Coronavirus/COVID-19 Update

First off, we want to assure you that Playing At Learning has been and will continue to closely monitor the COVID-19/CoronaVirus situation along with FIRST. We’ve been working with our location partner Micron to ensure a safe & healthy environment during our upcoming NorCal FIRST LEGO League Innovation Expo and FIRST LEGO League JR Expo.  We will be continuing with all events this coming weekend based on reviewing and using official sources for recommendations, risk evaluations, and procedures, specifically from the CDC and WHO.

If your team is participating in a NorCal FIRST event this weekend, please check your email for updates specific to your team. 

In order to maintain a healthy environment we require that spectators, coaches and teams all follow these procedures at our events:

  • If anyone has traveled to any affected areas or been in contact with a person that has traveled or routed through an affected area recently (in past few weeks), please quarantine yourself per CDC / WHO guidelines, please stay home,  and do not attend the event
  • If anyone has been in close contact with someone sick, please stay home, and  do not attend the event
  • If you are in any way sick or feeling ill (even a little), or anyone on your team or any family / household members are sick or feeling ill (even a little), please stay home, and do not attend the event
  • If anyone has any fever or cough within the past few days or anytime leading up to an event, please stay home and do not attend the event

If your team attends an event:

  • Each person should avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth at any time.
  • Cover sneezes (or a cough) with a tissue  (or the inside of your elbow), then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. For more information about hand-washing, see CDC’s Hand-washing website
  • If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
  • We ask for your help in keeping surfaces clean and will have sanitizing wipes available as well.
  • Recommend that you bring food/beverages from home for your team – we will not be providing any food/beverage options onsite.
  • Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a facemask, specifically:
    • CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19.
    • Please DO NOT attend if you are sick (even a little), even if you wear a facemask.

We’ll have hand sanitizing stations throughout the spaces of our events  and you are free to bring extras, there will be a thermal scan at the entrance and CPR certified security personnel in attendance. We will also have a separate/isolated room identified for anyone that may become sick during the event.   

Thank you,

Playing At Learning Staff

 

Sierra Nevada Robot Showcase on March 21st

Latest News
Is your team still working on your robot or maybe you didn’t get a chance to compete this season? Now is your opportunity to attend a robot only event on March 21st in Carson City, NV. To find out more information and to register, please visit Sierra Nevada Robot Showcase

This event is not run by Playing At Learning, all questions and registration should be done through the Sierra Nevada Robot Showcase website. 

Come out and Join us for last FLL Events this season!

Latest News
  • February 15th, 8am to 5pm-The final FLL Championship of the season will be held at Christian Brothers High School, 4315 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95820. The 501st Legion will make a special appearance with Storm Troopers, R2D2 and Kylo Ren. For more information, click here
  • March 7th, 9am to 4pm-NorCal Innovation Expo sponsored by Micron, 130 Holger Way San Jose, Ca. Come take a look at the top projects from the CityShaper FLL Season. For more information click here
  • March 8th, 9am to 5pm-Curious to know what happens when you graduate from FLL, come check out Norcal FIRST Tech Challenge Championship, robotics for 7-12th graders, located at Independence High School, 617 N Jackson Ave San Jose, Ca.  For more information click here.

Interested in volunteering for any of our events, click here

Qualifier Tournaments

Latest News
NEW:  Advancement Rates this season are approximately 30%.  4 teams will advance (3 + Champion’s) for 12 team tournament and 5  (4 + Champion’s) for 16 team tournaments.   
Our Northern California Qualifier Tournaments are starting this Saturday!  We will have 30 events over 3 weekends all hosted by our amazing volunteer tournament directors.  Please keep in mind as you attend these tournaments that everyone you encounter is a volunteer and the space you’re in is donated.  Please be sure to thank volunteers (especially tournament directors) for all of their hard work and treat the space with respect!
There are several items you MUST bring with you to qualifier tournament in order to compete including (not a complete list – see recording for full list):
– REQUIRED: printed copy of FIRST roster (all team member have consent & release or separate forms)
– REQUIRED: 2 adult coaches who’s only job is to watch the team (not volunteer or watch younger siblings)
– Field elements not attached to the challenge table (for practice)
– Robot with attachments and power supplies etc
– laptop or tablet with power supply
– project
– REQUIRED: 1 FULL day adult volunteer or a challenge table and challenge set
For a complete list please be sure to listen to NorCal FLL Preparing for Qualifier Tournament – SlidesRecording
Please note if your tournament does not have any volunteers bringing tables, your tournament will not have practice tables for teams to practice on.  We need your help to make sure there are practice tables available, please work with your tournament director to make sure there are enough tables – or volunteer to bring your own.
For more details on getting your team volunteer YPP screened and registered listen to NorCal FLL General Volunteer Training – Slides,  Recording.
We hope you and your team have a lot of fun at your qualifier tournament!  Remember most of what your team will gain from the program has already happened, in all the time they spent learning, growing and working together.  Enjoy!

Preparing for a Qualifier, General Volunteer, Registration Deadline and Outreach

 Qualifier Tournaments:

  • Preparing for a Qualifier Training posted (Slides, Recording)

    • No core values posters

    • No robot design executive summary (RDES)

  • Strongly encourage listening to the training above for all the details of what to bring and how to prepare for your qualifier tournament, including details on how judging works.

  • Registration for qualifier tournaments will close 10/25/19 at 7pm be sure to register before that deadline.  (Registration Instructions)

Scrimmages:

General Volunteers:

  • Team volunteers must apply by 2 weeks before the teams’ qualifier tournament

  • NorCal FLL General Volunteer Training – SlidesRecording

Outreach:

Do you have a love for FIRST & would be willing to share your knowledge in your community?

Then we would like to recruit you for our new Local Team Ambassador volunteer role.

