This week, we’re helping a Michigan media-center elementary school classroom that needs science books for all reading levels, as well as a Texas elementary school STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) lab. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help 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.
This never-before-funded teacher is running an elementary school media center with zero budget for books, and trying to provide materials for a wide range of reading levels.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students books to learn about computer science, coding, and STEM. These books will help students learn more about the technology that surrounds them, as well as provide ideas for future coding and makerspace ideas.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: West Utica Elementary School, Shelby TWP, Michigan
Total: $580.72
Still Needed: $173.66 Completed, thank you! Please consider project below.
Teacher’s Comments from Mr. Brown:
My Students: I teach Media Center (library and computer science) at a 100% Title I school; meaning the majority of my students are considered "At-Risk." Our students almost all qualify for free or reduced lunch. Many come from one parent families or are not even being raised by their parents. Needless to say my students are not given the same opportunities as many kids their age.
My district's media center budget for books is $0.00 so while many schools relay on parent fundraising or student fundraisers to maintain and update their library or update their media centers with technology tools like robots, or MakerSpace materials, I have to rely on personal funds and crowdfunding sites like this one.
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read about my students and potentially bring greater educational opportunities!!
My Project: My 400+ computer science students are constantly wanting to learn more about the technology that surrounds them and ways to learn and do more. These books will provide them a new resource library. Books like the "Learn to Code" book set will help students improve their Computer Science knowledge base.
Our younger students need good read aloud stories to get them into the problem solving and STEM/MakerSpace mindset.
"Rosie Revere, Engineer" and "Whoose" will help them realize that children can be creative inventors and problems solvers.
This group of books will work to create our STEM library that will hopefully be funded and benefit my Kindergarten through 6th grade students.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Let’s also support this never-before-funded elementary school teacher’s STEAM labs project.
BONUS PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students an Introduction to STEAM by providing Dot & Dash Robots for us to explore Technology and Buddha Boards for us to explore Art!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Pine Shadows Elementary School, Houston, Texas
Total: $592.34 (1.5x match offer)
Still Needed: $592.34 $400.44 ($267 from us!)
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Stringer:
My Students: Our students are amazing! We are a dual language, Title 1 school of 750 students with a high percentage of low-income households. Many of our students get to experience technology and robotics for the first time in our makerspaces and STEAM Labs on campus. The majority of these spaces have been funded by grants and now that we have a solid STEAM lab environment for our upper grades, I would like to focus on getting equipment to introduce STEAM to our younger students.
In the PSE Library, we are curious learners and love to explore Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics!
My Project: The older students in our school have been exposed to STEAM manipulatives through our 3D printer and littleBits library, but I would like to expand our STEAM lab for little hands!
Dash and Dot robots are a great introductory robot for the younger grade levels and we would like to try the challenge cards to introduce our students to beginning coding.
Another thing on our wish list are the Buddha Boards. We would like to put these boards in our STEAM Lab as a mindful art activity that can correlate to many of the science topics that we study. Finally, the augmented reality Merge Cubes will actually be a great way to inspire curiosity for all of our students!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Last week’s main project — Garden Tools to Build Gardens that Will Transform Our School — has already been completed with the generous assistance of our readers and donors!