Congratulations to all of our teams – we have now finished the official NorCal FLL Season.  We have several upcoming post season opportunities for you.

These 2 are part of the Playing At Learning Celebrates FIRST weekend of events – Deadline to complete registration and payment is Tuesday February 28 at 9pm pacific.

1. NorCal FLL Innovation Expo – March 4&5 at San Francisco’s iHangar:  Reg Form & Pay.   We are accepting self-nominations along with the “Innovation Candidate” teams nominated from November
2. NorCal FLL Cup  (post season competition) – March 4 at San Francisco’s iHangar:  Reg Form & Pay.  NOTE: Preference will be given to 2016 registered teams that did not attend a qualifier
   1. Robot Game only – Reg Form  (in comment box at end, include if you prefer morning or afternoon for your robot game matches) & Pay.

Additionally:

1. World Festival & Invitationals
2. Maker’s Faire – May 19-21 stay tuned for more details

We are excited to share that Playing At Learning won a grant from the Yelp Foundation, thanks to votes from community members, like you, in the Yelp Foundation Gives Local grant contest.

A huge thanks to the people that have already sent in end of year donations and gifts in support of Playing At Learning and our programs. We particularly love the messages from those that give gifts on behalf of others (such as a giving in honor of a team, or a coach or a mentor, or a family member) and the messages that are included.  A special shout out to the Cohens that donated to Playing At Learning in honor of Susan Cheng – a FIRST Robotics Competition team 1868 Space Cookies mentor and FIRST LEGO League mentor (and NorCalFLL qualifier tournament director we might add).  We agree that Susan is extraordinary!

Also, we continue to receive PayPal giving funds,  E-Bay for Charity listings, employee volunteer matching hours and donation matching funds from Cisco Systems, Intel, Google and several others (including a few that do not want any public recognition).  Many companies have December deadlines that are coming up, so please spend a few minutes to capture your hours or your donations.  Other ways to help

We are looking forward to a great 2017 – and hope to see you at one of the many upcoming events coming up in the next few months.

To all of our supporters, volunteers, coaches, teams, and sponsors,  a huge thanks to you for your support of FIRST and Playing At Learning. We wish you and all your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Interested in helping Playing At Learning?   Check out Ways to Help

A quick reminder, when you shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #StartWithaSmile at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/20-1241878 . You can add Playing At Learning as your Charity and Amazon will donate to Playing At Learning so that we can continue to support our next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, inventors and scientists.

And for those moving on to Championships,  information will start to get updated on the championship.norcalfllc.org site starting early next week.

Did you see the last minute reminders sent out on the NorCalFLL-announce googlegroup ?   Lots of good info…

Coaches:   Did you see the Challenge Updates that were published on 11/3 10/28!    Also, there is an official scoresheet published – NorCal tournaments will use this version and not the graphical version.

Have you looked at the following resources available?

1. Preparing Your Team for the Qualifier Tournament recorded webinar
2. FIRST Steps is a series of resources that guide new coaches through their initial season with FIRST^® LEGO^® League. It is a step by step, meeting by meeting framework that allows coaches with no previous experience to lead a robotics team through a successful first season
3. FIRST LEGO League Forum is a bulletin board type of forum that you can query other coaches for advice about team management, etc
4. social.norcalfllc.org  forum is a place where you can both email other coaches in your area through groups as well as learn about community events such as scrimmages  (Bonus Hint, there are 3 scrimmages posted for October 5th / 6th)
5. Common questions  — including questions being asked about game, team’s volunteer, and more
6. Here are a few Additional Resources that we have found useful

What other resources have you found that are beneficial?

If you have been online today, you likely noticed that many sites are having issues with DNS and a current report suggest a 3rd wave of attack is underway.   As a result,  I will give coaches until Sunday 5pm to PAY for their team’s NorCal tournament registration.    Instructions

We also expect your team to be able to get their Team Information Form  – jotform submitted as well (which does require a FIRST Team Roster to be uploaded).  If you have an extraordinary situation and this is impossible to get submitted by Sunday, just let us know.

If you are having issues with getting the FIRST Team Roster completed via the electronic/online process – there is a paper form option. Please review the FIRST Team Roster info – see item #10 for the paper forms. Every coach/mentor and every team member needs to be on the roster – either in the pre-printed section or manually added at the bottom. And everyone must have the Release of Liability and Consent (called Consent and Release Agreement) completed – this is done either via the online process (& pre-printed on the roster) or upload the right completed form.

• Youth Team Member 2 page paperwork form (English, Spanish)
• Adult or Youth Coaches/Mentors:   “Consent and Release of Liability”

 If your team is interested in competing in an official FIRST LEGO League Qualifier in Northern California,  the $225 NorCal Region/Tournament fee is required to be received by the end of day October 21st. It is expected that you will be able to complete your Team Information Form (also known as jotform) within a few days after that.  Detailed instructions

Having trouble getting the FIRST Team Roster completed via the electronic/online process?  There is a paper form option. Please review Team Roster info – see item #10 for the paper forms. Every coach/mentor and every team member needs to be on the roster – either in the pre-printed section or added at the bottom. And everyone needs to have the Release of Liability and Consent completed – either via online (& pre-printed on the roster) or upload a completed form.

Not sure what to expect at a Qualifier? Watch the recorded webinar that we did a few weeks back that covers what happens at a qualifier and how to prepare. Additional Resources

Let me know if you are trying out this new course for rookie coaches.

FIRST Steps is a series of resources that guide new coaches through their initial season with FIRST^® LEGO^® League. It is a step by step, meeting by meeting framework that allows coaches with no previous experience to lead a robotics team through a successful first season. The course also includes hints throughout the content with tips on anything from how to help kids make collective decisions to how to debug faulty robot programming. The course is free.

