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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

All about the FLL

If you are new to First Lego League and are interested in setting up an FLL team here is all the information I can give you!

Registration for teams opens up May 5th, 12PM ET. http://www.firstlegoleague.org/country/united-states


Teams consist of a Head Coach, a second Coach, a mentor if you can find one, and between 2 to 10 kids. The age for FLL participants ranges from 9-14. A participant CAN be 15 so long as his/her birthday is after January of that year. So for example a student who turned 15 in Nov of 2014 would not be eligible, whereas a student who turned 15 as of Feb 2015 would be able to participate.  If you have more than 10 students who are interested in participating then you need to form a second team or make the difficult decision of who to keep and who to cut. Students can only be a member of one team whereas coaches can have several teams. Coaches must go through a screening process which takes only a couple of minutes online and then a couple of days to hear back. Coaches must be 18 or older. Students can be added or dropped throughout the season up until just before competition. Each Team member will need to have a consent form signed. 
http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Robotics_Programs/Consent_and_Release_Form.pdf

It is up to the Coach to initiate and start a team. This is most often done from scratch, based on the interest of one or two highly motivated students. It is very hard to find an existing team unless someone you know is organizing one and invites you.  


Just a note on ages and forming your team(s): Having a mix of ages and talents is a good idea when forming a team. You don't necessarily want all of your strongest players on one team. In my experience the most successful teams have student leaders who are ready to step up to the challenges that come and also kids who are just getting their feet wet. Last year we had exactly 10 kids who wanted to participate. 10 kids is A LOT. I don't recommend it, not because it is hard to work with 10 students, it is, but because it limits the opportunities for learning and leadership for the kids. Too many participants leaves students with too much "down time" and not enough hands on time. Somewhere between 4-6 is probably ideal. We made the decision to split our team into two teams. This was possibly the best decision we made all season long. We had a couple of seasoned veterans on one plus a few who were highly motivated but had never participated. I think it was a good learning experience for all. The kids who had never participated got to learn from the best and get a feel for what success looks like. The more experienced members got to take on roles of leadership and the responsibility of teaching others, which I think is always great for developing character. On the other hand the other team was made up of all rookies. Taking into consideration the dispositions of all 10 kids, this I believe was the best division for each child participating. Even though the second group of students were made up of all rookies we had leaders emerge who would for sure have not had that opportunity had they been on the other team. They had what I would consider a great opportunity to shine and lead, whereas they would have most likely been pushed to the background had they been on the other team. So if you are in the position of having to split a team consider your kids carefully. 


Here are just some interesting statistics 


Kids who participate in FIRST programs are:

  • 50 percent more likely to attend college
  • Twice as likely to major in science or engineering
  • Three times as likely to major specifically in engineering
  • Young women in FIRST programs are four times more likely to pursue science and engineering in college
  • Minority members of FIRST teams are more than twice as likely to enter the fields of science and engineering
Source: Brandeis University study

Cost: (These are basic necessities)

Registration to the National Organization is $225 
Registration to a local event is $100
Competition Table: About $50 to build
Field Kit: $75 plus taxes and shipping, mine came to about $87 to be delivered to Bountiful, UT
Robot: They are currently using the Mindstorm EV3, but the old NXT is also doable: $443.95 plus shipping and taxes about $490. This includes the software pack, otherwise you will have to purchase it separately which increases your cost by a very small amount. It is super important that you order your EV3 through the lego education site. Do not order through the normal Lego site because it is a different robot with different capabilities. The best way to order your robot is after you have registered your team. You can do it through the FLL team site. The advantage to this is that during the competition season the software can be shared among the team, meaning they can use it at their homes. Most teams, unless you are affiliated with a school have software that has a single use agreement meaning that the software can only be used at one location on one device. If you order through the FLL team site the software can be shared just through the competition season and then after it reverts back to a single use agreement.

You will also need a computer/laptop to run the software on. $700-$1,500 depending on what you choose to use or have already available.
Also, you will want to consider any travel costs you may have.

