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PTA Guide to Hosting an In-Person STEM + Families Propelling Our World ProgramThis guide is designed to help your PTA plan an In-Person STEM + Families Propelling Our World program. As National PTA supports and engages families, we have provided resources and flexible options for your PTA to implement this program in meaningful ways. This event is geared primarily to families of elementary and middle school students.??Actions to Take and Points to ConsiderCreate your core Propelling Our World event team.Identify who you want to collaborate with: PTA board members, teachers, school administration and other volunteers. This is a good opportunity to engage the STEM teachers in your school and really put the “T” in PTA—this can help make connections between this event and what the students are learning in class too! Be sure you're inviting diverse perspectives to the table so your planning committee represents the community you're serving.Have a pre-planning meeting and read through these resources. Review the provided timeline and choose a date and time as soon as possible. Be intentional about the best time of the day for your families.?Determine your activities set-up.Determine how your PTA would like to set up your event. If you would like to have all four activities as rotating station, (cookie bridge, raft adventure + rescue, parachute, and submarine) you should plan to have four activities stations, plus a station for surveying.If you would like to do the cookie bridge challenge all together as a group, think about setting up communal tables for families to do this challenge together and a table for demonstrating the challenge in addition to the three other rotating activities and survey stations.In addition to your activities and survey stations, a space for refreshments, prizes and a welcome table (to check in and pick up passports) are also suggested.Utilize this sample room organization diagram to help plan out your program set up.Be creative when promoting your event.Personalizing your outreach can make promoting your event even more effective!?Use the press release template to spread the word throughout your community.Use the sample invitations and flyer template to reach new families.?Use your email distribution list. Ask: Would any of your families benefit from sign-language interpreters, transportation, or other accommodations??Identify ways to spread the news more informally, including asking for support from room parents. Use social media (Facebook, Twitter) to provide frequent updates about the upcoming event. You can use the sample messaging templates provided.?Write an article for the school, principal, or PTA newsletter/e-newsletter. Promote in your morning announcement (create a video message if your school is virtual/remote).If your school is in-person or a hybrid model, post the date and reminders on outdoor signs near student drop-off/pickup locations.Send the sample invitations to local digital safety experts (consider law enforcement officials, or technology professionals or policymakers).Find volunteers. Consider who to invite as volunteers. You will likely want around eight volunteers. Roles include: event promotion, planning and logistics, day-of facilitation, etc.Check out our sample volunteer invitation letter to help you plan your outreach.For the day of the event, we recommend that you have one facilitator per activity station. Since the activities are exploratory challenges for families to problem solve together, facilitators will most likely be needed to monitor the stations, set out materials and offer hints or different approaches to the challenges.We recommend volunteers to facilitate the welcome table, refreshments, and prize table in addition to the facilitators. Volunteers to help set up should also be consideredProvide instructions to your facilitators on which materials should be set out for their activity stations.We have created a few talking points about the engineering and design process of the activities in the Facilitator Guides for each design challenge (Sam’s raft, submarine, and parachute design challenge). Be sure all facilitators have access to these prior to the event.Set up registration.Set up registration using an online platform, like Sign-up Genius, SurveyMonkey, Google Forms or another method. Include a link to register in promotional materials. Include a link to the media release form that families need to complete. Remember, this is a National PTA requirement and a great way for your PTA to demonstrate your engagement to your broader community! Any photos you take during the event, including screenshots, must have associated media release forms. Any photos families submit to you via email must have signed forms as well. If families post their photos on social media, these forms aren’t required for those photos. Come up with a plan for photo/video collection.?Your PTA is required to share photos/videos of families participating in this event with National PTA. Being able to share photos/videos is also a great opportunity for your PTA to be more visible in the community. We must be sure to consider families’ privacy.?If your PTA plans to take photos (screenshots) or recordings with images/videos from attendees, you must collect media release forms (templated provided by National PTA). You can include these forms in your registration and in your follow-up email to participants. Your PTA still must inform participants when you plan to take a screenshot or record, even if they’ve completed these release forms. By having these signed forms, your PTA can share all the awesome things you did on social media and other platforms, allowing your PTA to be more visible in the community.Your PTA is also encouraged to ask families to take photos/videos of them while they’re participating and share these with you. If families share the photos/videos on social media and tag your PTA, they do NOT need a signed media release form for your PTA to be able to share these photos. However, if a family emails your PTA photos/videos, your PTA must get them to sign a media release form before you can share those photos.Develop a materials plan.For your PTA to do the four activities, be sure you have all the supplies you need.?A list of supplies can be found in the above link and are also listed below. This is not a comprehensive list, but rather a guide for the four suggested activities. All materials should be per participating family (one cup per family, one gummy worm per family etc.) Materials from these activities can be reused in others (e.g., the plastic cup and gummy worms). These materials can be found at the grocery store.Cookie Bridge: A variety of cookies (amount will vary based on number of participants), an empty cup, one cup of milk, paper towels)Sam’s Raft Adventure + Rescue: One 8oz. clear, plastic cup, a gummy worm, a lifesaver (candy)Sam’s Parachute Misadventure: Gummy worms, coffee filters, string, tape, construction paper and card stock paperSam’s Submarine Knowledge: Gummy worms, one plastic cupKeep families engaged.To encourage attendance and greater participation, consider giveaways and incentives. This might include gift cards, PTA swag or other family-friendly items.Consider how you can use this event to help boost membership. By giving new families a good experience, they might be interested in joining. Your PTA can share information on how to join your PTA in follow-up communication. Also, by having families register to participate in this event, your PTA will have additional contact information for these families. Another way to keep families engaged is by starting the event with introductions (this is built into the Facilitator Guides). Based on the number of attendees you have, choose whether you want people to verbalize their name or instead type it in the chat. If you have a smaller group, it’s better to have people unmute themselves and share, but this takes more time, so it’s recommended to use the chat with larger groups.Host your event with pride.Your PTA should be well-prepared at this point for a successful event. Use the provided Activity Guides and Facilitator Guides to facilitate the activities and conversations.Gather feedback.Within a day of the event, be sure to send a thank you email to all families who participated. Use the email template provided. This is an opportunity to collect the Participant Surveys created and required by National PTA (accessible at Survey). They will allow you to complete your Program Leader Feedback Form and also see how the event went and learn how you can improve for future PTA events. It is also a way to keep families excited and engaged about the topic. You can add in more details specific to other STEM opportunities your school has. And, as explained in the email template, you can link to additional STEM activities National PTA offers for free.Also, be sure to thank and to learn from the volunteers. Use this volunteer email template provided. ................
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