School: Family STEM Activity Night
STEM Club team members getting ready to speak to family, friends, and school faculty.
On Family STEM Activity Night all students and families were invited to participate in dinner, activities, and a STEM Club presentation. Both of our girls spoke in front of all the school faculty, family, and friends that were at the event. So proud of their courage and willingness to speak in front of so many people. They did fantastic at the robotic competitions and speaking at the event.
Karlie speaking. Brina spoke too, but we didn’t get a clear picture of her.
Our little super heroes!
Karlie getting ready to test her balloon rocket.
Mrs. Williams (Brina’s 4th grade homeroom teacher) helping Brina put her balloon on the string so she can race it.
Mr. Moore (one of the STEM Club coaches) timing Brina’s balloon as it zips down the string to the target.
Brina making her container for her egg drop. You got 1 containers and could use 2 items. She picked bubble wrap and yellow feathers!
Karlie picked cotton balls and sponges for her egg drop container!
There goes Karlie’s!
Brina getting ready to watch her egg drop. The girls were the first ones to not have their eggs break on the concrete (almost 40 people went in front of them)!
Jake met us at the school. He was great at building the tower out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. They were given a specific amount of dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows to see how high of tower they could build. They had one of the highest towers when we left the room.
Measuring the tower! It was leaning a little, but could stand on it’s own without assistance!
Our spaghetti noodle and marshmallow tower design!
At the end of the night the school held a drawing for all the people that came. We had the grand prize ticket – an Amazon Kindle! The kindle has already been proven valuable on our last couple of road trips. Instead of bringing extra books they can read a lot of books that we downloaded on the Kindle. It’s been a nice item to have for the kids. They are very lucky girls!
First Lego League (FLL): State STEM Lego Robotics Competition
So proud of the girls and their teammates! They won a Judges Award Trophy at State!
Last weekend we had the privilege of going with the girls to State STEM Lego Robotics Competition. The competition is called FLL or First Lego League! The state competition was in Columbia, South Carolina and they had to be there by 7:45 am on Saturday morning. It was a full day, but it went by quickly. The kids had several presentations in front of the judges as well as three rounds with their robot completing various tasks. In between they had the opportunity to trade swag with other teams and doing various other activities.
There were 60 teams participating at the event. They were competing alongside a variety of great elementary and middle schools from around the state. Even with that many teams and their first time at State they ended up bringing home a Judges Award trophy for the Rising Star. The kids were so excited!
Both the kids and their coaches have put in countless hours of research, programing, practice and more since October. Thankful for a great team of coaches who volunteer their time after school twice a week to help mentor and encourage these kids to learn. There are 4 faculty members from the kids school who help – Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Ponder, Mr. Moore, and Mrs. Husso. They have truly been an amazing blessing to these kids!
The quote the coaches gave at the beginning of this club year was – “It’s the hardest fun you’ll have!” It is hard work, yet a great way to learn not only about STEM, robotics, research, but also how to work effectively as a team. Proud of the team and coaches for all they were able to accomplish this year so far and looking forward to the fun things they have in store for the remaining meetings this year.
One of the few times all 4 of us are matching (well 5 if you include Skipper who was not cooperating for the picture). Jake and I had team shirts too! 🙂
Solar SySTEM in the parade at the beginning of the event!
First robotics map round!
The kids were troopers and had great attitudes all day with all the activities, events, presentations, and more!
Cheering and clapping for their team!
The coaches put together goody bags for the kids to trade with the other teams at State! Lots of good loot. Not sure if our girls came home with many items that were originally in their bags!
Listening intently to Coach Johnson’s instructions for an upcoming presentation.
The kids designed and decorated their table displays, posters, presentation props, and more.
Hanging out for a few minutes in between events with Coach Ponder!
They had a few moments in between to relax a little and even play a game with friends.
Ready for the next event!
Watching closely!
There were a lot of people at State FLL
Waiting for the awards to be presented!
Their team number was drawn to come up in front of every person and team at the FLL Competition! They did a great job. Karlie was the first one to answer a question in front of a huge crowd and she was so excited about her project she wasn’t nervous talking with a mike in front of a very large crowd!
They won a trophy! WOOHOO!
Way to go! Solar SySTEM team with 2 of their coaches.
Yay! It was a great day for the team!
Love the FLL trophies! They are made out of legos! Very neat!
Slogan and shirt designed by the kids! “Stay in Orbit!”
First Lego League: Robotics STEM Competition – Solar SySTEM!
Very excited! Their team won a 1st place Trophy and a Gold Ticket to the SC State Robotics Competition!
The girls Solar SySTEM Lego Robotics STEM Club team went to the regional competitions this past weekend! It was a long and busy Saturday day. We left the house before sun up so we could be in Seneca by 7:20 am and didn’t get home until after 6 pm that night. The girls team had several rounds at the competition. They were scored in multiple areas and did well!
Three rounds of their robot completing tasks on the map which they scored pretty high on. Another part of the competition was their core values which is their team spirit and how they interact with the other teams. They have to give a presentation on this piece as well in front of the judges. Another piece of the competition was their research, project, and presentation which the kids presented in front of the judges on their own. They won the first place trophy in this category (on their research, project, and presentation).
