Does anyone know of any LEGO teams that are currently being run in elementary schools? we are starting one and need some help!
We have 2 teams at the elementary school, they are a mix of 4th and 5th graders with a few 3rd graders. They All enjoy it alot, we got a teacher to make it an elective for them so she uses the kits in class for education then they build a robot when the time comes for the competition.
Andrew Rudolph
Does anyone know if there is an enforced age limit on Lego league teams? We are going to mentor some teams for the next season, and I think that the oldest mentioned on the FLL site is 14…? Our team would probably by eighth graders.
~Mimi Brown
We have 2 teams of 7 (5th graders) at two elementary schools. A dedicated parent runs each team twice a week during the “season”, and the teachers let the students have time in the school day (and at recess) to work on the programming and assembly of the robot. It helps to have students on the FIRST Robotics team help out the students in the LEGO league.
Steve Prairie
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The Huskie Brigade has 5 teams at the middle school next to the high school and was working with some at another school in Pontiac. It is a great way to get new students on a team accustomed to the FIRST arena if you don’t have an outlet like OCCRA. You need to find out who all of your local “big-wigs” are for Lego- find out when and where you sanctioned regionals are and talk to the people coordinating those. You should have about 5 or 6 students on each team, this normally is easily pulled off and you can have lots of teams this way. In Michigan, I know of a few that are ran at the El. level- I believe there is a team from both Harvey Swanson and H.T. Burt elementaries in Brandon Township (The schools are right across the parking lot from one another) and this team is large and very loud- they are well-coordinated and have great spirit. Search for some in your area that can help you get going, even if they are at the junior level.
-Erin
The website at FIRST (usfirst.org) has a lot of information on starting and maintaining a Lego team. You can contact them by email as well for more help. They are very supportive of FIRST teams who want to work with younger kids on Lego teams.
Hi!
De Anza High School mentored two elementary teams (fifth grade), and had a great time. Our teams were too big, though, I suggest 5-6 per team.
As far as ages for middle school: no one checks ages…I think the intent is really for this to reach up to 8th grade. I had some 14 year old freshmen that I was going to send, but other teams advised me that this would not be cool. Although they say up to 14, I think they really mean up to 8th grade.
Eric Reed
De Anza High School