FLL Coach Information
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Everything for Connecticut teams will come through Mike Gentry, the state's FIRST partner. As of January 12, 2021, I have no information about the possibility of a virtual regional event. This season's world competition has been scheduled for August instead of April.
To provide our 11 teams with a platform to share with each other this year, I created an account with two "conversations" on FlipGrid. The students can login with their school email accounts and post their best robot run and their project presentation. There is no requirement to do this nor deadline. Here are the links - only the kids can get in using their school emails: Here is the link where your team can upload their 2 1/2 minute robot video: https://flipgrid.com/31eaef54 Here is the link for the 5 minute project presentations: https://flipgrid.com/f9edd46f ** Click these words for more info on the remote hub. At a remote event, teams will provide video with three, 2.5-minute pre-recorded robot rounds, time stamped within a single day. Team must secure a non-biased monitor (e.g., school principal, FIRST® Robotics Competition team members, other volunteer) to mark start and stop time for recording. Registration for a remote event, should one occur, will be organized by Mike Gentry. Events will include video conferencing for remote judging, award submission, evaluation and feedback. New Coaches
Coaches' Training Information: For any new coaches, we can schedule a Zoom meeting for training. In years past, a season-specific in-depth training took place at Central Connecticut State University. This did not take place this year because of the pandemic. Please send me an email if you'd like to connect over Zoom! Help Grow our Program
Some companies will donate money to the relevant student activities account at Glastonbury Public Schools based on the number of hours you volunteer. Please consider submitting your hours for a match. Your company's donation helps keeps costs down for participants and replace equipment. The info you need is below; DO NOT choose G-REC if you want to support Glastonbury's FLL Explore or Challenge programs. Glastonbury Board of Education 628 Hebron Ave. Glastonbury, CT 06033 Telephone Number: (860) 652-7961 Email Address: virueti@glastonburyus.org Website Address: https://www.glastonburyus.org/ U.S. Tax ID/EIN: 06-6001616 |
If you are having trouble making a FIRST account or signing the consent, please contact FIRST directly by calling 1-800-871-8326.
2020 Info from FIRST
COVID-19 Meeting Recommendations from FIRST: https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/covid/fll/fll-guidance-for-covid-interruptions.pdf https://flltutorials.com/translations/en-us/Worksheets/TeamMeetings.pdf Current season challenge video and instructions: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge/challenge-and-resources NEW 2020/2021 Judging Process - One meeting with judges to go over your robot design, do the core values exercise, and for the team project presentation instead of three separate meetings. Longer, but easier to coordinate at competitions. https://firstinspiresst01.blob.core.windows.net/first-game-changers/fll-challenge/Judging-Session-for-Teams.pdf NEW 2020/2021 Rubric - Simpler, more open ended, yet numerically focused to make choosing top teams less subjective. https://firstinspiresst01.blob.core.windows.net/first-game-changers/fll-challenge/Rubrics.pdf 
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Glastonbury Team Preparation
1) Youth Protection Program: Coaches must register and complete the FIRST Youth Protection Program at http://www.firstinspires.org. You can choose the no-cost option. FIRST will not accept the BOE's background check, and they will not register any team nor mail a field kit until both coaches pass their check.
2) Fingerprinting: All coaches must have a current background check on file with Glastonbury Public Schools, which involves visiting the Board of Education office, where you will be fingerprinted. If you have been fingerprinted by the school system in the past, you don't have to go back again UNLESS you took a year off from coaching. If you coached last season (City Shapers or Boomtown Build) and already had the school background check, you are all set. If you are a new coach, or had fingerprinting done in the past BUT did not coach students from Glastonbury Public Schools last year, please contact Laurie Grenus (grenusl@glastonburyus.org) at the BOE to schedule a time. There is no cost to the coach; Glastonbury Public Schools is covering the cost of over $70. FIRST's background check is not rigorous enough for the school system to allow you access to other peoples' children.
3) Robot Game Table: Tables are stored in a shed at Gideon Welles school. If you cannot make arrangements for a suitably sized vehicle to pick one up, email me at smithwe@glastonburyus.org and I will ask if facilities can deliver one to you.
4) Robot Pick-up: Every team is provided a robot and a Chromebook* or an iPad**, if needed. Those are stored inside Gideon Welles School. Please arrange a day with me and I will leave one for you at the school, in cooperation with facilities and the GWS administration. smithwe@glastonburyus.org
5) Meetings: Due to the extra cleaning requirements and uncertainty regarding future accessibility to our schools, it makes sense for the teams to meet in a home this season. It doesn't have to be the coach's home, as long as the background-checked coaches are present for meetings. You can also meet over Zoom, but obviously some in-person interaction with the robot is required. We have no idea what competition will look like - it might be virtual. The main focus for the season should just be to learn as much as you can and have as much fun as you can, because competition is so uncertain.
6) Field Kit: FIRST will send the team's field kit (mat and LEGO pieces) directly to a coach's home after you successfully register your team, both coaches pass the FIRST background check, and I have paid your registration fee on the FIRST website. In order for me to pay, I need to be your "team administrator." If you are returning team, you can replace Mary by inviting me as your replacement - smithwe@glastonburyus.org.