The work is done by the students from the logo design, research, development, presentations, and so much more! The team worked so well together and put in a lot of hours working on their research, development, robotics, and project. They do the majority of their work in front of the judges with no coaches or parents in the room (we can’t even watch, but thankfully they had it video taped). The only piece the parents and coaches can watch is the one when they do their robotic map missions otherwise they are on their own once in the room and in front of the judges.
The team pick a solar system theme. They named their team the Solar SySTEM and the catch phrase is “Stay in Orbit”! The research project they decided to do was to build a computer game that would help kids learn more about the solar system. They named their robot, SpaceBot!
It was a super busy and long day for the kids, but they were awesome. There were 21 teams competing that day so it was a real honor to win a trophy and get the opportunity to move forward. Their hard work really paid off with the trophy and qualifying for the SC Competition! WooHoo! Very proud of the girls and their team!
Playing a hangman game before competition starts!
Karlie all smiles after the first robotic map round when they scored all 100 points!
Their robot going through the tasks on the map!
Brina hanging up their spirit posters.
Their team going through the tasks on the robot map!
Watching carefully to make sure the robot goes through all its tasks!
Gathering some of the props for their presentation!
Karlie ready to go speak!
Coming back after their presentation! They rocked it and got the 1st place trophy!!!
Getting their trophy!
Karlie with Mrs. Johnson one of their coaches who also teaches STEM Lab and her GT class!
Solar SySTEM team and coaches! They did AWESOME!!!
Robotics Activities
Working on robotics!
The girls have been part of the STEM Club at their school. They have really enjoyed learning so much through the club, including more about robotics. Since they have been learning about robotics and are really interested in learning more so Jake has been doing fun robotics projects with them at home as well. Here are a few of the projects they have been working on recently.
Brina and Karlie checking out the robotic
Daddy helping the girls put together one of the robots
This is one that Jake had from college. He pulled it out and had the girls help him get it back up and running again.
Watching the robot spin around the kitchen!
Family STEM Activity Night
Karlie watching the robotics demonstration right after giving her speech to the students, faculty, parents, and family members in attendance. So proud of her! She was the only 3rd grader to give a speech that night!
The girls had a blast at their Family STEM Night! Karlie gave a presentation to everyone in attendance about their STEM Club and robotics competition. That night they had a lot of fun activities as well as informational meetings throughout the evening. Brina and Karlie had a blast learning, soaking in all the great information, and participating in the various activities. It was neat to see them work both independently and together to create some neat projects in the evening!
Learning about the cool pieces and their purposes. Karlie was thrilled to hold the one that had been up in space!
Karlie testing her dragon racer.
Brina testing her dragon racer.
Putting together a soft bed for the raw egg.
Almost done with wrapping our egg!
Final wrapping to their egg nicknamed “Pink Flemingo” for the egg drop competition. I remember doing a similar activity in elementary school. Super Fun!
Under all those pink and orange feathers and bubble wrap is a raw egg – “Pink Flemingo”!
A little concerned that the Pink Flemingo may have broken in the drop so they are hurrying to get back and unwrap her!
Brina so proud of her Pink Flemingo egg drop activity and wrapping skills! The Pink Flemingo did survive the egg drop! Yay! The girls loved this activity!
Making their airplane gliders to fly and measure!
STEM Event at Roper Mountain Science Center
Jake & Brina working on her model!
Karlie’s creation is done, now it’s ready to see if it will survive the test! She’s proud of her creation and confident it will pass the testing….
Brina adding the finishing touches on her creation!
All ready for testing! Proud of her cool design.
Karlie watching carefully as they get ready to drop the big board on her creation. The goal was to make a creation out of the bag of goodies that they give you that will not change its shape once the board has been dropped on it (including none of the balloons popping). She did it!!!Brina putting her creation on the testing platform, she was concerned about her balloons popping, but it passed with flying colors! Way to go Brina!
Jake was a pro in no time at riding the Segway!
Brina riding a Segway all by herself, she did well!
Karlie learning how to ride the Segway! She’s getting the hang of it!
Karlie watching the show at the Planetarium
STEM Robotics Competition
The “Crosswell Flares” logo and design the kids came up with for this year.
The girls STEM Robotics Team – The Crosswell Flares – did a great job this weekend! It was their first year in the competition and a long day (left the house at 7 am and wasn’t back home until around 7 pm that night), but all their hard work paid off they got 2 Trophies!!! The girls had a blast, learned a lot, and met a lot of people from various schools in the area!
The tagline they came up with was “Keep your flame in the game” which was on the back of their shirts along with the list of team members.
With so many people around the robot table during the competition this was the best picture we could get that day. This is their robot going through the course. They were able to accomplish all their missions that they had programmed and practiced.
The team getting ready to start the competition!
Brina very excited about her “swag bag”! As part of the competition each team made swag bags for their team members then they would have the opportunities to trade items with other teams. It stimulated a lot of interaction among the various teams. They were actually judged on this piece of the competition as well.
Karlie showing off her swag bag! Their team actually won a trophy for this part of the competition which included their sportsmanship and values.
They won 2 trophies! It was a long day and a lot of work, but they did fantastic! The kids were troopers! This was the teams first year competing against 17 teams (most of which have been competing for several years). Proud of all the kids and coaches for all the hard work. Good Job!!!
