Gordon East Public School at the National First Lego League Competition Saturday 2014

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Last Saturday our team of 6 girls from years 5 and 6 participated in the

National First Lego League Competition

We competed against 37 other teams from all over Australia.

This took our Gifted and Talented extension to a whole new level.

Here is a photographic recall of the day.

The Opening Ceremony set the tone for the day showing all there would be lots of fun but also serious competition.

One third of the marks were awarded for the ROBOTIC COMPONENT. This was made up by the ‘Robotic Games’ and an interview with the judges where the girls discussed their robot design and programming.

The robotic games were extremely challenging but lots of fun. The girls had 3 rounds of 2 and a half minutes where the autonomous robot had to score as many points as possible. They found this stressful yet very thrilling as loud music blarred, large crowds watched and people cheered.

The girls worked hard at the practice tables throughout the day.

The team were very pleased with their performance in the robot judging as they had improved since the Regional Competition. Well done ladies!!! Improvement is what it is all about!!

Wow the competition at National Level was mindblowing especially as the competitors were up to 16 years of age and had entered FLL many times before. We all felt very inspired by the great work of the other teams…..(although secretly often a little overwhelmed). We certainly collected some ideas for next year!!! One of the teams met after school 3 times a week and worked until 9pm at night!!! Another team was home schooled and worked constantly on the FLL challenge. We were very privileged to be amongst such a high achieving cohort……Gordon East Gifted and Talented extension was certainly being extended. I was fortunate enough to speak with some of the coaches from the teams who qualified for internationals and they shared some valuable insights. I plan to liaise with them further.

Here are some photos of our competitors.

The second third of the marks came from the Research Project where the teams had to choose a FLL question and innovatively create ways of teaching this to others.

Our girls’ FLL question was, ‘How to teach others about what is in fast food’. The girls were concerned about the level of obesity in Australia and the fact that people were not listening to how bad for you fast foods are. This is where the team name ‘Robotic Foodies’ came from. Georgia did a fabulous job designing the team T-shirts that you see in the photos. The girls created a blog and a web site about Fast Food. They carried out taste testings, made and edited videos, created a poster, interviewed a Dietician and wrote and choreographed a song and dance about Fast Food that they performed. On the few days leading up to the Nationals over 1000 people from all over the world visited the website. Well done girls!!!

The final third of the marks involved judging the students’ Core Values including Gracious Professionalism.

Here is the marking rubric out lining how this works.

Here are our girls having some fun.

The day was lots of fun yet stressful and action packed with highs and lows. The girls showed resilience, tenacity, team work and gave their complete best in all areas of the competition. Well done champs…we’re all proud of you.

They walked away from the day with ‘National Medals’ and a wealth of invaluable learning experiences. (So did their teacher/coach ).

Ms Simmonds (Principal of GEPS) was there for the whole day providing invaluable support…thanks Jen.

GEPS certainly is a great school !!!

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Sneak Peek of the Girls FLL Robot in action.

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

The girls FLL team, now officially called the Robotic Foodies, is all ready to compete in the National FLL Competition at Macquarie University this Saturday. Here is a little look at their robot in action…and it can do so much more.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

GEPS First Lego League Stage 3 Soccer challenge

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

One of the missions in the 2014 First Lego League is to score a goal in the soccer nets.

Some students in Years 5 and 6 embraced this challenge and here are some of the successful robots with their clever designers and programmers.

This robot scored 8 out of 10 times..it had a terrific batting arm and well placed ball stand.

Another team had a throwing arm that worked very well.

100 accuracy and precision for these two girls…..impressive ladies.

First Lego League Regional Competition 2014

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Yesterday our two Gordon East Public School teams competed in the First Lego League Regional Competition at Macquarie University. We were ‘rookies’ competing for the first time against many experienced teams with children aged from 9 to 16 years of age. Our students performed at a very high level with courage, resilience, persistence and as team members exhibiting a high level of ‘gracious professionalism’.

Here are the highlights of the day:

The girls won the ‘2014 Macquarie Regional FLL Tournament Creative Presentation Award’ and have progressed onto the next level – the National FLL Competition. Brilliant work and a huge congratulations ladies!!!

Both the Boy and Girl teams had personal bests successfully completing their greatest number of Robotics missions to date.

The students’ research presentations were exceptional involving impressive use of technology with computer games designed using Scratch Software, videos, blog, posters, web site and interactive hands on basketball game. These were all created by the team members who spoke eloquently and carried themselves with poise and confidence.

Watching the teams work together in a mutually supportive way to achieve their goals. People who can effectively and happily work in teams have much easier, successful and happy lives.
Seeing the Boys’ resilience and pulling together when the AV could not be set up for their first presentation. When the going gets tough the tough get going…and our boys were the epitome of this. They made the best of a difficult situation, acted with great dignity and never gave up. Well done champs.

Watching the boys’ sensational presentation when the AV did work.
Seeing the students perform so well under pressure. The two and a half minutes the robot had to carry out the challenge with loud music and people cheering was quite stressful. All students had shaking hands but smiles on their faces and exemplified a high level of composure at all times. The children handled the robots not doing as they intended with good grace and sportsmanship.

Seeing the students (especially the girls) embrace the event by dancing and going around to the other teams and engaging with them.

Knowing the teams did their absolute best in all situations.
Seeing the smiles on the faces of happy learners/

Here is a look at some of the competition.

Well done to all involved and we wish the girls all the best when they compete at Nationals next month.

Best regards always

Mrs Garlick

First Lego League Taste Testing

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Our teams are getting their project ready for the FLL and here are some photos of the taste testing.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Our First Lego League Repair Team

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

We have our fabulous models for the First Lego League and although all the students are being very careful the constructions need constant fixing and adjustments. Nick and Sam are our resident Team Mechanics and they do a brilliant job keeping everything in perfect order. Thanks boys!!!

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

GEPS First Lego League Setup

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

The table is built, the models assembled and the teams are off and racing. Here are some photos of our FLL setup.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

First Lego League Expo

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

The students in 6/5H,W and Y put on a FLL expo so that all students could become familiar with the different challenges for the FLL challenge. Each team chose one of the missions and created a promotional poster outlining how the challenge worked, how many points it was worth and why it was a good mission to attempt. Then came the fun part..teaching all the other students about their model and what was involved.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

The First Lego League Challenge is Announced.

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Student and teachers all over the world have been anxiously awaiting the First Lego League Challenge release…..and it arrived at 2am today. (12pm ET in the USA)

Yah….HERE IT IS

http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2014fllworldclass

We are very excited and all the Year 5 and 6 classes are now officially started in this amazing competition.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

First Lego League Challange at GEPS

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Wow this is the first year that we are entering into the First Lego League Challenge and we are very excited. The kits and mats have just arrived and here are the students putting it all together.