Each fall, STEM volunteers lead Brackett students in creating their own water bottle rockets at Robbins Farm Park.  Students get excited to see their creations launch into space and safely return down.

This year, the water bottle rocket activity will be help in conjunction with Fall Fest on October 5, 2025.  

Click here for more information on how to make your rocket!

Volunteer Opportunities:

Help students build their rockets!  Join other parent/caregiver volunteers in helping students build their rockets using instructions and supplies provided.

Commitment Time: about 1-3 hours.  Volunteer for all of Fall Fest or just an hour-long shift.  There is plenty of time to assist our budding rocket scientists and explore the rest of Fall Fest as well!

Math Morning is an extracurricular math program intended to inspire and energize students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades about interesting math topics. Each session typically includes a brief slide presentation on the topic, followed by worksheets with fun exercises. This material has been already prepared a few years ago by parents at a Lexington Elementary school; however, parents are more than welcome to customize it. Each session takes place every Friday morning before school and lasts 30-40 minutes. Parents are invited and encouraged to stay and assist their child with the worksheets, and are very welcome to join the teams.

The goal is to inspire, have fun, and to introduce the kids to concepts (Roman numerals!  Binary numbers!) that aren’t in the usual school math curriculum. (And a corollary to this is that we don’t treat it as supplementing what they learn in class, but rather as a way to have fun with math.)

We’ll use logic and creativity to tackle exciting new topics each week, so you can drop in whenever you’re free.

The program is every Friday from 7:20 a.m.-7:50 a.m. 

The location is different for each grade:

3rd Graders: Library
4th Graders: Room 312 (Ms. Varallo’s Room)
5th Graders: Room 201 (Ms. Gorman’s Room)

Volunteer Opportunities:

Help lead Math Morning!  A team of 4 or 5 parent/caregiver volunteers per grade rotate in leading the lesson each week.

Commitment Time: about 1 hour/week rotated between volunteers (10-20 minutes to prepare the lesson ahead of time and print worksheets + 30-40 minutes in the classroom before school on Fridays.

During Chemistry Week, STEM Committee parent/caregiver volunteers host four days of activities that take place directly after school.  The activities align with the theme of National Chemistry Week and takes place on the third week in October.

This year’s Chemistry Week activities will take place on the patio in front of Brackett on Monday, October 20-Thursday, Oct 23, 2025 directly after school at 2:30 p.m.

This year, we explore the theme The Hidden Life of Spices.

Explore and identify how chemistry plays an essential role in spices. Learn more about the chemical properties that make up how we perceive spices. Spices are mixtures of chemicals, with some notable chemicals involved, including capsaicin (makes peppers spicy), myristicin (makes smell and taste of nutmeg), and many more. The structural differences of these chemicals affect how spices taste and smell, while also allowing spices to be used as fabric dyes, medicines, and much more!

Volunteer Opportunities:

Help Lead an Activity After School:  Volunteers help run a STEM-related activity table after school during Chemistry week.  There is a different activity each day Monday-Thursday outside the front of the school at 2:30 dismissal.  Volunteers need only commit to one day (but can do multiple days, if desired).  The STEM Committee will help plan each day’s activities.

Commitment Time: about 1 hour beginning at 2:15 p.m.

If staffing the table after school doesn’t fit in your schedule, but you have some ideas for activities related to this year’s theme, “The Hidden Life of Spices,” share them with us at stem@brackettpto.org.  We’re always looking for new activity/experiment ideas to try out with the students!

Enjoy an evening of hands-on mathematical exploration during Brackett Family Math Night.  Families of students explore dozens of age-appropriate diverse math- and logic-based puzzles and games; participants work in small groups to solve logic “mysteries” and more.

This year’s Math Nights are on:

4th and 5th grades: Monday, October 27, 2025
2nd and 3rd grades: Monday, November 17, 2025
Kindergarten and 1st grade: Monday, January 12, 2026

Come look at the stars and planets with Brackett parent astronomers! 

We will have a telescope set up in Robbins Farm Park and lead students and families in viewing the beauty of the night sky.

Hour of Code is a national education initiative – the goal is to give millions of students from across the U.S. their first taste of computer programming.

STEM parent/caregiver volunteers bring Hour of Code into Brackett classrooms each year by introducing our students to computer programming fundamentals through a series of coding games on their classroom iPads or Chromebooks (kindergartners participate via a deviceless hands-on game).

