9/14/2016 Meeting information

Thanks for allowing your kids to join the First Lego League team this year.  Today was probably less than exciting for the kids.  We had a lot of administrative stuff to go over, like dividing up the teams, and explaining what First Lego League is.

We watched a few videos from First Lego League explaining this year's robot game as well as the project.  The kids got to see the board and last year's robot.  Some of the kids were able to see the application used to program the robot.  They started brainstorming some ideas around how to complete some of the missions.

I wanted to share some additional information with the families.  We have a blog, a facebook page, a twitter account and a YouTube channel.

Blog: http://dexbots-2016.blogspot.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1866483196904588/

Twitter account: @dexbotsFLLTeam

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJw9acal5aYG7sx0UiIjdcg

We encourage the students to do some work on this at home.  This is an extracurricular activity and should come after other responsibilities (like school work).

As we get closer to the tournament date, we may want to increase our meeting times or try to meet more often.  The first tournament should be in November/December timeframe.  As soon as we have information about which tournament we will be part of, we will share it with you.  If your child cannot make it to any or all of these meetings, that is okay. However, we would appreciate it if they can make it, for all or part of the extra meetings.

Lastly, before I lose all of you to the length of this email, this year's project is all about our Animal Allies.  We are looking at ways in which we interact with animals, and looking for ways to improve those interactions for either the people involved, or the animals.  We need to speak with professionals  as part of this.  If you know of anyone who has a profession dealing with animals, and would be willing to either come talk to the kids, or would be willing to answer questions from the kids, please let us know.  Some examples would include a farm manager, a rancher, a veterinarian or a zookeeper.