This week, we’re helping to provide a set of The Last Cuentista, an award-winning science fiction novel, for a 6th-grade classroom as well as an assortment of books about Lunar New Year and related supplies for hands-on engineering activities in a middle-school classroom. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help by sharing or supporting our featured projects.
The Inoculation Project is an ongoing, volunteer effort to crowdfund science, math, and literacy projects for red-state public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
This week’s projects are being featured in memory of our friend carolanne, who was a young adult and children’s book author.
Let’s give this 6th-grade classroom a set of The Last Cuentista, which won both a 2022 Newbery Medal and a 2022 Pura Belpré Medal. Like so many never-before-funded teacher’s projects, this one has not received a donation since October 15th (the day it was posted). We don’t usually feature projects in California, but I kept coming back to this project requesting a science-fiction novel for the class.
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students a class set (33) of The Last Cuentista, a poetic, sci-fi story of a young girl using her cuentos, stories, to help her community remember their culture.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households and an Equity Focus school
Location: North Verdemont Elementary School, San Bernardino, California
Total: $421.68
Still Needed: $321.68 $215.80
Project description by Mr. Muga: My students love to read! They love to read about a wide range of characters and cultures. In our classroom, diversity matters. My students know that it may be difficult to actually travel around the world, but through the books we read, we can see and experience these places. We can visit Genie and Ernie in North Hill, Virginia while they teach us what it means to be brave. Amina tells us of her struggles to blend her American culture with her muslim faith in the suburbs of Milwaukee. A young Jaqueline Woodson shows us the beauty and the difficulty of South Carolina and New York in the 1960s. I would love for my students to meet Petra Pena and her love of her culture while she attempts to maintain her past as she travels to new lands.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
This teacher is requesting a fun assortment of books, origami paper, and other supplies for completing engineering challenges while learning about the Lunar New Year.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students the resources to learn and explore the Lunar New Year with engaging books and hands-on STEM activities.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households and an Equity Focus school
Location: Berea Middle School, Greenville, South Carolina
Total: $523.80
Still Needed: $462.04 $326.74
Project description by Ms. Olenja: My students are excited to learn about the Lunar New Year! It is something not many of them have previously learned about, but it is so great to get involved in understanding of new and different cultures. They are dedicated engineering students who are excited and eager to learn about the world around them.
My students will be so thrilled and excited to celebrate the Lunar New Year, which is celebrated all across the globe, as we explore a variety of fun STEM challenges and books.
This project would give my students the resources needed to integrate the engineering Design Process to complete engineering challenges and increase our literacy skills while learning about the history, culture, and customs around the Lunar New Year.
My students are excited to learn how to apply their engineering skills in new ways with real-world applications while we learn about the Lunar New Year! Having resources will make these activities easier to provide for my students.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
DonorsChoose has developed the designation Equity Focus Schools to describe some schools that submit projects. They meet two criteria: at least 50% of students are Black, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multiracial, and at least 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the standard measure for school economic need. You can read more at the link about their efforts to address the longstanding inequity in education.
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Both of last week’s featured projects were completed rather quickly after a flurry of activity from our readers helped attract more attention! As occasionally happens, though, the calculators project we helped to complete did not move forward as planned, so those donors have received account credits.
On a happier note, here is the teacher’s thank you for funding her Magical Math Classroom project:
I am writing this Christmas Day! What a wonderful gift for my students at Brooks-Quinn-Jones! Your generosity to help my sweet and brilliant students achieve their goals is beyong amazing. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can not wait to share the pictures with you all!
With gratitude,
Ms. Krygsman
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science, anti-education push in conservative America by funding science, math, and literacy projects in red-state public school classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose, a crowdfunding charity founded in 2000 and highly rated by both Charity Navigator and the Better Business Bureau.
Every Sunday, we focus on helping to fund projects in neighborhood public schools where the overwhelming majority of students come from low-income households. We welcome everyone who supports public school education — no money is required!
Finally, here’s our list of successfully funded projects — our series total is 1011! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.