FIRST LEGO League

FLL Club

2026–2027 | Grades 3–5

2026-2027 Chairs: Mingmin Zhu

FIRST LEGO League Future Edition is a team-based STEM and robotics program where students work together to build, code, research, problem-solve, and compete while developing engineering, communication, creativity, and teamwork skills.

For the 2026–27 BIOGLOW™ season, Medina will participate in the new Future Edition for Grades 3–5, using LEGO® Education Computer Science & AI hardware.

What is FIRST LEGO League Future Edition?

The 2026–27 FIRST LEGO League season is BIOGLOW™, a biodiversity-themed robotics challenge.

Medina Elementary will participate in the new BIOGLOW™ Future Edition for Grades 3–5.

Students work in teams to:

build and code using LEGO® Education Computer Science & AI hardware;
solve missions in an interactive robotics game;
explore biodiversity through an Innovation Project;
practice engineering design, problem-solving and teamwork;
present their ideas and work at a FIRST LEGO League event.

Why FIRST LEGO League Future Edition?

Participation in FIRST LEGO League Future Edition helps students develop confidence, teamwork, coding, engineering, research, communication and creative problem-solving skills.

Every year, FIRST® LEGO® League releases a new Challenge based on a real-world, scientific theme.

2026–27 Season: BIOGLOW™

BIOGLOW™ explores biodiversity and the relationship between people and the natural world. Teams will investigate how ecosystems stay healthy and explore ways that science, engineering and technology can help address biodiversity challenges.

Division	Age / Grade Range	Focus & Highlights
BIOGLOW™ Future Edition	Grades 3–5	LEGO Education Computer Science & AI

Info Night

FLL Club Info Night will be held on September 17, 2026, from 5:20–5:40 PM at Medina Elementary School.

Come learn about Medina's 2026–27 FIRST LEGO League BIOGLOW™ Future Edition program!

We'll explain how teams work, what students will build and code, the BIOGLOW season challenge, parent coaching responsibilities, expected time commitment, costs, team formation, and the FIRST Washington event.

Students are welcome to attend with their parents.

Registration

Registration opens: 9/23 at 9:00am

Registration closes: 9/30 at 11:59pm

Grades: 3–5

Program: BIOGLOW™ Future Edition

Cost: $600

Eligibility: Only current Medina Elementary students with an active PTA membership are eligible to register.

Steps to Register:

Purchase or renew your PTA membership.
Access the FLL registration form under My Family’s Forms/Paperwork once registration opens.
Complete the form and payment. If your preferred spot is full, join the waitlist.

Financial Assistance: Select “pay by check” during checkout to prevent registration delays, and then email Ms. Geck at gecke@bsd405.org to begin the assistance process.

Participate in FLL: How to Start

Read the FAQ to understand student time commitments and parental involvement.
Form a team (8 students, 1 coach, 1 parent team manager).
- View or add your information to the FLL Parent Interest Form to connect with parents of other interested students.
- Complete the FLL Parent Interest Form if you are looking for teammates or are interested in coaching. Medina PTA will use the responses to help connect families and form teams where possible.
- Submitting the interest form does not guarantee placement on a team.
- Your child can ask classmates and buddies who might be good fits to establish a team.
- For additional help, please email fll@medinapta.org.
Register on the PTA website.
- Interested in leading a team? Sign up to be a team coach.
- Interested in joining a team? Sign up on the general registration form.
- After teams are formed, Medina PTA/team coaches will complete the required official registrations.
Start your first team meeting.

2026–27 BIOGLOW™ Future Edition Event

FIRST Washington currently plans to host one BIOGLOW™ Future Edition event in Western Washington in mid-January 2027, subject to sufficient team registration. Event location, exact date and participation details will be announced by FIRST Washington.

Because Future Edition is new for 2026–27, event availability and details remain subject to change.

Time Commitment Required

During the season, team members should expect to devote approximately 3-5 hours per week to FLL: less near the beginning of the season, but likely more during the weeks leading up to the tournament.

Team members must commit to:

Weekly team meetings with your entire team
Weekly small group meetings to work on your group's assigned mission
At-home practice

Team Adult Requirements

Per the official FIRST® LEGO® League BIOGLOW™ Future Edition guidance, each team that plans to participate in an official event must have two dedicated adults supporting the team.

For Medina Elementary, we will structure these two adult roles as “team manager” and “team coach.”

1. Team Manager

The Team Manager is a parent volunteer role and does not require prior robotics, coding, engineering, or FIRST LEGO League experience. The Team Manager is responsible for the team’s overall logistics, coordination, communication, and day-to-day operations throughout the program year.

The Team Manager is expected to:

Host the team’s regular weekly meetings at the Team Manager’s home.
Provide sufficient space for the team to meet and work comfortably.
Allow the approximately 4 ft × 8 ft LEGO robot game table to remain set up at the home throughout the season.
Schedule and coordinate team meetings, including working with the Team Coach and families to establish a regular meeting schedule.
Communicate meeting times, schedule changes, reminders, deadlines, event information, and other important updates to all team families.
Serve as the primary point of contact for team logistics and parent communication.
Help the team stay on schedule by tracking important milestones, deadlines, registrations, and competition dates throughout the season.
Order the team’s robot kit and required season materials in coordination with Medina PTA.
Order and assemble the LEGO robot game table and help set up the competition field and mission materials.
Receive, organize, store, and maintain the team’s robotics equipment, LEGO materials, game pieces, and other supplies.
Make sure required materials and equipment are available and ready for each team meeting.
Complete and manage the team registration process, including required FIRST and FIRST Washington registration steps and deadlines.
Handle team-related reimbursement requests and expense documentation in accordance with Medina PTA procedures.
Coordinate closely with the Team Coach on meeting plans, season milestones, competition preparation, and other team needs.
Make or coordinate operational decisions for the team when needed, while consulting the Team Coach and team families on significant matters.
Help monitor team attendance and communicate with families when scheduling or participation issues arise.
Order the team T-shirts, including coordinating sizes, payment if applicable, and distribution.
Coordinate team logistics for the official FLL event, including schedules, transportation planning as needed, required materials, and parent communication.
Help keep the team organized and on track throughout the entire season.
Fulfill the Team Manager responsibilities consistently through the end of the program year.

