Linda Vista Elementary PTA : PTA Science Fair

First Annual PTA Science Fair at Linda Vista Family Science Night

We are excited to invite Linda Vista Elementary students to participate in the first ever PTA Science Fair!

This program is FREE to enter and is open to ALL STUDENTS. Linda Vista PTA will be supplying display boards for all participants and notebooks for 6th graders and will be available in the Office,.

Please read the Full Guidelines.
Only entries that follow the guidelines will be eligible to win.

Submissions Due: Mar. 13
After we collect the submissions, they will be judged out of a maximum of 100 points. The winning project for each grade level will be announced on Mar. 27 and will advance to the next level of judging.

Linda Vista Family Science Night: Mar. 19
All PTA Science Fair entries will be displayed at LVE Family Science Night, which will take place on campus in the evening.

Community Science Night: Apr. 24
The winning entries from all OUSD schools will be judged and then displayed at Community Science Night at Santiago Canyon College. The winning project for each grade level will be announced.

Let us know you are participating and submit an entry below!

2026 PTA Science Fair: Intent to Participate Form (optional)
2026 Science Fair Submission Form
If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

Information Packet Downloads:

2026 Linda Vista Elementary Cover Letter
Insert A: What Makes a Good Science Project?
Insert B: County Science Fair
Insert C: Presentation Board Format Requirements
PTA Science Fair of OUCPTA Official Rules and Guidelines here

What is the PTA Science Fair?

The PTA Science Fair was formed by Orange Unified Council PTA to encourage hands-on scientific thinking and exploration.

Who is eligible to enter?

All Linda Vista Elementary students are eligible to enter! Students must be in the TK-12th grade and shall enter in the appropriate division for their grade.

Primary Division – students in grades TK-5
Secondary Division – students in grades 6-12

can my student work with a group?

Students may work individually or as a team of up to three students. Each student is only allowed to enter one project.
Team projects will be placed in the same categories as individual projects. Judges will have higher expectations of team projects in comparison with the work done by one student.
Teams will compete in the grade level of the member of the highest grade. Students in different divisions cannot be on the same team.

how do the entries get judged?

Entries are reviewed at school and regional levels. One winner from each grade per school will advance to the district-wide PTA Science Fair of OUCPTA. Each PTA determines its own reviewers for the program. Entries will be evaluated primarily on the creativity, methodology, and presentation of the student’s project.

what are the entry requirements?

Primary and secondary division must submit the following:

(1) Entry Form, completed online
(2) Presentation Board, tri-fold up to 36 x 48” in size
(3) Student Video about the experiment

Secondary division (6-12th grade) entrants must submit the following, in addition to the requirements listed above:

(4) List of Citations
(5) Lab notebook

Submission Guidelines:

Presentation Board

Students must create and submit a tri-fold presentation board about their experiment.
Presentation boards should be heavy duty, tri-fold boards up to 36x48” in size.
When the presentation board is finished, take a digital photo and save your image file before uploading to your submission form.
The original physical presentation board will be presented at the school’s PTA Science Fair.
DOWNLOAD: Presentation Board Format Requirements
Presentation boards will be available for FREE in the office for all participants.

Student Video
Students must create and submit a Video for the judges to view about what they did (summary of your question/problem), how they did it (procedures), and what they learned (results and analysis, conclusions, applications, and next steps)

Recommended Length of Video
- 30 seconds for Primary Division (TK-5)
- 60 seconds for Secondary Division (6-12)
- Maximum of 90 seconds.

Explanations should be concise and longer videos will not be judged more favorably than shorter videos.
For team projects, each student must participate and be given equal time.
Student(s) must be visible throughout the video.

Read all Rules and Submission Guidelines

Lab Notebook (6th Grade only)
Students in 6th grade and up must use a Lab Notebook while conducting their science experiment. The Lab Notebook serves as a log that documents what you did, how you did it and why someone else can repeat it.

An image of each page should be submitted.
File types accepted: jpg, jpeg, png and pdf
Can be handwritten or digital, but pages should be dated, signed and legible
Information that should be included are raw data, observations, photos/drawings taken of the experiment, and calculations.

Citations (6th Grade only)
While doing research, it is important to cite a variety of resources including books, magazines, and journals.

See APA Citation Guide for guidelines.
Secondary division students must properly cite a minimum of five resources.