FIRST LEGO League
Fellows FLL Team Fall 2025 Registration
Please fill out a Fellows FLL Team Fall 2025 Lottery Form by September 2, 2025 at Noon for each child you would like to register for Fellows FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge Team.
If a child is placed on the team, payment must be made by September 5 at Noon.
What is FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge?
FIRST® is an international organization that uses robotics to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to children through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.”
FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge is open to teams of students in grades 4-8 (although the Fellows team will only have students from 4th and 5th grade). The Fellows team will go to a regional event where it will take part in a competition against other teams. At an event, each team’s performance is evaluated based on four equally weighted components, each accounting for 25% of the total score. The components are (1) Robot Design, (2) Robot Performance, (3) Innovation Project, and (4) Core Values.
At the weekly meetings, the kids will design and program a robot that uses Lego pieces so that the robot can complete missions on a table top during a 2 ½ minute period. The kids will also work on an innovation project, where the kids will prepare a live presentation with an innovative solution to a problem.
More information is available at the FIRST website and from their YouTube page. The most helpful video for understanding the robot game is probably the Robot Game Missions Video for this season.
Beyond Fellows FLL
Ames Middle School also has FLL teams. Ames High School has two teams that take part in FIRST competitions, a FIRST Tech Challenge team and a FIRST Robotics Competition team.
When Will the FLL Team Meet?
The Fellows FLL team will meet after school at Fellows Elementary from 2:45-4:00 pm on Wednesdays. The first meeting will be September 10. There will be a regional competition on Saturday, December 6, probably in Webster City. There will be a practice/scrimmage on Friday, December 5 at the Ames Middle School, with teams from the Ames region, including from Ames Middle School and other elementary schools engaging in a practice competition so that the kids can be better prepared for the regional competition. We will hold a final meeting and team celebration on Wednesday, December 10.
(There is a state competition on February 7, which we will address if the team qualifies.)
Who Should Join?
The Fellows FLL team is open to Fellows students in 4th and 5th grade. The team is limited to 10 students.
The focus is on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including mechanical design and computer coding.
Please only register students with a sincere interest in this competition. The team relies on each of its members. If a child does not cooperate with the rules, parents will be called for early pick-up because we will assume that he/she is ready to go home. Repeated disruption will lead to being asked not to return to the team. There will be no refund if your child is uninvited for behavior issues.
What is the Cost?
Fees pay for registration of the team with the FIRST organization, the season’s materials, registration for the competitions, and t-shirts for the team. The semester fee is $80.*
When a child is selected by lottery for the team, payment will be due (online or by check) by September 5 at Noon. Your child’s registration is not complete until we have received your payment; if payment is not received by the due date, your child automatically loses their spot in the program, and their spot will be offered to a waitlisted student.
*Need-based scholarships are available; please email FLLatFellows@gmail.com to request a scholarship. Cost should not be a barrier.
FLL Team Policies
Before Signing Up, Be Sure to Read the Following Policies!
No Refund Policy
There are no refunds given on FLL team registration.
Behavior Policy
The FLL team will need to be productive during the meetings. Please ask your child to be respectful to the coaches, parents, mentors, and fellow students.
FLL team members are expected to follow the same rules of behavior that they would in the classroom during school. Library books, art supplies, and other school equipment are off-limits during chess club.
Appropriate classroom behavior is expected, including one person talking at a time, students raising their hand with questions or answers to questions posed by the coaches and mentors, no side conversations or “poking” of other students no matter how friendly the claimed intention, no feet on the chairs or tables, no rocking in the chairs, no outside distractions of any kind in class including toys, fidgets/poppers, Pokemon or playing cards, phones, game players, etc.
If a child does not cooperate with FLL team rules, parents will be called for early pick-up because we will assume that he/she is ready to go home. Repeated disruption will lead to being asked not to return to the club. There will be no refund if your child is uninvited for behavior issues. Parents, please review these rules with your child.
Inclement Weather
If school is canceled, there will be no FLL team meeting. There will be no FLL team meeting if school is released early due to inclement weather. When possible, an email will be sent notifying parents of chess club cancellation; however, if you are ever in doubt, you may call the school to check on the status of after-school activities: 515-239-3765.
Policy on Children Not Picked Up from Club
This protocol should be followed when a child has not been picked up from FCC, and parent(s)/caregiver(s) or the emergency contact person(s) for the child cannot be reached. These situations are time-consuming for the coaches and parent volunteers and can be very upsetting for the child. On these occasions, a protocol must be available to enable the child to be looked after in a safe environment.
Protocol:
- If a child has not been picked up by 4:05 pm, the coaches and volunteers will make every possible attempt to contact the parent(s)/caregiver(s) with all emergency numbers supplied by the family. A student will not be released into the care of another parent without the consent of the parent(s)/ caregiver(s).
- At 4:10 pm, if no contact has been made and no one has arrived to collect the child, the coach will contact the Ames Community School District/Ames Police Department School Resource Officer. Children will be placed in police custody to locate their parents.