Total Cost not including the laptop and travel is approximately: $952
If you are going to share costs across team members each participant would need to contribute:
$95.20 for a 10 member team
$105.78 for a 9 member team
$119.00 for an 8 member team
$136.00 for a 7 member team
$158.67 for a 6 member team
$190.40 for a 5 member team
$238.00 for a 4 member team
$317.34 for a 3 member team
$476.00 for a 2 member team

Optional and recommended costs:
"uniforms": The sky's the limit, but this can easily be done for under $10 a participant.
Treats and Trading Pins for competition day: $30
Expansion pack: $99.95 plus shipping and handling about $115.00

Here is the link for instructions on how to build your FLL table:
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/sites/default/files/Challenge/TeamResources/NaturesFury/2013-14TableOnly.pdf

Here's a good idea of what your year may look like:

May: Team Registration begins as of May 5th, 12 PM ET, don't forget to register for a local event! This is also a good time for coaches to research how everything works and what to expect. It's also a good time to start any fundraising efforts.
June-July: Because the challenge has not yet been released, this is a good time to set team goals, come up with trading pins, and have a few low key meetings. If you are a new team, you can familiarize yourself with the robot by building a few of the models that come with the robot. You can learn how to program the robot and how the sensors work.
Aug: Ready, Set, LEGO.. Each year the FLL releases a new challenge which focuses on a different scientific topic or question. The Challenge has three parts: the Robot Game, the Project, and the FLL CoreValues. At this time teams can begin ordering their field kits and putting together their table if they don't already have one.
Sept: Build Missions and get your table set up, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Organize and decide on your project, pass out assignments. Work on your Core Values.
Oct: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Continue to work on your project and check back with assignments made. Work on your Core Values.
Nov: Think about organizing a friendly competition with another team. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! Continue to work on your project and check back with assignments made. Work on your Core Values.
Dec: Your project and Core Values should be completed by the first week in Dec, otherwise with holidays etc. it just gets too hard. Continue to tweak your robot and missions. All of the work should essentially be done at this point, you are just cleaning things up a bit and running your missions over and over, practicing handoffs and changing attachments.
Jan: Competitions begin! Have FUN!
Feb-Apr: If your team(s) do well at their local event they may be invited to participate at State. Otherwise this is a good time to schedule an after party and congratulate the kids for all of their hard work and efforts. You can review the judges comments about your Project, Core Values, and Robot Design. You can set goals for the following year, find out who will be continuing on, and have fun just playing with the robot instead of focussing on missions. Refreshments are a definite plus :-)

Basic Terminology (pics below):

The Robot: The most current model used by the FLL is the EV3 Mindstorm, but some teams are still using the older NXT model. The robot consists of a programable brick (the brain), lego components, and sensors, which students use to build a robot capable of completing specific missions.

The Field: The field is where the Robot Game takes place. It occupies the space between the walls of your table. It consists of a field mat, on a table, with mission models arranged on top.

The Field Set Up Kit: The field set up kit contains all of the mission models and the mat. It comes with all the components and directions you need to properly set up the field.

Mission Models: Mission Models are made up of Lego components and require the robot to complete a task for points during the match. Last year the most popular mission for our boys was the soccer goal. In order to receive full points the robot had to be behind a shot line and launch a soccer ball over an obstacle and into the soccer goal. For maximum points the soccer ball had to remain within the goal box. https://www.facebook.com/maizie.brown.9/videos/10152660739563366/?pnref=story
This looks very simple, but it took the kids hours and hours of work!

Missions: A mission requires the robot to engage the mission model and leave it in a certain condition  during or by the end of the match. A team may choose to attempt any and all of the missions. The team decides in which order and how they will design their missions.

Match: Each team will get to attempt 3 two and a half minute matches. 2 tables are adjoined side to side and teams compete simultaneously. Your team is judged based on their highest of the 3 scores.

Base: Base is an area marked off on your field mat, although 2D it has imaginary volume :-). The Robot or it's attachments cannot be outside of base at certain times during the match, nor can the robot exceed the volume of the base. Base includes the length and width of the box depicted on the field mat as well as the imaginary 12 inch height.

Attachments: Most teams create a base for their robot with interchangeable attachments, arms, etc. to complete various missions. The attachments are the part of the robot that get put on and taken off at different times during the match. This should be done while the robot is in base otherwise there are touch penalties.

Basic Recommendations:
Based on the experiences I have had as a coach I would recommend having a dedicated weekly practice to work on the Robot Game. In addition to a dedicated weekly practice, I would suggest getting together an additional once or twice a month to focus primarily on the project and core values. This is the part the kids aren't necessarily thrilled about, but without are not eligible to place at their local event which would keep them from going on to state and beyond.

