Christmas Break Lego Club Meeting a Huge Success

We had a fun and productive morning getting ready for the chapel and competition. Here Lego Club Members are constructing a LEGO set and characters for our Lego skit.

Club members getting started on the LEGO attachment designs.

Here Marcus and Jordan are writing and acting with the Lego figures, designing the proper Lego set for our skit on Senior Lego Solutions.

Jackson is showing Mrs. Rogge how to glue the ears on our prototype robot dog.

The robot dog prototype during construction.

Victor and Marcus are constructing attachments that the robot will use during its missions.

Unique, Joseph, Marcus, Jordan, Jackson and Victor are rehearsing the Lego skit for chapel and competition.

The Club had a pizza party courtesy of Jordan's father, Mr. Bryant. Mrs. Oliva, Victor's mom provided drinks, chocolate and cookies for dessert. It was all delicious. The Lego Club appreciates all the support we get from parents. Happy Holidays. We will see you next year!!!

Club Interviews a Senior Citizen

The Menaul Robotics Club partner up with Mrs. Cordova-Andrews, Menaul school counselor at the Tinnin Center in a interview about senior citizen life.

Here Mrs. Cordova-Andrews talks about some of the problems people face when they get older

Here students ask Mrs. Cordova-Andrews which technological gadgets would she like to see developed in the future that could help senior citizens

Here Alec and Jordan exchange ideas for our LEGO prototype by creating a diagram, in the Media Center right after the interview

Here they are working on the diagram that will be used to create your "dog-memory-helper" prototype that will be constructed during Winter Break

Lego Robotics Tentative Upcoming Schedule

Thursday, December 13  (from 12 p.m to 2 p.m) - The students will interview a senior citizen, learning about the challenges senior citizens face, research and come up with solutions that might help senior citizens. Members will meet in Mrs. Rogge's class.

Thursday, December 20 (from 8 a.m to 12 am) - We need to meet over Christmas Break to work on our robot. We will be programming and building a Lego prototype. Pizza will be provided courtesy of Mr. Bryant! Members will meet in Mrs. Rogge's class.

Thursday, January 03 (from 3.20 pm to 4.30) - Students will finalize our Chapel presentation. Members will meet in Mrs. Rogge's class.

Wednesday, January 09 (from 9.35 a.m to 10 a.m) - Lego Club Chapel Presentation to Menaul School. All parents are invited. We will meet at Donaldson auditorium.

Thursday, January 17 ( from 3.20 p.m to 4.30 p.m) - Final preparation to our robot and prototype. Poster will be made. Members will meet in Mrs. Rogge's class.

Thursday, January 24 (from 3.20 p.m to 4.30 p.m) - Rehersal of missions, presentation and final touches before competition day. Members will meet in Mrs. Rogge's class.

Saturday, January 26 - Competition Day!  At the New Life Baptist Academy at 6900 Los Volcanes NW from 8:30 AM to 5:30PM. Please save the date!

Robotics Club Begins Programming The Robot and Designing Our Logo For Our Posters and T-shirts

Today the club worked on the Mindstorm programming for the robot missions and designing our club logo that will be used on our t-shirts and posters. The students continued working on the table that will be used for the robot missions.

 

Jordan, Unique and Joseph ( our 7th grader assistant) are designing a logo for our Team Panther Lego shirts.

Marcus, Aaron, Jackson are programming the first mission for our robot

Alec is making sure our Lego dog is functioning and properly placed for the robot mission

Marcus and Unique make sure all Lego structures they constructed are attached properly to the table

Dr. D, Mathias, Emiliano and Leon (our 9th grader assistant) are using the
Mindstorm robot computer program.

Lego Club will have one meeting during Christmas Break. We need to work on the robot missions and get ready for competition day! The Club will meet at Mrs. Rogge's class, Thursday, December 20th, from 8 am to 12 am. A pizza lunch will be provided by Jordan's dad, Mr. Bryant.

We are also organizing an email list that will allow us to better communicate with parents about upcoming events and hopefully set up some eastside/westside carpooling.  We will be sending parents an email soon.

