Our FIRST LEGO League Jr Journey – Welcome to Boomtown.

Last week we had our first official meet up since registering our team.
We’re still finalising our team members as a couple of them have had to drop out unfortunately but we’re enjoying it all the same.
If you’ve never heard of the FIRST LEGO League tournament, you can catch our first post here about putting our team together and what’s involved.
Also, don’t forget to bookmark this page so that you can come back and follow our progress or use the image at the end to pin on Pinterest to come back to.

Session one – Welcome to Boomtown

Session one focuses on buildings in and around our community. The children were asked to think about the buildings they use and what they use them for. We talked about homes, schools, restaurants, swimming pools, community centres, hospitals, and hotels etc.

Each child had space in their workbook to draw a picture of a building in their community that they like and then they were given 20 minutes to build what it was they had drawn.
One built a cinema, one built a house, one built a swimming pool and one built a police station.

FIRST Core Values – Teamwork.

Part of the FIRST Lego League Jr is being able to help encourage and teach the FIRST Core Values.

• Discovery – We explore new skills and ideas.
• Innovation – We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
• Impact – We apply what we learn to improve our world
• Inclusion – We respect each other and embrace our differences
• Teamwork – We are stronger when we work together
• Fun – We enjoy and celebrate what we do!

This weeks session really focused on teamwork – After the 20 minutes were up, each child had a chance to show their building to the rest of the team, tell them what it was they’d created, how they made certain parts and share their ideas. The rest were encouraged to listen and then congratulate each other. We went around the group so that everyone could comment on something they like about each building. This was one of my favourite parts because it really motivates them to use helpful and kind words to encourage each other within their team.

Combining Efforts

Once we’d looked at all of the creations, we made a note of the best bits of each and tried to think of a community building that would encompass as many of these points as possible.
They loved the screen idea in the cinema, the space for lots of people in the police station, the fun element of the swimming pool and the flowers and brightness of the house – with all of these ‘ingredients’, they decided to build a soft play centre that they then worked on together.

I was so impressed with how well they continued to work together. They each put in elements they loved and one even added bars near the door for disabled access.

What’s next?

Our next session is “Getting Your Building Site Ready” where we get to really crack open the Inspire kit and the WeDo – We’re all really looking forward to building and programming the crane/lift.

I would like to say a huge thanks again to Steve at Gutter Solutions for sponsoring our team and enabling us to take part. The kids are really enjoying it so far and I can’t wait to see where it takes them.
If you have a crack or blockage in your guttering or need something sorting, you can find Steve here on Facebook – I don’t get a commission for this, just repaying his kindness.