T.E.A.M. #4889

FIRST changed how they do team numbers. Instead of receiving a new number every year, now the number a team gets is what they keep for as long as they are a team.

We are team number 4889!

Below is a list of all the team numbers we have had:

• #2659  -  (Year 2007, team name: Solar Revenge)
• #4184  -  (Year 2008, team name: Solar Revenge)
• #4801  -  (Year 2009, team name: T.E.A.M.)*
• #3176  -  (Year 2010, team name: T.E.A.M. F.I.R.S.T. Aid)**
• #4877  -  (Year 2011, team name: T.E.A.M. Temp-Assure)*
• #1544  -  (Year 2012, team name: T.E.A.M. Dose-E-Dough)*
• #244  -  (Year 2013, team name: T.E.A.M. Flash Drivez)*
• #4889  -  (Year 2014, team name: T.E.A.M. Dia-Get-It)*

*T.E.A.M. stands for Tackling Everything And More
** Our F.I.R.S.T. stood for Frequent Information Response and Safety Team

Volunteering at the Waukesha FLL Tournament

Our team is a 4-H team from Waukesha County. On November 1st, there was an FLL tournament at Waukesha South High School. Three of our current team members, all three of our youth mentors, our coach, several past team members, as well as other 4-H members all volunteered at the tournament. 

Here we are at the tournament: some current team members and our youth mentors.

Our team members volunteering at the Waukesha FLL Tournament.

Playing some Ninja during a break.

Playing some Ninja during a break.

Teamwork

We always look forward to practicing teamwork exercises, they are lots of fun! Our coaches like to be creative and come up with all sorts of silly challenges, like hopping around the yard... Here, take a look for yourself!  :D

Check out our YouTube channel for more videos! 
http://www.youtube.com/user/FLLRobotics

An Update!

Discussing efficiency and team goals

We have been keeping busy and having lots of fun!
We practice time management by grouping into subteams each meeting to accomplish our team goals efficiently.

Testing an idea

We finished programing our myblocks library and mission programming is underway! The robot subteam is furthering their knowledge and skills by trying out some in-depth programming concepts this year. The lead programmers help mentor the less experienced ones. We found a couple robot modifications we need to make, but we are up to that challenge.

Field trip to work with a professional

The project subteam has completed the planning and designing of our project. They went on field trips to meet with professionals in the field and learned a lot. Now we are working closely with one expert who is thrilled with our innovative solution and is helping us find resources to actually make our project a reality! Isn't that super cool? Currently we are working diligently to write a creative skit to share in the community and present to judges. So far it is looking great!

Working together

We have also been practicing fun teamwork exercises and core values interview prep. We know how important it is to have an even balance on all three aspects of FLL, robot, project, and core values. Through teamwork exercises and fun games during meeting breaks, we have really bonded as a team and friendships have grown.




We have kept active outside of meeting times too!

A few completed models

Our coaches and mentors are involved with the FRC team, CORE, who run an FLL tournament every year. This year we helped them assemble the mission models for the competition fields used for upcoming tournaments.

At the scrimmage

We participated in a scrimmage in Cudahy with 7 other teams. It was a great opportunity to prepare and practice for our regional tournament. Here is a link to pictures of us at the scrimmage:
https://picasaweb.google.com/11278502105
3295249322/Scrimmage20141028

At 4-H

We also have plans to present our project in the community in a few different ways. Besides the usual general sharing we do individually, we are scheduled to meet with a team of experts and a 4-H club.




We can't wait for tournament season to begin and are looking forward to the Waukesha regional where many of our team members, coaches, and mentors will be volunteering.

Everything is pulling together and we are all excited for our regional tournament which is just a few weeks away!

A Teamwork Exercise

Madeline came up with another fun teamwork exercise for us. It was a little different than what we usually do. It's good to practice different things that make us think, plan, and respond in new ways.

Team Building and Subteams

On Wednesday our team had a great meeting. We started off together to discuss our project as a team. After we had figured our where we wanted to direct our research, we headed outside and worked on team building by playing a super fun version of tag.

When we went back inside, we dispersed into our separate sub-teams. One group worked on finishing up our strategy for the robot game board, while the other group spent some time learning about one of our two project ideas.

At the end of the meeting, we all met back up and shared what we had learned with the team. The robot group had planned out all the missions and come up with a prototype of a super handy attachment that works for all the missions we have planned for the robot runs!

      

Teamwork Exercise

We have a lot of fun practicing our Five Step Decision Making Process during meetings. Our coaches come up with some really fun things for us to do. This is only our second Teamwork Exercise this season.