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Robotics Teams Prepare for Competition
The students of Vashon are participating in a national robotics program organized by http://www.usfirst.org and its’ regional partner http://www.firstwa.org
The junior high program, called FIRST Lego League (FLL), allows for teams of three to ten students age 9-14 to work to design, build, and program a robot using the Lego Mindstorms system. The teams must follow the rules to a game that will be played at a regional competition. The game is played on a 4x8 foot playing field where the robot must, only on the power of its’ programming, venture out and score as many points in two and a half minutes time. Points are scored by interacting with pre-constructed Lego forms built around each year’s national theme. This year the theme is called Smart Moves, which revolves around transportation. Next year’s theme is Biomedical Engineering. The teams have about eleven weeks to get ready for the competition.
This year McMurray will send three teams of eight to the regional competition which will be held at Aviation High School in Des Moines, WA on Saturday, December 5th. There are over 8,000 teams participant in the program this year throughout USA and Canada.
The high school program was just launched this year with a team of four to ten students age 14-grade 12. Vashon High School was awarded two grants to help launch the first year team. This is also part of the national FIRST program called FIRST Tech Challenge where VHS is one of 1,029 teams across the US. Team members at the high school level are eligible to participate in FIRST’s college scholarship program where there is over $11 million dollars available this year.
The team must follow a set of game rules and regulations to design, build and program a robot made from a robotics kit called Tetrix. The robot can be built with up to eight motors, twelve servos, and all run with the NXT Mindstorms controller. The Tetrix robot kit contains aluminum beams, tubes, plates, stand-offs, gears, sprockets, and nuts/bolts among many other items. The robot cannot be larger that 18"x18"x18” and can be very fast. The team must program the robot to run thirty seconds autonomously on a 12"x12” playing field with three other robots. For the last two minutes of each match the robot is run by two student “drivers: who control the ‘bot with a Logistics game controller. This year’s regional competition will be held at Bellevue High School on December 13th.
The goal of both programs is to introduce another way for students to get involved in an exciting project-based learning experience that incorporated science, technology, and engineering.
Emergency Weather Information
2009-2010 EMERGENCY WEATHER BULLETIN
Vashon Island School District No. 402
During periods of extreme weather and/or power outages, radio/TV stations will report closures and changes of schedule. You may access the latest information at http://www.vashonsd.org, http://www.schoolreport.org or by calling the VISD District Office at 206-463-2121 for a recorded message. The following are the options when it becomes necessary to close schools, change the starting time for the day or adjust bus routes.
1. “Emergency Bus Routes”. This announcement means that emergency bus routes are operating (see reverse side).
2. “Two Hours Late”. This announcement indicates that school is open with schools and buses running two hours later than the normal schedule. (Same as PDD late start day schedule.)
School Two Hour Late Start Time
Chautauqua Elementary School 11:00
McMurray Middle School 9:50
Vashon Island High School 9:45
A.M. Kindergarten and A.M. Early Childhood Program classes will not be in session on late start days. Bus transportation, including emergency bus routes, will depend on the conditions. P.M. Kindergarten, P.M. Early Childhood Programs and Full Day Kindergarten classes will be in session. Check the emergency bulletins for specific information.
Emergency Weather Information
During periods of extreme weather and/or power outages, radio/TV stations will report closures and schedule changes. Click here to access the latest emergency information. You can also go to Schoolreport.org or call the VISD district office at 206-463-2121 for a recorded message.
Information About H1N1 Virus
For information about district policies and procedures for the H1N1 flu virus click here.