Hour of Code helps prepare Brackett students to handle technology classes at Gibbs/Ottoson and beyond, and hopefully introduces programming to a few students who wouldn’t have tried it otherwise.

This year’s Hour of Code will be held the week of February 9-13, 2026.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Lead an Hour of Code session in your child’s classroom!  Volunteers are given a lesson plan and instructions for a 40-minute in-class online coding game.

Commitment Time: about 1 hour (10-15 minutes to review the materials ahead of time + 45-50 minutes in the classroom during school hours)

Have questions about Hour of Code at Brackett?  Contact Tammy Kalt at tkalt@brackettpto.org.

The Science Fair is in coordination with the 4th and 5th grade teachers.

Students are introduced to experimental design and are encouraged to come up with ideas for their own experiments.  Each student (or small group) designs and runs their experiment at home; the STEM Committee provides a tri-fold display to each student (or group) to create a display detailing their experiment and results.

Students will display and talk about their work in the Brackett gymnasium during the Science Fair which occurs in March one evening during the week of STEM Night.  The tri-folds will be on display during STEM Night.

This year’s Fourth and Fifth Grade Science Fair will be held on the evening of Tuesday, March 10, 2026.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Introducing the Science Fair to Students:  Volunteers teach students the basics of how to conduct a successful experiment and then run a sample experiment in the classroom.
Commitment Time: about 1 hour (10-15 minutes to review the materials ahead of time + 35-40 minutes in the classroom during school hours).

Poster Set up: Volunteers help hang tri-fold displays on the gymnasium walls before the Science Fair.
Commitment Time: about 1 hour in late-afternoon or evening before the Science Fair.

An evening event held at Brackett, where STEM takes over the school. Volunteer parents/caregivers set up tables for a wide variety of fun STEM activities that the students can enjoy.

Last year, STEM Night had over 350 participants and volunteers hosted 17 activity tables, including:

• Touch-a-Brain
• Dry Ice Fun
• Sound: The Chladni Plate
• Straw Rockets
• Make Your Own LED Magnets
• Big Dice Bingo
• 3D Printing
• Math Games

This year’s STEM Night will take place on Friday, March 13, 2026.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Lead a Activity Table at STEM Night!  Volunteers help run a STEM-related activity table during STEM Night.  This is your chance to share your favorite quick and easy science activity with the school!  Don’t have an idea for a table, but want to join in the fun?  No worries!  The STEM Committee has plenty of ideas and can supply the materials needed for your table — you just bring the fun by helping students explore the project/game at your station.  No science background needed!

Commitment Time: as little as 3 hours (30 minutes to review the project beforehand, 2.5 hours setting up and staffing your table during STEM Night).  If you have more time to contribute, consider joining the STEM Night planning team which meets virtually in the weeks leading up to STEM Night.

Help Staff a Table at STEM Night.  Volunteer to have fun helping students participate in STEM activities for part of STEM Night.  There is plenty of time to volunteer and still have the opportunity to explore the event with your student(s)!

Commitment Time:  about 1 hour at an activity table.  There will be an volunteer lead/organizer at the table to guide the activity and provide instruction.

With help from parent/caregiver volunteers, first graders incubate and raise baby chicks in the classroom.  This activity sparks excitement among students and adults alike as they learn about the incubation process and candling.

Chick hatching aligns perfectly with the Birds module in the first grade EL curriculum, adding even more enthusiasm.

This year’s Chick Hatching will take place during Spring 2026.

Volunteer Opportunities:

Organize the First Grade Chick Hatching:  Volunteer organizes and coordinates the first grade chick hatching activity including sourcing the eggs, setting up and monitoring incubators, organizing parent/caregiver volunteers to assist checking incubators daily and run candling demonstrations in class, and homing the chicks afterwards.  The STEM Committee has contact information for the farm we have used in previous years to source/home the chicks and instructions/guidelines on how to run the activity.
Commitment Time: several hours throughout April to early-May.

Assist in Monitoring Incubators: Several volunteers work with the Chick Hatching Organizer to monitor incubators before school.  Volunteers and organizer will work out a schedule based on availability to cover every morning during the experiment (excluding weekends).  Volunteers check incubator temperature and refill its water.
Commitment Time: 15 minutes in the morning directly before school starts.

Candle Eggs in the Classroom: Volunteers teach students about embryo development by candling eggs in the classroom.
Commitment Time: about 45 minutes (10-15 minutes to review process beforehand and 30 minutes in the classroom during school hours)