7) T-shirts: I am not coordinating T-shirts this season, since it is highly unlikely groups of hundreds of people will be allowed to meet indoors for an all-day competition without a widely available COVID-19 vaccine, which I do not anticipate happening before November. I understand you might want team shirts, but the other problem is that due to COVID, enrollment is way down. Having 4 kids to a team instead of 8-10 means a lot less money across the board to run the program, and teams cost $327 each to register. I didn't see the point in raising the cost from $35 to $50 to cover shirts. You might as well collect money from your parents and arrange shirts yourselves, as you might be able to do so much more cheaply, or can have them printed online. I am sorry for the break in tradition. I just don't want to charge folks for shirts they probably won't get to wear at a competition. I know this isn't great but you could get plain shirts and decorate them with fabric markers, or all choose an existing shirt that matches and wear them. Maybe even your school shirt if kids already have them, like Hebron Ave, etc.
*The limitation of Chromebooks - your programs are not available to you without WiFi. At some competitions, WiFi is unavailable and will depend on your ability to provide your team a hotspot with your phone.
**The limitation of iPads - the EV3 iPad app does not not have any Sensor tab. There are no programming blocks for reading sensor values. Sensor values can be used in If-then and while-loop blocks, but cannot be stored for later use. It does not have any tab for advanced actions and data operations. You are unable to do any calculations etc. I think a child would be able to build great programs with the iPad app. However if you are going to build programs which require any form of calculations, storing of values etc. The desktop app would be needed.
1) Youth Protection Program: Coaches must register and complete the FIRST Youth Protection Program at http://www.firstinspires.org. You can choose the no-cost option. FIRST will not accept the BOE's background check, and they will not register any team nor mail a field kit until both coaches pass their check.
2) Fingerprinting: All coaches must have a current background check on file with Glastonbury Public Schools, which involves visiting the Board of Education office, where you will be fingerprinted. If you have been fingerprinted by the school system in the past, you don't have to go back again UNLESS you took a year off from coaching. If you coached last season (City Shapers or Boomtown Build) and already had the school background check, you are all set. If you are a new coach, or had fingerprinting done in the past BUT did not coach students from Glastonbury Public Schools last year, please contact Laurie Grenus (grenusl@glastonburyus.org) at the BOE to schedule a time. There is no cost to the coach; Glastonbury Public Schools is covering the cost of over $70. FIRST's background check is not rigorous enough for the school system to allow you access to other peoples' children.
3) Robot Game Table: Tables are stored in a shed at Gideon Welles school. If you cannot make arrangements for a suitably sized vehicle to pick one up, email me at smithwe@glastonburyus.org and I will ask if facilities can deliver one to you.
4) Robot Pick-up: Every team is provided a robot and a Chromebook* or an iPad**, if needed. Those are stored inside Gideon Welles School. Please arrange a day with me and I will leave one for you at the school, in cooperation with facilities and the GWS administration. smithwe@glastonburyus.org
5) Meetings: Due to the extra cleaning requirements and uncertainty regarding future accessibility to our schools, it makes sense for the teams to meet in a home this season. It doesn't have to be the coach's home, as long as the background-checked coaches are present for meetings. You can also meet over Zoom, but obviously some in-person interaction with the robot is required. We have no idea what competition will look like - it might be virtual. The main focus for the season should just be to learn as much as you can and have as much fun as you can, because competition is so uncertain.
6) Field Kit: FIRST will send the team's field kit (mat and LEGO pieces) directly to a coach's home after you successfully register your team, both coaches pass the FIRST background check, and I have paid your registration fee on the FIRST website. In order for me to pay, I need to be your "team administrator." If you are returning team, you can replace Mary by inviting me as your replacement - smithwe@glastonburyus.org.
7) T-shirts: I am not coordinating T-shirts this season, since it is highly unlikely groups of hundreds of people will be allowed to meet indoors for an all-day competition without a widely available COVID-19 vaccine, which I do not anticipate happening before November. I understand you might want team shirts, but the other problem is that due to COVID, enrollment is way down. Having 4 kids to a team instead of 8-10 means a lot less money across the board to run the program, and teams cost $327 each to register. I didn't see the point in raising the cost from $35 to $50 to cover shirts. You might as well collect money from your parents and arrange shirts yourselves, as you might be able to do so much more cheaply, or can have them printed online. I am sorry for the break in tradition. I just don't want to charge folks for shirts they probably won't get to wear at a competition. I know this isn't great but you could get plain shirts and decorate them with fabric markers, or all choose an existing shirt that matches and wear them. Maybe even your school shirt if kids already have them, like Hebron Ave, etc.
*The limitation of Chromebooks - your programs are not available to you without WiFi. At some competitions, WiFi is unavailable and will depend on your ability to provide your team a hotspot with your phone.
**The limitation of iPads - the EV3 iPad app does not not have any Sensor tab. There are no programming blocks for reading sensor values. Sensor values can be used in If-then and while-loop blocks, but cannot be stored for later use. It does not have any tab for advanced actions and data operations. You are unable to do any calculations etc. I think a child would be able to build great programs with the iPad app. However if you are going to build programs which require any form of calculations, storing of values etc. The desktop app would be needed.