It can be helpful to use something as simple as a sticky note with a label that says "don't touch" on attachments that have been successfully created and tried. The programming works in harmony with the design of the robot. Change the design and the programming will most likely no longer function as it was intended. When our team first started they were building and taking apart attachments right and left. We would get something that worked and then come back to it having been completely disassembled. Which essentially meant that we had to start from scratch AGAIN!

Having a designated safety tote for the robot for competition day is also recommended. I heard of one team who on competition day dropped and broke their robot in between matches and could no longer participate.

At competition teams like to share a little piece of themselves. This is often done through trading pins, treats, or some kind of interactive experience. If you are preparing treats, a good suggestion would be to prepare for about 100 kids. Last year's challenge was all about learning. One of the teams had mini nerds candy boxes with a sticker attached that had their team name and a cute little saying. That is just one example of how a team might choose to "share".

Also, at competition, team spirit is definitely an important/fun factor. Teams wear matching T-shirts, carry banners or signs, create chants, and all kinds of fun displays of team spirit. Some teams even have mascots. The sky's the limit on this one, so it's up to your team, but I wouldn't recommend anything less than matching T-shirts. Some teams also use the theme for the year to come up with their "uniforms". For example one year's theme was Nature's Fury, part of the challenge was to create an innovative solution that helps people prepare, stay safe or rebuild. One team chose to wear hard hats as part of their costume.

Competition day can be a bit hectic. The more prepare your team is the better off everyone will be. An example of a typical competition day looks something like this:

9 AM- 12PM Project, Core Values, and Robot Design Judging. Your team will not actually be judged for 3 hours straight :-) each session is about 15 min, and you alternate in between sessions with other teams. So there is ALOT of down time. This is a great time to make any last minute tweaks to your robot.
12 PM - 1 PM: Lunch
1PM - 2PM: Robot Games
2PM - 3PM: Closing Ceremonies and Awards

Every host will arrange their competitions differently, but this is a good example of what a typical competition Schedule looks like.

Core Values:

We are a team. 
We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors. 
We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together. 
We honor the spirit of friendly competition. 
What we discover is more important than what we win. 
We share our experiences with others. 
We display Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® in everything we do. 
We have FUN! 

Each team is responsible for putting together a presentation board to use during the judging session. More information can be found through the FLL website.

The Project:

The Project changes each year. The FLL gives a theme and a mandate, but it is up to the team to decide the specifics of their project. It's kind of like doing a science experiment but different. Much like science fair projects the team creates a board to highlight the details of their project which they share with the judges.

Robot Design:

The team will have an opportunity to share their Robot Design with a panel of judges. They can tell the judges what they think they have done successfully, what kind of attachments they have created, and the specific programming they have used to accomplish the missions.

* I should state that all of the information I have described is based on my own personal experience and based on the most current information available. The FLL sometimes changes it rules even within a given season, and on occasion changes the robot being used, so any and all of the information I have provided is subject to change at any point in time. For the most part though, I think it is good info :-)

My best suggestion if you want to delve in further is to go to the US FLL website and read everything you can, follow all of the links. You will find that you gather bits of info from each of their links, it is a bit of a maze. I have learned from experience that I cannot expect to get all of the info I need from following just one link. You really do have to piece everything together unfortunately. You will end up getting one bit of info from one link and then clarifying info from another link all within the FLL official pages!

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or contact me at Maiziedaizy@yahoo.com

The Field


How it Comes



The Robot


Our Cooky Team


We Share our Project


We Eat


and Eat


and Eat


Our T-shirts




Competition Day






Our Project Board



Our Core Values Board



What fun!








Sunday, April 12, 2015

Bee Feed

I tried two different ratios for bee feed this year. Having two different hives is kind of fun, because I can try different things and see if they make a difference. My bees were hived within 5 minutes of each other. I've researched 3 different ratios for Bee feed. 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 Sugar is first, water second. I tried the 1:1 and the 1:2. All is best mixed with hot water. Some suggest boiling your water to purify it, but do not add the sugar in until it has cooled slightly. Do not boil your sugar water. If it caramelizes it can make the bees sick.

The 1:1 ratio is used to encourage the drawing of honeycomb. It is not recommended for summer and winter use, but is great for the spring. I've really noticed the difference between the two hives.

Here's a picture of the hive where I used the 1:2 ratio. I should also say that there were many dead bees at the bottom of this cage. I'm assuming it was because of the cold? So it looks like this colony is having a much harder time getting started.


