This week, we're helping to provide hands-on materials for lessons that will help kindergartners to become architects and bird lovers in South Carolina. We’re also providing both safety equipment and materials to explore the properties of light for a middle school in North Carolina. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help these teachers and students by sharing or supporting our featured projects.
The Inoculation Project is an ongoing, volunteer effort to crowdfund science and math projects for public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
This week’s main project will provide hands-on materials allowing some South Carolina kindergartners to explore architecture and build bird houses.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: My students need construction worker tools, vests, and hats to become classroom architects. They also need a bird feeder and seed for our classroom window so that we can study birds and build homes for them.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Alma Elementary School, Gaffney, South Carolina
Total: $168.74
Still Needed: $88.74 Completed! Please consider long-term project below.
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Carpenter:
My Students: My students are full of life, energy, and curiosity! Despite the challenges they may face inside and outside of the classroom, they come to school each day ready to take on the day in the best way possible.
My students are from a low-income/high poverty area.
Every student receives free breakfast and lunch. Many of them receive food backpacks to take home. This doesn't stop them from lighting up each time they learn something new or a concept that they struggled with finally clicks. I love to see their faces when they are praised for getting the answer right or for asking that question they had been dying to ask. Their excitement for learning astounds me and I love to watch them learn and grow. I know they each have the potential to succeed!
My Project: My students are ready to learn! As we begin our new unit on becoming architects in our classroom and school we have noticed we are missing a few things. The items requested will help my students get hands-on in their learning.
My students are learning about materials in kindergarten and they want to build things!
They are already future architects at heart, now they just need the materials to get started. We need a set of tools, construction vests, and hats for our dramatic play center. My students have already learned about what architects do and now they want to test it out. Along with these materials, we are requesting a playground building set. This will allow my students to build things in the classroom. They will be able to use these materials to explore being an architect.
We also need a bird feeder to hang outside of our window. Part of our exploration into becoming architects will allow us to build homes for birds. Before we can do that we will begin learning about birds. What better way to do that than to observe them first hand? We will hang the bird feeder outside and put our bird seed in it. Each day the students will observe what we see to learn more and more about birds!
The use of all of these materials will allow my students to develop language skills, writing skills, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills and it will enhance their curiosity and teach them to ask questions about the world around them. As we develop these skills we will be developing a love for learning in each and every student.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our new long-term project will provide not only lab and safety equipment but also some laser prisms for a never-before-funded teacher at a middle school in a small North Carolina school district. According to the 2000 census, median income for a family in Lexington is $32,339, with 31.7% of children living below the poverty line. What struck me, though, was that only 1 woman is listed among the city’s notable people.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: My students need basic laboratory and safety equipment. I have purchased all I can out of my pocket but we are still in need of basic exploration supplies.
Economic need: More than three-quarters of students from low‑income households
Location: Lexington Middle School, Lexington, North Carolina
Total: $493.06
Still Needed: $456.06 $328.12
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Thomas:
My Students: In Lexington, the population is very diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status. Approximately 95% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunch in our Title I middle school. Our district is also very small, with only one middle school and one high school.
My students have many challenges, but can achieve incredible things if given the tools and support they need.
The school house is sometimes the only safe place for these children. Many of our families have been in Lexington for generations and some have told me of their concerns that their children are not able to have the same opportunities as others in surrounding areas.
I believe that my students have enormous potential to achieve and that they deserve every opportunity to do so. Engaging my students in science now can put them on the path to colleges and careers that may have seemed impossible to them before.
My Project: Being such a small and low-funded district, I am doing what I can to ensure that my students are engaged and learning every day. I strive to have hands-on labs at least one or two times every week. I believe that it is especially important for the struggling student to be able to not just learn about the scientific process, but to actually be involved in it as well.
Science without hands-on experience is no way to prepare our children for life in the 21st century.
Without proper science equipment, I am restricted on the types of activities I can perform with my students. As of now, they have to take turns and share safety goggles since we have less than a dozen pairs for all 100 students on our team. They spend their family's hard-earned money on clothes for school that also need protection for all the fun, messy things we do in science class.
Beyond the basics, my wish is to have a set of light exploration tools, which is why I am requesting the Laser Exploration Kit. What better way to explore the properties of light, such as reflection and refraction, with results they can clearly see?
These tools do not have to stay exclusively in my classroom. There are two other teachers in my grade level that would benefit from these tools as well. All of the science teachers in the school have pooled together what resources we have to share among each other, but it is not enough. My contribution will help the 100 students on my team, but it will actually go so much farther.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
With a huge assist from our donors, both of last week’s projects were completed. High school students in Arizona will receive materials enabling them to create a robot which can be programmed to sketch and draw:
Let me begin by sharing our tremendous appreciation for the support you have extended to our classroom. You can not imagine how much of an impact you are having on my children, our future! Materials will give my students a chance to apply STEM through inquiry and problem-solving. The kit will help in extending their knowledge of programming and building robots. Please accept our token of gratitude for your generous donation.
With gratitude, Mr. Mehta
And an elementary school classroom will receive supplies to take care of their guinea pigs:
Your generosity has been overwhelming! Thank you so much for supporting our emotional, language, and social development by funding our project to supply our guinea pigs with their basic needs. Taking care of pets will teach us responsibility at a crucial time in our lives, just as we become independent scholars!
With gratitude, Mrs. K.
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in traditionally red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, 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 two science or math projects in red states, preferably 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 611! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.