This week, we're helping to provide owl pellets for some Louisiana elementary schoolkids to dissect, supplies for some Oklahoma elementary students to make soap, and materials for a raised vegetable garden at a Port Arthur elementary school still struggling to recover from Hurricane Harvey.
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.
Project #3 from last week is the only one remaining, so it’s now Project #1. Mrs. Siel, one of last week’s fully funded teachers, donated to this one to “pay it forward,” and Ms. Flynn has donated to her own project as well. Fingers crossed that we can help push this one over the finish line this week!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Owl pellets and dissection charts to study food webs.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: South Grant Elementary School, Dry Prong, Louisiana
Total: $175.02
Still Needed: $93.02 Completed, thank you! Please consider Project 3 below.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Flynn:
My Students: Our school is a rural school that serves many neighboring communities. We have a mix of abilities from those functioning several grade levels below their level, to those functioning much higher than their grade level. Our families are hardworking and do all they can to support their kids.
My students are rock stars and deserve everything, and if I could, I'd give them the world.
DonorsChoose.org and the amazing donors behind it help me at least open the window to that world and see what's out there. You also let them see that in this crazy, scary world, kindness is still there.
My Project: Part of what we cover in science in food webs and food chains. It's a topic that students are usually familiar with the facts of, but sometimes struggle to grasp the ideas behind the same flow chart we all learn to drive. So, I look for ways to make it more exciting, and more though provoking. That's where owl pellets come in.
Getting to dig through owl puke, who wouldn't want to do that?
Okay, so you may think that there's a lot of people who wouldn't, but only people who haven't tried it. Owl pellets are actually very clean and safe. They are amazing treasure troves of the fur and bones of the creatures that they owl ate. It allows students to track what the owl ate and to create a food web that they are part of. That's where the dissection mat comes in. It's an invaluable tool that helps the students identify the bones that they find. Students will collect data about what their owl ate, using the mats.
You can help put these tools in my students' hands. Thanks for your support!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
I like the way this next project integrates multiple subjects. Here’s hoping that we can help complete this one as well.
PROJECT #2 [cancelled]
Note from Ms. Wang: Thank you so much, but I have just recently resigned from my teaching position due to family medical issues. I wanted to continue but juggling the demands was just too much.
In situations like this, donors receive a credit and are able to redirect their donations to a different project.
Resources: My students need to see chemistry used in real life contexts. After having studied basic biology, they will learn about root causes of diseases. Using chemistry, they will create homeopathic soaps to treat common skin diseases.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Adelaide Lee Elementary School, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Total: $769.20
Still Needed: $123.33 Cancelled. Please consider project below.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Wang:
My Students: Our elementary school is an inner city public school located in Oklahoma City. Our mascot is the lion with R.O.A.R (Respect to All, Obey Safety Rules, Act Responsibly, and Ready to Learn) as our motto. We serve mostly low-income, English as a second language students.
Our students are good students who are often tasked with taking on additional responsibilities at home because their hard-working parent or parents are so busy juggling different jobs to make ends meet.
These students have been forced to grow up too early and not really had time to simply be kids.
These students need access to hands-on, project based methods of teaching where they can see real-world application. These students sometimes struggle with understanding the purpose of school when we are not able to make it more concrete.
My Project: Because of the way school has been traditionally taught, my students do not see how all subjects are integrated within the real world. This project seeks to develop a more holistic viewpoint as they will need to integrate biology, chemistry, math, and the English language arts to create a marketable homeopathic remedy for common skin diseases.
This project has real world business applications as they will be making a soap product which requires them to create a chemically balanced product, as well as costing, pricing, and marketing.
They will also be taught to develop a more critical eye for current products on the market and what constitutes adequate testing.
To be able to do this project, we need soapmaking equipment which includes scales, immersion stick blenders, lab safety equipment (aprons, gloves, face masks), mini soap molds to make trial sized portions of their formulation, proper mixing bowls, drying trays, etc. We just got approved for a 3D printer. The students will create their own molds and use ratios to recalculate their formulation to match the volume of their unique designs in the future!