Only the first 3 frames have bees and honeycomb. Absolutely nothing is happening on that 5th frame.



I have checked on the first hive a few times since hiving the bees, still not much is going on, but we had a cold snap shortly after I hived the bees and I think this hive struggled much more to stay warm because of their low numbers. Looking back I probably should have taken the cage back and asked for a different set of bees. After the snow fell they quit carrying out their dead until it warmed up a bit and the snow had melted. I could tell the second hive was doing much better because they were able to carry out their dead even during the snow.

I started by placing blankets over the hives in the evening, making sure that I didn't cover their entrance too much. If a colony is established then they are fine to huddle and keep warm, but I was worried about their newness.


The danger with covering them with blankets is that it doesn't allow for good airflow and also the heat the bees generate can end up as condensation which ends up falling on them as freezing drops of water, NOT good! I left the blankets on over night and took them off first thing in the morning, but the snow continued to drop.

I decided on giving them just a little protection.


And then went with fresh dry blankets as it got colder.


I was so worried about my little ladies, but they pulled through just fine, the smaller hive struggling just a little more.

Here's a look at the hive with the 1:1 ratio. Also, I didn't quite get the frame spacing right in this box, I had intended on fixing it quickly, and I came back quickly, but these industrious bees had already built all kinds of honeycomb. I added in more frames, but I'm sure I'll be adding another box soon. All this work was done in 1 weeks time!


3 weeks later they were doing so well that I went ahead and added that top box. Although, by the looks of this pic, I could probably have done it then, but we were still running a little cold at night and I thought it would be easier to keep warm if I waited a little.

And now for the completely random:

I was trying to get a close up of the pollen pouches (yellow sometimes orange sacks on the bees legs) but they are so fast! This was my best effort :-)




This poor creature is MAD! He's been on the trap for 4 days and is still ALIVE? I had no idea! Why is it that the more of a nuisance a creature is the harder they are to kill? I'de let him go, but I still remember what those darn wasps did to my hive last year!


Lovely Olivia helps make Bee feed and organize the hive! She is a daring little creature.



Busy, busy bees!



Lots a lots a fun!
Thanks Oliva


Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Creating Your Own Chalkboard Labels

I recently ventured into the art of making your own Laundry Soap. I wanted to create a chalkboard label to put on my fancy laundry jar. Here's how, or scroll down for the link to just use the one I created.



First visit this site for a free chalkboard background and follow the instructions to save it to your computer. Then go to picmonkey and create a beautiful label using their beautiful fonts and fun embellishments. Much of their edits are free, but the upgrade is totally worth it. You'll become addicted!

OR if you prefer you can use mine by clicking here. There are two on each page. You can either use it squared or cut around the frame for a curved label. I liked the curly label best!



I used my Sizzix to cut the second more basic label out. My sister recommended using some modge podge or other top coat to fix the finish on the labels. I printed mine out on avery sticker paper found at Walmart.

For the DIY Laundry Soap Recipe click here.


Bees and Wasps are NOT Friends

So last year was my first attempt at bee keeping. I had a beautiful hive with thriving bees, full of honey and larvae and a good queen, but then one day I went out to check on them and they were completely wiped out. It turns out wasps can take out a beehive in about 30 min. I had no idea! I had noticed wasps lingering about the hive, but I thought they were friends. I had no idea that they could be such a threat. They will decimate a hive killing and eating the bees, the larvae, and the honey. I couldn't believe that my hive could be destroyed that quickly. At first I thought maybe they had swarmed, but there was absolutely nothing left behind. When a hive swarms they will leave some larvae, a new queen in the works, and enough worker bees and attendants to take care of the baby queen and hive. But there was absolutely nothing left! I wasn't for sure what happened so I got on a website and read an article called autopsying your hive, that is when I realized it was the wasps. It was too late in the season to start over, but I immediately started setting traps and finding and removing wasps nests. We had several kinds of wasps so I had to buy two different kinds of traps. One of them will catch most kinds of wasps, but it does not work on paper wasps, which seemed to be the predominant kind of wasp in our yard. So I bought the sticky trap for the paper wasps. Their bodies are smaller and can escape the other trap. So far no honey bees have fallen for the sticky trap, if I start to notice any I will take it down, but generally speaking honey bees and wasps are attracted to different kinds of things. So I am hoping for a better beekeeping year this year. Here are just some of the nests we took out. And by we I mean Chad :-) Good Riddance!


