Dear Kinard parents,

Welcome to Lego robotics! Your child has signed up to be on a First Lego League (FLL) team at Kinard Middle School. Every year, FLL teams around the world complete a “Challenge” designed by Lego. In this year’s Challenge, students will explore where energy comes from and how it is distributed, stored, and used – and then put their superpowered creativity to work to innovate for a better energy future – in SUPERPOWERED^SM . The Challenge consists of these main areas of focus: Core Values, Innovation Project, Robot Design and Robot Challenge.

The Core Values (Teamwork, Discovery, Innovate, Impact, Inclusion & Fun) provide guidance for positive interaction with others while students pursue goals together. Students will learn to work together as a team, share their experiences with others, and practice Gracious Professionalism. The Core Values are practiced in all areas of the Challenge.

For the Innovation Project, students will research and identify a problem specific to making the transportation and delivery of products better.

To complete the Robot Challenge, the students will design and program a robot to navigate a playing field and complete “missions” by manipulating objects on the field. The team scores points based on the number and difficulty of missions completed by the robot.

For both new and returning FLL team members and their families, the best resource for understanding FLL and this year’s Challenge is the FLL Website: First Lego League. The website explains in detail the purposes of FLL, the current Challenge, the structure of teams, rules for competition, and more. It is a wonderful resource. Your child should become familiar with the website, and with the online Challenge document.

Students who wish to be on a competitive team must be available to participate in the “Qualifier” in November. It is an all-day event, and all team members must be present. Every team is required to provide 2 general volunteers (or one judge) in order to attend a qualifier. Volunteers can do anything from setting up chairs to folding programs to judging. Information on volunteer positions will be available at the Colorado First website, fll.coloradofirst.org A team cannot register for a tournament until the volunteers have been registered and assigned. If you would like to spend time with your child and his or her team please choose a volunteer job that does not conflict with team events or choose a different Qualifier at which to volunteer. WHEN our teams advance to the state level, we will provide more information on the state tournament.

If you have any questions about the FLL program at Kinard, please feel free to contact Mr. McGonagil at jmcgonagil@psdschools.org or hs Kinard Learning page HERE. Teams are still being formed, but contact information for coaches should be available soon. This year, as in the past, there will be a fee assigned to participate. This covers T-shirts, lunch at Regionals (Pizza) and supplies to build project visuals for the presentations. The amount will be $100.

First Lego League is a great opportunity for students to have fun, learn new skills, and prepare for future careers. Thanks for your support!

Tim McGonagil

Kinard Robotics

First Lego League Colorado

Challenge Guide, references and resources

"SUPERPOWERED" is the theme for 2022-23!! Transportation drives us forward - Impacting economies, bridging cultures and making us all more globally connected. This year, participants will learn how cargo is transported, sorted, and delivered to its destinations.

The 6 Core Values

Discovery

Innovation

Inclusion

Impact

Teamwork

Fun

Welcome to the 2022/23 season of FLL Robotics at Kinard Middle School.

I am the coach, Tim McGonagil. This is my 8th year coaching robotics at Kinard. We have a very successful program which I inherited from my predecessor, Mr. Rob Lewis.

There is a fee of $100 for the year. That includes Team fees for the competition season, competition mats & t-shirts.

Volunteer coaches are needed for the competition season which runs from August through December.

I need the following volunteers:

at least three parents to help coach our teams. I believe the best number of students to have on each team is around six, no more than eight. Any more than that and kids do not feel they have a 'place' on the team.

Other parents will volunteer throughout the season to help supervise and teach the kids about the FLL Core Values, the robot mission and build and the project they put together around the theme of "SUPERPOWERED".

I will need parents to bring snacks for our practices. Water, fruit, juice, snack crackers (Goldfish) in individual packs or granola/breakfast bars are a great ideas. The Sign up Genius will be sent. . . Look for it in your emails. If you did not get it, let me know.

My contact information is:

• email - jmcgonagil@psdschools.org

• room 510 ph#- 970-488-5467