Local Team Ambassadors:

  • Have experience with FIRST; either as alumni, coaches, or mentors

  • Commit to a year

  • Communicate with your local community regarding FIRST Lego League

To find out more, please fill out the following Local Team Ambassador Interest Form or, email Melanie at mminer@playingatlearning.org with any questions.

General Registration Opens 10/6 @ 7 pm

Registration: Early Bird Registration will be closing October 4th at 7 pm.
General Registration will open October 6th at 7 pm.  Be sure to complete your registration requirements early, manual review of forms can take 1-2 business days and you may need time to resolve any issues.  Remember space available by tournament location can be found here, this will be updated to reflect all spaces available once General Registration opens.
Preparing for a Qualifier Training Webinar: Oct 22nd 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm, register here.  This training will be recorded and posted here after the event.
Required Team Volunteer Sign Ups:
Every team is required to provide 1 full day (or 2 half day) volunteers at the qualifier tournament your team attends – this is a requirement to compete.
The volunteer must complete their YPP screening and sign up for the event by October 31st, the sooner the better.  YPP screening can take over a week to complete, so please apply early.
TEAM VOLUNTEER CAN NOT BE ONE OF THE TWO HEAD COACHES.
After your team registers for a qualifier, the volunteer can find the link to volunteer for the event here.
For more information on what to expect when they volunteer, volunteers can attend the general volunteer training Oct 22nd 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm, register here.
For volunteering questions please email our volunteer coordinator Nicki.
Scrimmages:
Several scrimmages are available on the social site, scrimmages are an important part of tournament preparation.  They are hosted by teams, follow the registration instructions posted.

Registration will (re)open Saturday 9/21 noon

Latest News
Thank you for your patience, early bird registration will continue tomorrow 9/21 starting at 12 pm pacific – this is noon (not midnight).  The registration link will show up on eligible team’s status page.   There is no need to login to the site.
If you did not receive this message, it likely either means that you are not joined the googlegroup (Join) OR you have not updated your email preferences to actually receive emails (how to update).

Tournament Registration, Scrimmages, Outreach

Registration:  Early Bird registration will open September 13th at 7pm.  There are several requirements (all available NOW) to be eligible to register, see the registration instructions for more information.  Please note tournament registration is first come first serve, once you register for a tournament it is nearly impossible to change tournaments.  Tournaments are posted as they are confirmed.  General registration will open late in September/early October, stay tuned for the exact date.

Please remember that all tournament hosts and tournament directors are volunteers –  be sure to show them your appreciation!

SCRIMMAGES:

Scrimmages are a very important part of tournament preparation, especially for a rookie team.  Sign Up for upcoming scrimmages or create a post if you are hosting a scrimmage.  See EVENTS on the right hand side for scheduled scrimmages.  Scrimmages are hosted by reams and we have a best practices page on how to organize a scrimmage.  The Play Space is available on select dates for teams looking to host a scrimmage, send an email if you’re interested in hosting.

Outreach Opportunity:

September 7th is FTC kick-off, a few FLL teams are invited to come talk to FTC teams about FLL qualifiers.  This is also a great opportunity to learn about FTC. Email  if your team is interested in participating.

ROOKIE TEAMS:

Welcome to NorCal FLL!  The rookie coach training webinar and slides have been posted.

Some amazing Eagle Scouts created these videos (Focus On  Robot Videos   Project Videos) to help rookie teams!

Returning Teams:

Welcome back to NorCal FLL!  The returning coach training webinar and slides have been posted.  

Training Sessions and Google Group

Welcome City Shapers!

  If you are a part of our Google Group you already received this information.  If you haven’t joined yet, keep reading to learn how to join.

Training Sessions: (Registration Required, no cost)
Rookie Coach Training Sessions
In-Person 8/18/19  9:30AM – 11:30AM @ The Play Space – Register
Webinar   8/20/19 6:30PM – 8:30PM   @ GoToWebinar – Register

NEW: Returning Coach Training  Posted – Changes for the 2019 Season –  Slides Unfortunately, there was an issue with the webinar recording.  We will schedule another webinar and post that recording.  Stay tuned.

TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION:  Qualifier tournaments will be held November 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd & 24th each team can attend one event.  TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE, be sure to join the Google Group for all the registration details.  Dates and locations fill up quickly.

How to join the Google Group:

  1. Join the Northern California FIRST LEGO League Google Group
  2. Change the default Google Group settings from ‘Don’t send email updates’ to ‘Notify me at every new message’ (about 1 email per week). NOTE: If you do not do this step, you will NOT get any important updates about tournaments.  See below for instructions:
    1. Sign in to Google Group
    2. In the top right, click Membership and email settings (the gear + person icon)
    3. Update Email Delivery Preference to Notify Me for Every New Message
    4. Click Save

**Tournament Director note:  More tournament directors are needed.  To help make sure there are enough tournaments in your district you can volunteer to be a tournament director.  All tournament directors are volunteers and many are coaches. No prior experience or skills required, email to learn more.

Welcome to CITY SHAPER season!

2019 City Shaper

What if  you could build a better world?  Where would you begin?

Teams, you have the power to help the cities, towns, and communities you call home reach new heights towards a stronger, more sustainable future!

Challenge Resources   IMPORTANT: Challenge updates

Start Your Team resources

Team Management resources  including table construction and Youth Team Member Registration (for team roster)

Additional resources are in your team’s Engineering Notebooks which will get shipped separately.

Facebook Resource Groups:
FLL: Share and LearnEV3 LessonsFLL Tutorials ,
new:  NorCalFLL Coaches Group, NorCalFLL Volunteer Group

Northern California specific: social.norcalfllc.org ,  announcements googlegroup

Additional Resources