Update as of 8/20: 8 items: NorCal tournament registration update, grants, and more

[Jill Wilker]

Welcome - This is the 1st email of the 2017 FLL season.  We send out a mostly weekly emails to remind everyone about local deadlines and other important info during the NorCal FLL challenge season.  


Please pass this along to your team parents and others in your community that might be interested in FIRST LEGO League and encourage them to join this list.  Information is included at the bottom of this email on how to subscribe, unsubscribe as well as the link to visit the archive on the group's webpage.


If you are no longer involved in a FIRST LEGO League team - give back by volunteering. We always need independent adults to serve as a judge or referee!  Learn about volunteer opportunities by joining the low volume, announcements-only googlegroup, volunteer-for-pal.  Link   https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/volunteer-for-pal    and reminder that instructions for removing yourself from this list is at the bottom of this email.


Coaches & Community members - We have several important items for you for the week ending 8/20:


1. MOST IMPORTANT:  2017 NorCal FLL Qualifier Tournament Registration will not require a team roster to be uploaded ahead of registering for a tournament.  Read more at http://www.norcalfll.org/2017/08/20/tournament-registration-update/


2.  EXCITING CHANGES - New people at Playing At Learning! Read more about our new Board, and new staff at http://social.norcalfll.org/2017/08/20/playing-at-learning-is-growing/


3. Need-based FLL Team Grants available!  We have a couple of sources of need-based FLL team grants this year. a) Grant to reduce the regional support fee from Playing At Learning, and b) Grant from PG&E.  More information will be posted at http://www.norcalfll.org/grants no later than 8/27


4. We will have 3, possibly more, free Kickoff Events this season - plan on attending one on August 29th 5-7pm to learn about this year's challenge as well as see the HydroDynamics game field and ask questions and meet your local teams.  We are hoping to open registration this coming week. Currently confirmed locations are in San Francisco, San Jose and Folsom. Not sure what Kickoff means?  Learn more at http://www.norcalfll.org/what-is-kickoff-exactly/


5. Save the Date:  Rookie Coach Training in San Jose at The Play Space on September 10th 9am-12pm and online webinar on September 12th from 6:30-8:30pm. Registration information will come in next week's update


6. 2017 Qualifier tournament host sites and organizers still needed  Are you able to help organize a tournament but are not associated with a potential site (like a school)?  We also have a few places that need organizers to help - let me know!  Similarly, let us know about potential sites
 

7. "Lunch and Learn" sessions - help us spread the message about FIRST!   We have a small dedicated group of volunteers that can come out to your company over lunchtime and do a presentation about FIRST and the opportunities to be involved. Learn more and fill out an Interest form


8. Did you know that Playing At Learning is a 501(c)(3) public charity
                  .  Please keep us in mind for your charitable donations  - Donation Link
                  .  Playing At Learning does not receive funding from FIRST - we are an independent nonprofit
                  .  We rely on donations (including matching grants and volunteer hours) from individuals like you
                  .  Super Easy way to help if you buy from Amazon: Add Playing At Learning as your charity and start from smile.amazon.com
                  .  Second Easy way to help if you shop at Lucky, SaveMart or FoodMaxx, goto escrip.com/shares and add Playing At Learning



Finally, if you don't see the links embedded in items above, you should visit this google group's home page at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/norcalfll-announce   to see the links.



Regards, 
    Jill  


Jill Wilker,  Playing At Learning, an educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit   
Northern California program partners for FIRST® LEGO® League and FIRST® Tech Challenge  and  FIRST® LEGO® League, Jr 
www.norcalfll.org     www.norcalftc.org    www.norcaljrfll.org   (510)  656-8664       www.playingatlearning.org