This week, we're helping two kindergartens: one in Texas will get learning materials about the earth, and one in rural Virginia will learn about the changing seasons. 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.
The town of Ballinger, Texas is about due south of Abilene, in what I’d regard as the middle of Texas (I am not the Texas expert here!) This teacher, Mrs. Bean, is hoping to bring her kindergarten class some earth science books and resources, and a nifty talking globe. She has this to say in her profile: My students do not have many resources at home and many are being raised by a single parent or grandparents on a fixed income. Money is tight within our school district and funds are not always deemed necessary for extras.
We’re getting a boost in our efforts to help via matching funds from the UPS Foundation: Since 2008, the UPS Foundation has provided more than $1.7 million in grants to support a variety of environmental programs and organizations worldwide. These grants supported tree planting, conservation efforts, youth education, and volunteerism. The Foundation is excited to help fund projects in rural communities.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: An earth science library, science viewers, a talking globe and the U.S.A. interactive map.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Ballinger Elementary School, Ballinger, Texas
Total: $363.62 (matching funds from UPS Foundation)
Still Needed: $363.62 $157.21 ($79 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Bean:
My Students: My students are excited, eager learners who are ready to see what school has to offer them. Many of them have no school experience and education has not been important in their home.
We live in a small, rural town with a high poverty rate.
Many of my students receive backpack food for the weekend. My kids can rarely afford to visit places outside of our small community. My students have limited experience in the world. It is up to me to create world experiences in our classroom. I need to help close the gap for these special kids I teach and it is sometimes difficult with limited resources.
My Project: My students need to learn about the environment they live in and the environments around the world. Materials like the talking globe and science viewers will help my kids understand the world around them.
Our community is in a very rural area and most of my students rarely leave their home.
I need to bring the rest of the world to them so that they will have an understanding that places around the world are different than the place they live.
I also want them to learn a love for the earth and all the places and beauty in it so that they will want to take good care of it.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
This rural Virginia community is roughly west of Norfolk, well out into the middle of the state. The changing seasons and the different weather they bring is part of their curriculum.
LONG-TERM 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: $234.08 $134.55
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!
Last week, we finished both our projects! First, we supported Mr. McDougall’s vermicomposting project in a junior-senior high school in northeastern Michigan. The project was Fertile a Ground for Learning. He writes: Thank you so much for helping to fund this project. My students are already excited to get things started. I am confident that this project will provide students with high interest science learning experiences for years to come. Additionally, these same students will have the knowledge to live in an environmentally sound way as adults. I am grateful for your support.
Then, we were able to help an Alabama high school class extend their recycling project. Mr. James tells us that theirs is among many Alabama counties that have no recycling program, so his students are on their own to provide both containers and instruction to the rest of the school! The project was Help Us Recycle in a Recycling Desert. He writes: My students and I thank you for your generous (and very speedy) funding of our recycling project! There is no time to waste when it comes to protecting our planet and educating our students about environmental stewardship. This project will allow us to begin recycling paper, plastic, and aluminum here in the black belt and hopefully serve as a launching point for further recycling efforts in the area. Please have a wonderful holiday season knowing that you have helped our community!
Our Dollars at Work
In July, we helped Mrs. Lalli’s North Carolina elementary students hone their bird identification skills as they took part in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Feeder Watch program. To do this in their rather urban environment, they needed bird feeders and a bunch of kid-friendly binoculars. The project was Calling All Citizen Scientists! Ornithology is Elementary. (More photos at the link.)
Thank you for helping to support my students in so many ways. They have gained valuable skills in terms of using scientific tools by using the binoculars and can identify what this particular tool should be used for. They are observing new aspects of nature using those binoculars, asking questions, and growing their scientific vocabulary as they answer those questions. Finally, by participating in citizen science, my students are viewing themselves differently - they ARE scientists! Your gift to my students is truly life-changing.
The day the materials arrived, the kids started using the binoculars. We have checked out the outdoors from the second floor windows of our school, seeing if we could find animals and birds in the trees and schoolyard from afar. While third grade was studying bees, we were able to watch paper wasps fly in and out of their nests that were up along the gutters of the school without fear of getting too close to the insects. The fourth graders used them as a part of their investigation of trees, searching for nests and other signs of how animals use trees. In fact, I have one student who has asked for his own set for Christmas because he enjoys using them in my STEM lab so much! The kindergarten students learned to use the binoculars while on a nature walk, looking for signs of fall. They got so excited to be able to see squirrels "up close."
Our citizen science project with Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology is underway, and thanks to your generosity, we've taken it to a whole new level this year. In order to participate in the project, you must maintain bird feeders throughout the late fall, winter and early spring, observing, identifying, and recording the birds you see visiting your feeders. Our new feeders have already attracted a much larger variety of birds for my kids to learn about, and they are so excited each time a new bird species swoops in to get a snack! My fourth and fifth graders are maintaining the feeders, so they check the feeders to make sure they have enough seed and then go out to the school garden and fill them when necessary. All of the students that are involved in this project have already learned so much about how to identify the species they are seeing in the garden and at the classroom windows, and they are seeing the value in the work they are doing to help scientists track birds as they migrate. My elementary students are already seeing themselves as scientists and teaching the older students in the building about what they have learned to do.
Happy holidays, from the young scientists of my STEM Labs!
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 707! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.