This week, we’re taking advantage of matching funds to provide literature for a middle school science classroom in Detroit, and we’re also still working on providing books and headphones for an elementary school classroom in Houston. 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.
Let’s help complete this project so that Mrs. Ortiz’s middle school students can begin reading these great books. Thanks to Eastern Bluebird for bringing this project to our attention!
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students the tools and knowledge they need to understand relevant cultural issues. This literature, including Just Mercy, Hidden Figures and the 3-book March Series, will help expand their understanding and add diversity to our classroom library.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Clippert Academy, Detroit, Michigan
Total: $528.88 (matching offer)
Still Needed: $169.18 Completed, thank you!
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Ortiz:
My Students: My students are eager learners with diverse abilities and are in need of supplies that will allow them to experience, explore and enhance their learning by having the opportunity to get the supplies needed as we dive into the new Next Generation Science Standards.
I have 150 students divided into five 6th-grade classes in which general science is taught.
The majority of my students are Hispanic, and several of them are English language learners and speak little English. The majority of my students are bilingual, and a large number of their parents don't speak English. My students have varying abilities that at times require adapted lessons. Developing cross-curricular activities that are both fun and motivating, the addition of these resources would allow me to easily integrate various concepts and lessons in my science curriculum and address the different learning styles of my students.
My Project: Bringing literature in the science classroom will provide my students an opportunity to make connections with what they read to the world around them. Students need access to literature that is meaningful and relevant to the real world, and in the climate, we are now living these pieces of literature are extremely relevant. Supplying access to a wide range of literature can help students understand text and relate their background knowledge to what they read. Supplying a diverse library in the classroom offers students a variety of topics that supplies them the opportunity to choose what they would like to read, and will help students answer their questions, and generate further student questions about a topic through discussion of the book. Providing this diversity will help students to further explore topics that are important to them.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
We’re making progress on this long-term project as well. It ran out of matching funds, but plenty of time still remains to complete it before the project’s deadline.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students amazing picture books to make math come alive!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: J R Harris Elementary School, Houston, Texas
Total: $630.84
Still Needed: $151.95 Completed, thank you!
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Madrigal:
My Students: My students are the best! I love how my babies never give up.
They are a smart, resilient, creative bunch who demonstrate their love for learning even when it gets tough.
Their eagerness to grow, to do better everyday melts my heart. The pandemic threw us a curveball, but we will succeed. We are on our way to an exciting 4th-grade adventure.
My Project: The headphones are for my students to use at home. During the spring, I noticed many of my kids got distracted while working at home among family members going about their daily chores. These will go on a kit to send home.
I have added math picture books that my eager learners will use to create context and make math learning fun!
The rest of the items will come very handy for teaching remotely and for their home kits. Lastly, PENCILS are a must for either learning face-to-face or safely from home.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
With lots of assistance from our readers, last week’s main project — Distance Learning: Hands-On Edition! — was completed! A middle school teacher in Corpus Christi will receive a Cricut Maker, which will enable her to create games and activities to send to her science students who are learning from home this fall. Here’s the teacher’s thank you note (my emphasis):
Thank you so much! My students and I appreciate your support and dedication to help make education fun and easier to learn. I cannot wait to start prepping at home activities to send to my kids! I truly appreciate the Daily Kos for featuring my project and encouraging others to donate! Thank you everyone! You are truly amazing!
With gratitude,
Mrs. Juarez
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 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 843! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.