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Catalina Foothills School District

FLL Robotics

FLL Robotics

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2025-2026 FLL Challenge

UNEARTHED!

Every Artifact Tells a Story — What Will YOU Discover?

This season in UNEARTHED℠ , FIRST LEGO League (FLL) teams will dig into the past to uncover amazing artifacts, trace their stories, and use those discoveries to spark ideas that shape the future!

🧠💡🤖 FLL is an exciting challenge made up of three parts:

Build Your Team – Work together, solve problems, and have fun!

Robot Missions – Design, build, and program a LEGO robot to complete action-packed challenges.

Innovation Project – Create a new tool or technology to help people discover, preserve, or share stories across time and culture.

 

Calling all curious minds in Grades 4–8 (ages 9–14)!

Want to try FLL before jumping into the full season? Join our FLL Preview Class — a fun, hands-on way to explore engineering, coding, and creative thinking. The full season runs August through the regional

competition in December, with top teams advancing to the state competition in January!

FLL is for students who are enthusiastic, love focusing on and solving problems, and enjoy working as part of a team.

🚍 Preview Class Schedule:

Led by STEM Integration SpecialistsCharlotte Ackerman (SD), Noah Mickey-Colman (VV), Jocelyn Smerz (MZ), Maura Baker (MZ), and math expert Buddy George (CFHS), these preview sessions are offered at:

Ventana Vista or Sunrise Drive – Mondays, August 11 & 18 | 3:00–5:30 PM

Sunrise Drive only – Wednesdays, August 13 & 20 | 3:00–5:30 PM

Preview Class Fee $35

OGMS students can request bus passes to SDS.

ECMS students can request passes to SDS or VV.

🌟 Teams based at Sunrise Drive will have the option to meet on Fridays during the regular season, which

kicks off the week of August 25, 2025!

What is FIRST Lego League

FIRST Lego League (FLL) introduces young people (grades 4-8), to the fun and excitement of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). It is designed for students do the research and problem solving, which are integral parts of each element of STEM, to meet the yearly Challenge. Students identify a problem and develop an innovative solution.

There are three elements that make up the Challenge: 1. programming an autonomous robot (the Robot Game), 2. creating innovative solutions to a problem (the Project) 3. following the  FLL Core Values  where the children learn that helping one another and the spirit of friendly competition is the foundation of teamwork.

Each year’s Challenge is similar to real challenges faced by scientists and engineers, which leads to an understanding of the work of these professionals and an exposure to career options. The Project gives the teams the opportunity to more deeply explore the theme of the Challenge and propose a solution to a problem they select.

The teams present their projects for feedback from the judges, who often are experts in the Challenge field. FIRST Lego League imparts valuable life skills and excitement about how our students can make a difference in the world.

FIRST Lego League in CFSD

In Catalina Foothills School District, students who participate in FIRST Lego League (FLL) are afforded unique experiences involving a team approach to engineering, programming, problem solving, and research. FLL equips students with tools to be successful in a rapidly-evolving world. FLL presents students with real-world situations and challenges in which they develop their abilities to think critically, apply knowledge at high levels and use technology to access, evaluate and communicate information.
Led by Charlotte Ackerman, CFSD’s Teacher Leader for Science and Engineering, FLL team members work together over a 14-week session to address the current FLL mission and prepare for competition in December.

FIRST Lego League Lite
In the spring months, students who have an interest in participating as an FLL team member in the following school year are encouraged to join FLL Lite. This enrichment experience gives students the opportunity to get a taste of FLL without making the commitment to the full 14-week program. They get to try the current school year’s FLL mission and build their skills for future competitions without actually stepping into the arena of competing.