Tuition Refund

The Team Manager’s child will register and pay the regular $600 club tuition upfront, the same as all other participants.

If the parent fulfills the Team Manager responsibilities for the full program year, Medina PTA will provide a $600 tuition refund at year-end, effectively covering the Team Manager’s child’s FLL tuition.

The refund is contingent on the Team Manager fulfilling the agreed-upon responsibilities throughout the year, including hosting the weekly meetings, maintaining the team’s game table and equipment, completing required team administration, and supporting the team consistently through the end of the program.

2. Team Coach

The Team Coach focuses more directly on guiding students through the robotics, coding, engineering design, problem-solving, and competition preparation process.

Prior experience in robotics, coding, engineering, STEM education, or FIRST LEGO League is preferred for this role. The coach may be a parent volunteer or an external coach.

Both roles are intended to support a student-led experience. Adults should guide, teach, encourage, and ask questions, while allowing students to make design decisions, write code, solve problems, and present their own work.

Because every team needs both a Team Manager and a Team Coach, team formation depends on having enough adults available to fill both roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many hours are expected from a kid during an entire FLL season?

Teams schedule their own meetings. Meeting dates and times vary by team.
Team members should expect to devote approximately 3-5 hours per week to FLL.
Teams may increase meetings and/or individual work time as qualifier tournaments approach.

How can parents be involved? What are some of the different roles?

Team Coach
Team Manager (Team Managers don't need robotics expertise; their job is to facilitate, organize and guide—not solve the challenge for the students.)
Volunteer at the Regional or State Tournament
Snack Parent

Policies

Updated: Sep 7, 2026

ELIGIBILITY: Our afterschool programs/clubs (including FLL) are ONLY for CURRENT-ENROLLED Medina students with ACTIVE Medina PTA membership. Your child must be enrolled with Medina Elementary School at the time they are attending the LEGO FLL competition and you must have a valid Medina PTA family or individual membership for the 2026-2027 school year. You agree that if your child is not currently enrolled with Medina Elementary School OR you do not purchase PTA membership, your child will be withdrawn from FLL with no refund.

FEES: For a student to participate in any after-school club, there cannot be an outstanding balance on the family's PTA account. Tuition and all outstanding fees must be paid in full by October 2, 2026. If you do not pay all fees by this deadline, your child will be withdrawn from FLL and a 5% tuition processing fee will be added to your account.

To remain enrolled in FLL, families must timely pay any Medina PTA fees (not just club fees) incurred during the course of the school year. You understand that failure to pay fees on time may result in your student being withdrawn from the club with no refund.

PROCESSING FEE: Any student registration for an afterschool club that you cancel will incur a 5% processing fee. This includes cancelling a duplicate registration (e.g., when the parents sign up the same child twice for the same club) or cancelling one registration to sign up for a different Medina PTA club on the same day. The 5% fee applies for all transaction types (credit card, cash, or check).

REFUNDS: If a student withdraws from a team before the team meetings start, a 5% tuition processing fee applies to the refund. If a student requests a refund within the first month, half of the tuition fee may be refunded. There is no refund after the first month.

BEHAVIOR:

Intentional violent behavior directed at another individual during the club (including another student, teacher, coach/instructor, parent, or volunteer) and resulting in physical harm is grounds for immediate removal from that club without refund. Medina PTA retains the discretion to remove this student from all other enrolled afterschool clubs/programs and prevent this student from registering for future afterschool programs in the same school year.

Parents and students are expected to behave respectfully to each other and the coaches/instructors:

If the club chair determines that a student’s behavior is disruptive during the program/club, or the student is consistently disrespectful, a warning will be issued to the student and parent. After the warning, a second offense will result in removal of the student from the club with no refund, unless the club chair decides to issue a second warning. The chair may also require the parent to provide full-time adult supervision of the student for the duration of the club. A third offense will result in removal of the student from the club program with no refund.
If the club chair determines that a parent’s behavior is disruptive or consistently disrespectful, a warning will be issued to the parent. After the warning, a second offense will result in removal of that parent’s child from afterschool clubs with no refund.
At the discretion of Medina PTA, any withdrawal due to disruptive or disrespectful behavior may also affect the family’s ability to register for future afterschool programs.

Recap

First Lego League: 2024-2025

We had 3 teams participate in the First Lego League Championship in the year 2024-2025.

Our teams stood up to the challenge, finishing 1st, 2nd and 5th in the Robot competition at the FLL tournament.

In addition, our teams brought the following awards to Medina Elementary:

Best Coach Award - Rebecca Chen (Team Cyber Tigers)
Best Innovation Project Award - Team Robo Tigers
Best Robot Performance Award - Team Touchdown Tigers
Robot Performance Award Finalist - Team Robo Tigers
Overall Championship Award - Team Touchdown Tigers

Two of our three teams qualified for the state semi-final round in January. Congratulations to all the kids who went from first starting the practice in September, to bagging these prestigious awards!

We would also like to congratulate and thank the parent coaches: Deepa Doshi, Jooseuk Kim, Munjal Doshi, Jeetu Mirchandani, Ying, Lin Liao, Rebecca Chen, Junyong Kim and Eric. Special thanks to Li-Tan for introducing the FLL Competition to Medina Elementary and giving Medina Elementary a start at FLL!

FLL teams