This week, we're helping to provide hands-on materials for lessons that focus on environmental science in rural schools: kindergarteners in Virginia will learn about the changing seasons, and 4th graders in South Carolina will receive tools to study the weather and outer space.
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 red-state 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.
We’ve already made lots of progress on this Four Seasons project, which will help teach students in a rural Virginia community that is roughly west of Norfolk, well out into the middle of the state.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Seasons-themed activities and books to learn about the four seasons!
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Eureka Elementary School, Keysville, Virginia
Total: $234.08
Still Needed: $89.55 Completed! Thank you!
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Smith:
My Students: I am working in a rural area in a small, Title I School in Virginia. I have twenty sweet little kinderbabies who all come from different backgrounds and who are so eager to learn and know more each day.
I want to make learning fun and enjoyable for them while they are young so that they will continue to love learning as they get older.
I do my best to make sure they feel loved and supported while they are in my classroom.
My Project: In kindergarten, we are always talking about the weather! One of our units we study each year is the four seasons! We discuss the temperature and the weather during the different seasons, the clothes we wear, and the things that happen during those seasons.
By having season themed actives and books in our classroom, my kindergarten students will be able to use hands on to better understand the seasons!
These different season activities will be a great addition for our kindergarten classroom. Having more fun, hands on activities and books in our classroom will engage my current students and future students for years to come!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our new long-term project will help 4th-graders in a rural city northeast of Columbia.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students real tools to use when measuring weather conditions, and a telescope to study outer space.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Brunson-Dargan Elementary School, Darlington, South Carolina
Total: $430.99
Still Needed: $385.99 Completed, thank you.
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Parker:
My Students: My greatest joy is seeing the light in their eyes when my students discover something independently! " Now, I understand," or " Oh, I see how that works!" My 4th grade science classroom is a place of challenge and discovery. Students will spend this year learning the foundation of knowledge and skills they will need in science as they move forward in advanced studies of weather, astronomy, energy, and organisms.
Our 4th graders are amazing, creative, and curious students who mostly come from high poverty, low economic, households.
They like to move, they love to learn and love lots of positive attention. Many of them are being raised in single-parent households and receive a free lunch based on their socioeconomic status. These things may prevent them from getting ahead early in life and may not provide them with the life experiences many of us see as "typical." From the minute they walk in the door of my classroom I focus on their potential and growth while they are with me. I may not be able to control their home lives, however, I can certainly control their experience during the school day. By doing this in a creative and positive way.
My Project: Students will be able to measure weather conditions such as wind speed, direction, and amount of precipitation using these tools. Instead of reading about how anemometers and wind vanes work, students can be our school's own meteorologist! Also, students can use the space tools to observe bodies in outer space using the telescope. Having a model of the planets and how they revolve around the sun will help the students to have a visual on the planet order. Astronomy tools like the sextant and the astrolabe will allow students to have a hands-on feel of the use of these tools.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Last week’s main project — Kindergarteners, The Future of Our Environment — was completed just last night with a huge assist from our donors! I’ll post the teacher’s thank you note whenever she wakes up and gets the good news.
Thank all of you so much for making this project happen for my class. Kindergarteners are so curious about the world. These books, the globe and the map will help them learn and develop a love for the earth and a desire to see it and take care of it.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bean
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in 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 science or math projects, 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 708! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.