Here are the top questions that we are getting this week:

1. Will the team need to bring a Core Values poster to the Core Values Judging? No.  Northern California does not use the Core Values poster.
2. Will NorCal continue doing a short teamwork activity at the beginning of the Core Values Judging?  Yes, we plan to continue this and FIRST does endorse this. Our judges like to use the teamwork activity as an icebreaker and as a great observational tool on team dynamics and interactions.  They don’t use the teamwork activity to fill out the rubric – the questions & answers are used to fill out the rubric.
3. Will the team need to bring a Robot Design Executive Summary to Robot Design Judging? No.  Northern California does not use this.
4. Will the team need to bring a print out of their programming to Robot Design Judging?   It is a great idea – particularly if the team can mark up the print out with their comments, but you don’t specifically have to bring a printout, the team could instead show the programs and talk about the programs from a laptop but sometimes the technology can cause its own challenges (battery, passwords, etc).  The team does need to have some way to show and talk about their programs in order for the Judges to be able to fill out the Robot Design Rubric’s programming section.
5. Will the team have access to a projector in the Project Presentation Judging?  Highly unlikely.  Remember that you are not presenting to a large audience – you are talking to 2 or 3 judges only, typically in a small classroom or conference room.   Sometimes, even access to power can be challenging…
6. When will the rest of the qualifiers be confirmed?   I wish I knew… obviously as soon as possible!   There are typically multiple levels of approvals that need to be done and this can take time.   As soon as a qualifier date and location and organizer is confirmed,  we post the tournament in the qualifier list at https://www.norcalfllc.org/2016-qualifiers/ AND note when it will be open for team registration (generally Mondays at 6pm).
7. I already paid my team’s $225 – but why does Playing At Learning say that I have not paid this?  You registered and paid FIRST $225.  That gives you access to order the challenge kit and be a FIRST LEGO League team through the national organization.  The national team registration does not support anything local – it stays with FIRST in New Hampshire.  This year,  Playing At Learning has a registration fee of $225.  We really needed to charge a bit more to manage the local program but I thought (incorrectly) it would be easier to explain if we held the cost to the exact same fee as FIRST.
8. We had not budgeted for the local registration and our community can not afford to participate.   We have grants!  If you need help paying to participate, please fill out a grant application.  If you just need support to reduce the local Playing At Learning registration fees, you will use the same application but just explain what you are able to afford.  Application
9. Our school requires a W-9 to set up Playing At Learning as a vendor to pay the local registration, how do I request this?   Our W-9 is on the Playing At Learning site at http://www.playingatlearning.org/aboutus/
10. Our school / company / organization wants to submit an invoice to pay the local registration, how do we do that?  Playing At Learning is not able to accept invoices.  Please have someone pay either via paypal or check and seek reimbursement.
11. I registered into a qualifier but see a new one that just got confirmed and now we want to change qualifiers – how do I do that?  The short answer is you can’t.  Once you register into a tournament, you have “seats” at that tournament.  Don’t register if you are not sure which tournament you want to attend as new qualifiers are still getting confirmed each week.
12. I want to register at a qualifier tournament out of my district but I don’t see those tournaments in my registration page?   During Early Bird registration, you will only be able to register into a qualifier in your district.  If you want to register elsewhere, you will have to wait until General Tournament registration opens on October 10th at 7pm.
13. Game Question: If both teams put their reindeer on the Animal Conservancy model, does that score?  No!   The scoring condition is that at least one of the two competing teams, has 2 of the exact same animal.  So if both teams put a reindeer in the model, you both still have only 1 reindeer.  Each team needs to place a different animal before the match begins and then, the turntable must be moved 180 degrees by the robot during match play.   So let’s say that team A puts the bat and team B puts the reindeer on the model before the match begins.  Then, if the model gets moved 180 degrees, then there are 2 bats on  team B’s side and 2 reindeer on team A’s side and both teams get 40 points!
14. Game Question: How do we know which animal the other team is going to put on their Animal Conservancy model? The teams can talk!  If you forget to ask the team before you go up for your match, the teams can discuss while in the queue line. Or you can certainly talk during setup, just before the match begins!
15. Game Question: How do the animals get changed on the Animal Conservancy model?   The robot has to do this.  The mission only allows the technician (team member) to place their first animal in that model during setup.  After the match begins, only the robot can interact with the missions.
16. What will the team’s adult volunteer do exactly?  Your team’s adult volunteer will volunteer (if and as needed) at the tournament that your team attends.  The list of roles that are needed at a qualifier are posted at https://www.norcalfllc.org/volunteer-roles/ .  The only roles that are not available for the team’s volunteer are the Judges and Referees.   The exact role that they apply for is up to them and then they will get assigned into a role by the qualifier tournament’s volunteer coordinator.
17. We have more than 1 team, can we use the same adult volunteer for both teams?  Only if the teams attend different qualifiers (on different days).
18. Will our team’s volunteer be able to watch the team performance?  For robot game, it depends on which role that they sign up for!  For example, if they sign up to be timer, then yes!  If they sign up to help with robot inspection, likely no.   For judging, the answer is always no.  Our judging rooms are open only to team members and judges (and team volunteers may not be judges).
19. What is the schedule for the qualifier?   Every tournament has the same schedule and teams are randomly assigned into a pit number.  Tournament schedules are at  https://www.norcalfllc.org/tournament-schedules/  Your team may or may not be notified of its pit number before showing up at their qualifier.
20. I missed the September 11th Rookie Coach webinar?  Was it recorded?  Can I get a copy of the slides?  Yes and yes.   Look at the Resources page for both the webinar link and PDF of the slides.