Congratulations to TechnoForce for capturing the “Team Spirit” award at the Darth Panthers’ “All I Want for Christmas is My NXT” tournament last weekend! This was our first tournament and an exciting time was had by all!
|
|||||
|
We have a YouTube Channel now! Check out our first video there! YouTube is a wonderful way to share our research with the world! Watch Episode 1 of “The Adventures of TechnoForce” and share it with your friends! Today, we shared our research presentation with our homeschool co-op, Think Day. We had approximately 30 families in attendance and the whole skit was well received! The other kids loved it, and the interest in FLL is apparent. It was exciting to perform and share in front of our friends and teachers. Today is Thanksgiving and out team has a lot to for which to be thankful!
We are so fortunate to have a team of kids who really like each other and are still friends this late in the season! The moms get along and work together tirelessly on chaperoning, chauffering, and catering. The FLL experience has truly been one of learning, bonding, and working together. We have all benefited greatly from the challenges presented in this program. Now, we look ahead to our first tournament on Dec. 12, “All I Want for Christmas is My NXT!” sponsored by the Darth Panthers at the USF-Patel Charter School in Tampa. Over the next two weeks, we have a lot to get done, and it will be a hard push to the end. We are excited, but will certainly be tired once the tournament gets here. Go Team TechnoForce!!! Team TechnoForce took a road trip to Cocoa, for the Florida FLL season kick-off event. The entire team, coaches, and a couple of moms made the trip and all thought it was worthwhile! This is an event not to be missed! At check-in, Coach Chris received a CD with all of the printed materials discussed, an agenda, season competition schedule, some other handouts, and a dreamsicle-colored FLL polo shirt. The exhibits were in the same location, so we looked at everything and played with a few things. FLrobotics.org had a table set up with lots of information. A couple of other FLL teams had setups with past years’ reseach projects and assorted materials displayed. The main attraction was the new field mat setup with all of the pieces. This was all located in the host school’s cafeteria, where they also offered concessions to support the school’s FLL team. The real reason for making the trip was the presentation in the gymnasium. Laura Melnik talked about what it takes to have a successful FLL team, the season, and the various components of the competition. When she got to the Research project component, she introduced the featured speaker, Ivan Diaz, a Disney Imagineer who heads up transportation and various other projects at Walt Disney World. What a treat! He was an excellent presenter and gave us an inside look at the resort bus and laundry systems. These are massive transportation systems that work extremely efficiently. He also gave the team an insider tip about line-following with the NXT. (Thanks, Ivan!) After Mr. Diaz’s fascinating presentation, Mrs. Melnik returned to center stage and asked if anyone wanted to hear about the missions? The audience went wild! After viewing each mission video from FIRST projected on a large screen, she elaborated on each task in great detail and took questions from the audience after each mission. She had a table fully setup and lit for all to see while she demonstrated each mission and her comments and answers. Lots of coaches were scribbling down notes on their agendas and many heads were together whispering excitedly about ideas and possibilities. Many great questions were asked and answered and the kids got a clear idea of the problems they need to solve this season. It was just plain awesome! After working hard paying attention for a few hours, we deserved a little playtime. For a treat and some team-building, we headed over to Downtown Disney for lunch at McDonald’s and some crazy fun and shopping at the LEGO store! A great day was had by all! This is the statewide kickoff event for this year’s challenge. This is a great opportunity to jump right in to this year’s unique problems, hear some great speakers, and get a taste of Florida’s singular brand of FLL competition. This event is guaranteed to get your team thinking! Visit the event web page for more information. We hope to see you there! The FLL Challenge is released on Sept. 3 this year. Mrs. Desh Bagley and the wonderful people at TechPlayzone will be hosting a Smart Move Kick-Off Party that evening from 7-8pm. This is a great chance to meet other local teams, view the mission videos, and have a great time getting connected. This should be a lot of fun! We are excited to announce our younger siblings’ Jr.FLL Team 23! We have 3 little brothers and a little sister who wanted to be on a LEGO robotics team just like their older sisters and brothers. We will be meeting at the same time and location, so all the kids will be involved in a creative learning activity simultaneously. Thank you to our fabulous moms who have stepped up to this awesome challenge! Check out our Coaches page to find out just how wonderful these ladies are! Today, the field mat and pieces arrived today via UPS. Our team is very excited to get together very soon to assemble the pieces, unload our NXT kit and charge up the batteries! We haven’t gotten together as a team since we were all at summer camp and the anticipation is building! What are we going to do at our first meeting together? We need to select a team name (and maybe a mascot and a cheer!), get to know each other, build the field setup, and have a rip-roaring good time! |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2010 FLL Team 3519 – TechnoForce - All Rights Reserved |
|||||