FIRST LEGO League Challenge
FIRST LEGO League Challenge (FLL-C) is a program for students in grades 4-8. If your child will be in grade 4 for the 2023-2024 school year, I recommend choosing the FIRST LEGO League Explore (FLL-E), but you may choose FLL-C instead if you would like. FLL-E registration opens in Glastonbury in October. You can find the schedule by clicking on the FLL Explore tab above. |
Events:
Each team will register for one regional competition. You may attend one on Saturday, November 11 or on Saturday, November 18.
November 11 - Regional Competition locations:
OR
November 18 - Regional Competitions locations:
The State Competition will be held December 9, 2023 in Glastonbury, and competition is by invitation only.
November 11 - Regional Competition locations:
- New Haven Career High School
- Wolcott High School
OR
November 18 - Regional Competitions locations:
- Tolland High School
- Southington DePaul Middle School
- Lyme Old Lyme High School
The State Competition will be held December 9, 2023 in Glastonbury, and competition is by invitation only.
What is FIRST LEGO League Challenge?
FIRST LEGO League Challenge (FLL-C) is a rewarding research and robotics tournament for students around the world. The program combines technology and science with the exciting atmosphere of a sporting event. FLL-C gives young people access to scientific subjects outside normal schoolwork and can inspire their motivation to learn about STEM professions at an early age. In a team, the participants work for several weeks like employees on a joint project. They plan, program and test a fully automated robot, research a challenge topic and create a creative presentation of their results. Students are challenged to be open to each others' ideas and work as a team.
FIRST LEGO League Challenge is lots of fun! Here's how it works:
- Gather a team of 6 to 10 kids in grades 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 and at least 2 interested parents to coach.
- In August, FIRST will release a "challenge," for example, in 2016 the challenge was named "Animal Allies."
- Plan to meet 1-2x weekly from August through November, possibly through the first weekend in December if your team qualifies for the CT state competition.
- A LEGO MINDSTORMS® EV3 robot or a Spike Prime robot, a practice table, and an iPad or a Chromebook will be loaned to each team to use for the season.
- Research and present your ideas in the project, including a trifold poster and a binder.
- Compete in a regional event to show off your robot programming expertise and project!
To find out more, watch this 2 1/2 minute video on the FIRST website:
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll/what-is-first-lego-league
https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll/what-is-first-lego-league
The Nitty Gritty
- Teams are for children in grades 4-8, age 9-14 at the time of registration.
- Each team must have at least two parent volunteer coaches.
- These parents must pass two background checks, one offered for free through the official FIRST website, and another offered at no-charge by Glastonbury Public Schools (GPS). Teams must register on the official FIRST website before you will obtain some of the necessary materials to participate.
- A participation fee of $35 paid to Glastonbury Public Schools per student helps to cover expenses such as the team FIRST registration fee, the annual Field Kit, replacement robot parts and tournament fees.
- All teams are encouraged to compete at an official regional event to show off their hard work and programming skills! To compete, all students need to be added by the coach onto the team's official roster through the FIRST Dashboard.
Benefits of Participating
Students that participate in FLL Explore are more likely to participate in other FIRST programs, like FLL Challenge and FRC. FRC prepares students for jobs and qualifies them for $$millions$$ in FIRST scholarships.
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