And here’s a much more long-term project. Port Arthur is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Harvey, and this school in particular needs help.
“Harvey’s not over”: School’s about to start — but the trauma from Hurricane Harvey lingers:
As students across southeast Texas prepare to head back to the stability of a regimented school day, many in the area are still living in small trailers, stuffed into rooms with aunts, uncles and grandparents while their parents argue with insurance providers and desperately hunt for contractors who won’t rip them off.
Mental health providers say the stress and instability are exacerbating existing anxieties and traumas. And they don't expect the problem to let up any time soon, even as the hurricane fades from public consciousness.
More than 75 percent of Port Arthur ISD's students were displaced from their homes by Harvey's flooding and had to move into hotels or trailers or with relatives. About 500 students had to leave the district to find shelter; they have slowly returned after the completion of apartment remodels or when their families find other homes.
“Donations to this project are now being matched, thanks to support from The Rebuild Texas Fund. The Rebuild Texas Fund is committed to supporting those on the ground doing the hard work of recovering from Hurricane Harvey. The efforts of our teachers, their students, and the community are so appreciated!”
Project 3
Resources: My students need a raised vegetable bed (4x8), gardening dirt & compost, vegetable fertilizers, and gardening essentials such as a rain water barrel for watering the garden.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Lucian Adams Elementary School, Port Arthur, Texas
Total: $1,594.87 (half with match offer from Hurricane Harvey fund)
Still Needed: $1,594.87 $1,422.22 ($712 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Morris:
My Students: Our kindergarten class has been impacted by Hurricane Harvey.
I teach kindergarten in Port Arthur, TX.
Before Hurricane Harvey hit our area, I had the opportunity to meet some of my sweet students, but because of the damage caused by flood water, many students have experienced loss of items and home. We are a Title I school, and many of our students are from low-income households.
Please, help us have a successful school year full of learning in a comfortable and clean environment.
Thank you!
My Project: I teach in a Title I low-income and high-poverty school district. My students are faced with several challenges both in and out of the classroom. Through science, my class will be introduced to and learn about life cycles, what plants need to live and grow, and how they can grow their own healthy food at home.
Many of my students, who live in apartments, do not get the opportunity to see vegetables grow or have access each day to vegetables.
My students will learn the life cycle of plants (seed, sprout, plant, flower, vegetable), what a plant needs to live and grow (food, water, air, dirt), where their food comes from (farm or garden), and how they can grow their own food at home.
Through planting our own raised bed vegetable garden, students will be able to watch the life cycle in real time and real life as we plant small seedlings and watch the plants grow and fruit. Students will learn about what a plant needs to live and grow and the parts of a plant and how providing things such as dirt, compost, and fertilizer plants can thrive.
We want the students to acquire a love of the garden and growing food. As the plants grow students will be able to taste the products of their hard work such as tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach, basil, and peppers!!!
Students will also be able to plant a tomato seed in class using the plastic cups and dirt providing through this project! They will be able to watch it grow each day into their very own plant they can take home!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Two of last week’s projects were completed with a huge assist from our donors! Some Texas high school students will receive copies of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss so they can better study environmental topics and themes. Here’s the teacher’s thank you note:
I am truly humbled by the support for our classroom! Thank you so much to the Inoculation Project at Daily Kos for featuring our project and to all the fantastic donors that made this possible! I have two goals for students leaving my classroom at the end of the year: 1) I want to know that I have helped them to be scientifically-literate citizens that are paying attention to what is happening around them, and 2) I want them to feel empowered and confident in knowing that each one of them has the power and ability to enact change in their community. I greatly appreciate your support in helping me reach these goals!
With gratitude,
Mrs. Siel
And students at a different Texas high school will receive microscopes to explore the hidden world of biology. Teacher’s thank you note:
Thank you so much for your support in funding my project. My students were very excited to learn that they will have new microscopes soon to use in our labs. Being able to see and explore what we are learning about at a microscopic level helps my students apply their knowledge and discover a new world. Your donation and support is appreciated.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Heimann
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 698! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.