Welcome to The Inoculation Project, a weekly effort to help fund science and math projects in schools categorized as “highest poverty.” This time, we're helping to provide Legos for a Texas elementary school class with a matching donation offer.
As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, an organization founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau. If you’re short on cash, don’t worry — we’re glad to see you anyway! And your tips, recs, shares, and so on are a good free way to help, by helping us get on the rec list and catch more eyes.
THIS WEEK’S PROJECT
Resources: My students need Legos to explore STEAM concepts in a hands-on way.
School Poverty Level: Highest
Location: Lee Elementary School, El Paso, Texas
Total: $327.67 (matching offer!)
Still Needed: $327.67 Completed! Thank you.
Expires: May 3, 2017
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Balansay:
My Students: My students are amazing! I work at a Title I school in a low socioeconomic area, and 100% of our students receive free breakfast and lunch. For some of our kids, these are the only two meals they have in a day.
Although my kids face many challenges, they are always eager to learn.
We are also three miles away from Ft. Bliss, so we have many military families in our school as well. Our school is located in a border city, and many of my students moved here from Mexico and are English Language Learners. I'm always looking for innovative ways to teach my kids and encourage them to love school and learning.
My Project: My students are hands-on learners. Throughout many of our science units, we talk about inventions and machines making our lives easier. I can show my students images and videos and tell them how things work, but where is the excitement in that?
With these Lego sets, my students can work with groups to have hands-on experiences.
The more senses students use to explore something, the more likely they are to learn it. This exposes them to more than just hearing and seeing things. They have to opportunity to hypothesize and test their theories and concepts. The days we spend doing hands-on activities are the best days in class!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Edited to add a Bonus Project since we helped to complete the first one so early today.
BONUS PROJECT
Resources: My students need science equipment to help them understand a world too small to see with the naked eye. We need microscopes and more.
School Poverty Level: Highest
Location: Central Elementary School, Gulfport, Mississippi
Total: $282.86
Still Needed: $272.86 $207.86
Expires: Feb. 16, 2017
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Davis:
My Students: My students are in the gifted and talented program. I have students 2nd-5th grade at two different schools. Most of my students come from disadvantaged neighborhoods and low income families. My classes have a high percentage of minority groups. I loop with my students and have them every year they are in our gifted elementary program. I have some students for up to four years.
Many of my students have ADHD and are on the Autistic Spectrum.
Gifted students often have over excitability such as psycho-motor, which gives them high levels of energy and impulsive behavior.
My Project: My students have very little hands on learning experiences. As we study science it is hard for them to visualize what we are discussing with out actually seeing it. The hands on experience that microscopes would give them is desperately needed.
Many of my students are visual and hands on learners.
They really need the correct equipment to help bring science to life. We have been studying our local ecosystem and discussing the tiny things that live in our water shed. The microscopes would allow them to be self-directed learners with opportunities to see another world hidden from us because of its small size.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Last week’s project — Save Our Butterflies-Making a Native Butterfly Habitat! in Michigan — has already been completed! Here’s the teacher’s thank you note:
I am so excited, and so grateful that this project was funded, and so quickly. It took a lot of work for the students to research Michigan butterflies and the plants that they would need. To get native perennial plants that will serve both as a host plant to caterpillars and nectar plants to adults means that the project should succeed.Since the plants are native perennials, they will come up every year, allowing the garden to grow and prosper. My school does not have funds for a garden (and neither do I!) but the garden will add value both aesthetically and educationally to the school. It will also mean the start of new butterfly habitat where there was none. What a wonderful place it will be for me to teach ecology and conservation in the coming years. Thank you so much for your donation. I cannot express how appreciative I am.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Opolsky
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project is an effort to combat the anti-science push in conservative America by providing direct funding to science and math projects in traditionally red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, an organization founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau. DonorsChoose allows you to contribute to specific, vetted projects in public schools, resulting in tremendous and immediate impacts from small-dollar donations. Here’s an introductory video about DonorsChoose featuring Michelle Obama and Stephen Colbert.
Each Sunday morning, we focus on helping to fund one or two science and math projects in traditionally red-state schools, preferably in highest-poverty districts. We welcome everyone who shares our interest — no money is required! Your tip, rec, republish, comment, or share helps bring us more eyes, and besides, we like the company of others who love kids and education. Feel free to post a link or video, or just tell us how your weather is!
Finally, here’s our list of successfully funded projects — our series total is 544! The success-list diary now also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose, formerly found in this space.