Our team has only been together for 2 months (none of the children knew each other before the team was formed) and has met a total of 10 times (between 1-2 hours each time).  We started from scratch with no materials and struggled to raise funds to purchase our robot, field kit and table supplies.  Our robot equipment arrived 2 weeks ago.  None of the kids had any prior mindstorm experience nor coding knowledge, so they built the base robot according to instructions last week.  We have limited availabilty to meet, so each child has taken a turn bringing the robot home and experimenting with the program to learn it.  Then they come back and share what they discovered with the team.  They are still learning how the program works and have not been able to successfully complete a mission yet.

While waiting for the robot equipment we spent our time working on the project, so we feel confident there.

We haven't done a whole lot with the core values.  Our meeting times have been very few and short and I'm concerned bc our "team" hasn't really connected yet.  I know that will be blaringly obvious in the core values judging session.

My question- How do we best prepare for the tournament judging sessions?  

We have 2 weeks until our tournament and can only meet twice, each time for 2 hours max.  (Our library meeting space is very limited and parent schedules have been hard to work with)

HELP!  I don't want these kids to be embarrassed or upset when they are on display in front of the judges.  How do we communicate our story without giving a lot of excuses but highlighting our struggles in a positive way?

Thanks,
Sarah

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