FIRST Lego League Challenge(4/5th grade):

This year the Pinewood Lego League Committee is proud to support 3 Lego League Challenge teams! Team Bailey is participating in the Prior Lake regional qualifier. The Troubling Twilight Turquoise Turtles is participating in the Woodbury regional qualifier. The Jurassic League is participating in the recreational event. If you're interested in coming to cheer on any of these Pinewood teams email us at pwfirstlegoleague@gmail.com for more details!

Congrats to Team Bailey for winning the Innovation Project Award and the MN Programming Award. Congrats to the Troubling Twilight Turquoise Turtles for winning the Core Values Award. Both teams have been advanced to the MN State tournament in February! 

FIRST Lego League Explore(2nd/3rd grade): This will be offered as an after-school enrichment in the winter session through Community Ed.

Is your rising 4th/5th grader interested in participating in a FIRST Lego League Challenge team? The season typically runs August through February. Informational meeting coming in the spring 2026! 

FIRST Lego League(FLL) Explore and Challenge programs were previously supported extracurriculars at Pinewood Community School. For the past 3 years families have continued to participate in these programs on their own, “underground/unofficially”. Families face many obstacles to support this extracurricular on their own including: knowledge about the programs & existing resources, meeting space, volunteer time, knowledge gaps(programming/engineering), monetary, and confidence in safety. This results in the activity being extremely limited to just a few families. In recognizing our Pinewood spirit and community values we want to build connections amongst families and support all our children to pursue their interests in STEM. We're proposing a Lego League sub-committee to be part of the Pinewood PTO to ensure continuity of this extracurricular and provide an official avenue of support for Pinewood families.

Make FIRST Lego League programs more accessible for all Pinewood students to participate in by removing obstacles (meeting space/time/money/knowledge). Facilitate recognition within the school and district of students’ accomplishments in FLL.

Members of this committee must be current Pinewood parents (Currently have a student enrolled at Pinewood).

Current Members: Shruti Raghu, Kat Caudill, Ian Ziese

1) Continue to partner with district 196 organizations (Community Ed, Pinewood PTO) to offer FLL Explore to PW students.

2) Continue to partner with HighTechKids to provide FLL to Pinewood students.

3) Manage resources funded by PTO and ensure storage at Pinewood while not in use.

4) Support 4th/5th grade families wanting to participate in FIRST Lego League Challenge by connecting them with resources (robots/training/administrative support/knowledge gaps in programming/engineering).

5) Facilitate opportunities for middle schoolers (former PW students) to mentor current PW FLL Challenge teams

6) Arrange for PW FLL Challenge students to attend FLL Explore team presentations and provide information to families interested in FLL Challenge.

7) Work with Pinewood staff to provide recognition for FLL Challenge team accomplishments - through announcements, yearbook photos, etc.