The Club had an excellent time at the New Mexico Natural History Museum where they participated in a New Mexico Lego League Scrimmage. The Museum is a very family friendly place, and parents had the opportunity to check out the Lego League and the rest of the attractions in a relaxed atmosphere.

Our first tournament will be on Saturday January 26th at the New Life Baptist Academy at 6900 Los Volcanes NW from 8:30 AM to 5:30PM.

We would like to thank Dr. D and all the parents for a fantastic first scrimmage, where we got to share ideas with students from schools from all over Albuquerque.

Lego Club members arriving at the Museum

Aaron, Jordan, Unique and Alec creating a prototype Lego wheelchair for the Judges. The organizers commented that they our team was very cooperative when it came to problem solving - a core value of the Lego League.

The team explaining for  the judges our core values: respect, teamwork and sportsmanship.  They also described their ideas for the next step of the competition.

A local high school brought a very cool and sophisticated robot to the scrimmage. Our team was impressed and inspired.

Here, Aaron, Marcus, Alec and Jackson checking our robot

Our team advisor Dr. De La Rue and the team review for the judge questioning. 

Dr D. is an experienced Lego coach.

UPDATE ON THE UPCOMING SCRIMMAGE AT THE NM MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

The Menaul Middle School Robotics Club will be participating in a NM FIRST Lego League scrimmage on Saturday DEC. 1 from 12-2 PM at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.

- If you have any questions or if your child can't attend the scrimmage, please contact Mrs. Rogge at anarogge@menaulschool.com. 

 - Admission is free 

- Students must wear Menaul School shirts.

- Students will meet with the club advisor Dr. De La Rue in front of the museum entrance at 11:45

- Parents are welcome to attend and watch the scrimmage

- Students are reminded that they will be representing Menaul School and our core values.

- The Museum is located at:

1801 Mountain Road NW  Albuquerque, NM 87104

(505) 841-2802  http://www.nmnaturalhistory.org/

DEC. 1: Tournament Practice Scrimmage at the NM Museum of Natural History

From the New Mexico First Lego League:

www.nmfl.org

On December 1st from 10am to 2pm the Menaul Middle School Robotics Team will participate in a practice tournament at the NM Museum of Natural History and Science.

Our team will practice our skills before the official tournament. Admission to the museum is free for team members.

The Natural History Museum is located at:
1801 Mountain Rd. NW
Albuquerque

Please contact club advisor Ana Rogge at anarogge@menaulschool.com with questions or for more information.

The club has been busy preparing our new table and assembling our robot!
 

Pictures + Programming Software

Today we had our picture taken with Jordan's grandfather who built our official Lego Robotics table in less than one week. Our robotic engineers started programming and continued to build their robot. Next week we get more computers to work on the programming and they start thinking about which missions their robot will accomplish.

Here is our new table, Jordan and his grandfather, Jackson, Emiliano, Unique, Alec, Aaron, Mathias, Tonny and Kyle

Here is Emiliano, Jackson and Marcus exploring the Mindstorm software they will use to program our robot

Alex and Jordan are finishing up some lego constructions

Here they are assembling some pieces of our constructions

Unique is checking out a completed robot Mr. Mains brought to the club

Here you can see the table and the path the robot will navigate to complete missions

Welcome to Robotics!

Menaul School Robotics Club Participates in the 2012 Lego “Senior Solutions” Challenge

Can the Menaul Middle School Panther Robotics Team improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities? In the 2012 Lego “Senior Solutions” Challenge, our robotics club, along with 200,000 middle and high school students from over 60 countries will explore the topic of aging and how robotics can be used to help people maintain an active lifestyle. The students will work with advanced programming software and customizable hardware to create small, customizable and programmable robots. Student robotic creations will focus on issues like getting around, communication and staying fit. Teams will first research obstacles and then suggest ways to improve the quality of life for people over the age of 65. Teams will also build, test, and program a fully autonomous robot using Lego Mindstorm robots to solve a set of missions on an obstacle course.

Students meet Thursdays after school in Mrs. Rogge's classroom. 

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