So why do wasps eat honey bees? The truth is they feed them to their young who in return secrete a sugar substance which is like crack to the wasps. fascinating...


I also decided to go with 2 hives this year instead of just the 1. The reason being that you can sometimes solve problems between hives. I changed the location too, just in case wasps have a good memory. This year my fabulous sister came with me to pick my bees up. She even carried one of the cages to the car! It was so much more fun with her there. Also my darling Olivia came. She was the one to come with me last year.



It was a cold day, so it was much less eventful than the year previous. Last year I had all kinds of stray bees that came along with my cage. I can't remember for sure, but I think I counted about 30 extra freebees flying around in my car. Because of the cold, there were no freebees.

This year Harrison wanted to help me get all set up.


I tried two different ways of hiving my bees based on different advise. One lady had me using an empty top box to dump the bees into and the other said to just use the bottom box to start out with. It's a little more challenging with the one box, but in the long run its the method I preferred. The hive on the left is last years hive, and the one on the right is the new hive. My bees came early so I was completely unprepared. You'll notice parts of my new hive are not painted. I'm pretty sure I'm going to pay for that, but because of the cold and the bees coming early I didn't feel like I had the time to paint. Oh well, I guess live and learn! Maybe I'll buy an extra bottom and swap it out as soon as I can. 

These goofs had fun just watching. Believe it or not, this was taken after I asked them to scoot back! But the bees are fascinating. I could just watch them for hours, and do sometimes!






A DIY Laundry Soap Review

My sister came for spring break and we got into all kinds of fun, but one of my favorite projects that we worked on was DIY Laundry Soap. We tried 3 different recipes.


Here's how the first batch turned out. I found the glass container at Walmart for a little over $7. It holds almost exactly a half recipe. They also sell a larger jar that would hold a full recipe for a little under $12. My sister and I were splitting it to try so we went with the smaller size. I was able to find all of these ingredients between the laundry and baking isles at Walmart. Here's the basic recipe:

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean
3 (5.5) Bars of Fels Naptha
1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

Use 4 TBL of soap per load of laundry


The hardest part of making your own laundry soap is grating the Fels-Naptha, What a pain! I have seen that some people put theirs in a food processor or blender, but I was afraid of gumming mine up or ending up with food that tasted like soap, so I used a hand grater. Other than that all you need to do is get a tub and mix up all your ingredients. It's helpful to layer your products just like you would a lasagna, placing 1/3 of each of your ingredients and then layering it all over again for a total of 3 times. I was lucky enough to have this little cutie to help me out!


Voila all done! Just place in your container of choice!

The yellow of the Fels-Naptha is beautiful, but the scent was just a little strong. I also wanted to add a pleasant scent to the mix, So I replaced the Fels-Naptha with Pink Zote Soap (found at my local grocery store, Smith's) and tried some of Scentsy's Laundry Whiffs. (I used Quiver, but I have since learned that I prefer White Tea and Cactus or Luna.) Click here to explore the world of Scentsy :-) you will love it! They run about $12 a bottle or $30 a tub. (OUCH!) The laundry whiffs are purely optional, but smell divine. My sister and I just wanted to tip our heads into the laundry machine!

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean
2 (14.1) Zote soap
1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1/2 Tub or 2 bottles of your favorite Scentsy Laundry Whiffs

Use 4 TBL of soap per load of laundry





The other option most people use instead of Fels-Naptha or Pink Zote Soap is Ivory, but I read somewhere that you could use another soap of your choice. My very favorite happens to be OLAY, so I gambled and made another batch using some OLAY. This actually ended up being my very favorite batch. I also swapped out the more expensive Laundry Whiffs for some Gain Moonlight Breeze scent booster. Although I should be clear that the scent boosters are just that, they are not necessary to the recipe. Feel free to use what ever Scent booster you like best.

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean
3 (4 oz) OLAY soap bars
1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
2 (13.2 oz) Containers of Gain fireworks scent boosters

Use 4 TBL of soap per load of laundry




Considering both the price and the smell, the last batch, the one that used the gain scent booster was my favorite. Although most recipes had you put the scent booster straight into the mix, I have learned that I prefer to add it per load. Also if price were not a factor at all, I would totally use the Scentsy Laundry Whiffs every time. They are simply heavenly!

Hope you ENJOY!
To learn how to create your own chalkboard labels click here!