This week, we're helping to provide hands-on materials for lessons that will provide safety glasses and materials to study circuits to a classroom serving a rural community in El Paso County. We’re also continuing to work on a long-term project that will bring young Texas music students a robot they can program to play the xylophone.
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.
Today’s main project is located in El Paso County where U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D - El Paso) and other local leaders will be marching today to protest a newly opened tent camp in Tornillo, Texas for kids who are separated from their parents under the Trump Administration’s inhumane new policy.
This never-before-funded teacher in a rural community has requested science safety glasses plus materials to study circuits.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: My students need circuits for series and parallel circuits to understand how they work. It's not enough to look at a video or read a magazine. The students need actual hands on exploration.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Robert R. Rojas Elementary School, El Paso, Texas
Total: $593.11 (half with matching offer expired)
Still Needed: $593.11 $353.05
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. H.:
My Students: I love the students enthusiasm! The students are very humble and very respectful! I teach in a rural community and many of the students work on a farm or on a ranch. Many of the students are being raised by grandparents, aunts, and uncles. The students know the value of an education and do whatever possible to learn. They stay after school and even come into school on Saturdays. 100% of the students in my classroom receive free lunch. Every student appreciates their teachers.
My Project: Safety first! Students need to understand that as you enter the science lab, safety is first. We would use the safety glasses donated in order to understand the importance of safety in the lab. Secondly we would use the circuits to understand series and parallel circuits in the classroom. This would be important for all students to understand by using hands on activities versus learning from pictures and videos on a computer screen. It's important that the students understand the real world experiences to understand science safety. Using the materials needed will help them understand many real world uses for circuits.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
As belinda ridgewood explained last week, Mrs. Noland teaches music to about 500 kids in grades 3-5 in a small town outside Wichita Falls, Texas, about equidistant from Dallas and Oklahoma City. She’d like to give them a chance to work with this musical robot!
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: My students need the opportunity to incorporate technology into their music lessons.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Hardin Elementary School, Burkburnett, Texas
Total: $403.06
Still Needed: $171.88 $81.88
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Noland:
My Students: As a teacher in a low-income/high poverty school district, my students are faced with several challenges both in and out of the classroom. Despite the many challenges they face, I am looking to provide my students with creative and meaningful learning experiences. I teach 3rd through 5th-grade music
My students are the best students and are striving to learn new and different concepts every day.
Music is a way for them to use multiple parts of their brain that may not be stimulated otherwise.
The students in my music classes inspire me daily to be the best teacher I can be. They come to class ready to sing, play, and participate in whatever activity I have planned.
For many students, this is their first introduction to music. The students are all so vastly different, and each one is inspiring in his or her own way. Every day these kids teach me something new, and it is amazing to see!
My Project: My students will be so excited to learn to code using the Dash and Dot Wonder Pack. Most of them do not have access to technology at home and need to learn how to use it effectively in order to be prepared for life in the 21st century.
Imagine the excitement students would feel, working side by side learning to code a robot to play music!
As they learn the skills and lessons of coding, students will also be building their collaboration skills and their ability to persevere to problem solve. Teamwork and computer programming skills are necessities for the 21st century workforce.
This kit comes with a xylophone so that the students will be able to create their own music and have the robot play it for them. This brings music from the paper to the modern technological world.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
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 670! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.