STEAM Fair

STEAM Fair typically takes place in May - rain or shine. Refer to the Laurel calendar for exact date.  The morning (9:00 AM to 11:30 AM) will be for the transitional kindergarteners through second graders and the workshops will take place at the lower campus. The afternoon (12:30 PM to 3:00 PM) will be for third graders through fifth graders and the workshops will take place at the Laurel upper campus . You only need to be available for the morning (or afternoon) for your workshop, but do plan to arrive early for setup. If you have children at both campuses and would like to get involved in both parts of the STEAM Fair, you are welcome to sign up and specify the workshops that you would like to do.

At upper campus, you will teach the same workshop three times, to three different groups of kids. Each workshop will be 40 minutes long. At lower campus, you will teach the same workshop four times, to four different groups of kids. Each workshop will be 25 minutes long.

It is the workshop team's responsibility to contact each other and arrange/coordinate: 

• procurement of supplies
• trial run of the workshop 
• set-up on the day of the fair
• division of labor during workshops

The assistants will help the leaders with set-up and provide general support.

A folder with instructions, supply lists, tips from past leaders, and other resources. Many workshops also have perennial supplies that are stored at Laurel and handed out each year before the fair.

These are generally passed out about one month before the fair. The STEAM committee will email all volunteers with the times and dates for pick-up at Laurel. It depends on the workshop, but it’s fair to say that most workshops require some supplies to be procured. 

Past volunteers have had great success in soliciting donations and/or discounts from local (and not so local!) businesses. Please try this before buying supplies.  The STEAM committee will reimburse you for any costs up to $75. Supplies costing more than $75 require the advance permission of the STEAM committee – email steam@laurelpto.org.

Reimbursement forms will be emailed to you prior to the fair, and they are also available from the Laurel front office. If you choose to make a tax-deductible donation of these items, fill out a reimbursement form and indicate that you are making a donation. 

Donors will receive recognition in the Laurel PTO newsletter, which has more than 1,000 parent recipients, as well as on the Laurel website, and signage at the event.

You will receive an email from the STEAM committee listing all the volunteers in your workshop. 

If you’re concerned, please try calling the other members (check for their number in the District Directory). If this is unsuccessful, please let the STEAM committee know steam@laurelpto.org.

Yes! We highly recommend a test-run at home, using your own children and a few borrowed ones. It really helps to practice in real-time, see where kids get excited and where their attention may wane. Please arrange with the other volunteers in your workshop to do a dry-run before the fair. 

Absolutely. Your best bet is to contact the leaders from past years, whose evaluations will be printed out in the folder. Failing that, please contact steam@laurelpto.org for help.

It is your responsibility to find a replacement volunteer. You probably won’t have to look too far to find someone kicking themselves for not having signed up in time to volunteer. Once you have your replacement, please email steam@laurelpto.org to pass on the name and contact details of the new volunteer. 

This is possible only if one of your children is in the upper campus and another is in the lower campus.  Otherwise, it will leave the remaining volunteers short. You have two options: volunteer for one child’s grade level, and have another parent/family member/friend volunteer in the other. Or, you can volunteer in one child’s grade this year, and for the other child next year. 

Certainly! Contact steam@laurelpto.org to sign them up with all their contact details, and we’ll take it from there.