City Shaper Challenge:https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge-and-resources

· FIRST Steps:http://info.firstinspires.org/fll-first-steps-request

· Youth Registration Overview: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/youth-team-member-consent-and-release-form

Jacqueline Grimm

Program Supervisor,

FIRSTLEGO League andFIRSTLEGO League Jr.

FIRST Washington

p: (253) 210-0466