This week, we’re helping two Missouri teachers: one in Kansas City who wants to use Lego to teach middle-school geometry, and one in St. Louis who hopes to have her class read a Toni Morrison novel. 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, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
I need to correct an oversight: earlier this week, broths kindly let me know that, starting this coming Thursday, October 21 at 7 am ET, until funds run out, there will be a 2x match for all book projects at DonorsChoose, thanks to Dollar General Literacy Foundation. I just zoned out and forgot to include that information, but luckily, Eastern Bluebird’s comment brought it to my attention.
In case you’d like to jump in and participate, and our book project is completed (we’ll surely have more book projects next Sunday if there are funds left by then, but you never know), here is a search on DonorsChoose for book projects. (Additional filters you can select are in the left sidebar — for instance, Equity Focus schools. Note that you can avoid seeing charter school projects by expanding the “Show teacher and school type” header at the bottom and checking “traditional schools”.)
Here’s a never-before-funded teacher at a Kansas City public middle school with a challenging college-prep program. This project currently has 2x matching funds from General Motors: As we continue to navigate the global pandemic, now more than ever, equipping educators with resources and tools to confidently teach STEM curriculum is critical in the development of our future innovators and leaders in STEM. I put this one first because one never knows when those matching-funds grants will run out.
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students Legos so that they can experience some hands on learning!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School*; nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Lincoln College Preparatory Academy Middle School, Kansas City, Missouri
Total: $544.88 (2x matching funds from General Motors)
Still Needed: $519.88 $259.88 ($130 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Smeltzer:
My Students: I teach a group of inspired mathematicians that are very creative.
Demographically, my students come from over 20 different cultural backgrounds, each with their own individual skill set.
These students want to use real world scenarios to show their understanding!
My Project: I would like to purchase Legos to use in geometry class. We will use these to understand area, volume, surface area, cross sections, scale drawings angles and more. Legos will help me make the geometry section more hands on for my students. I hope to use Legos so my students can explore geometry concepts! This will help students with different learning styles to absorb the content and make the learning experience more fun, more tangible, and more meaningful. I thank you for your willingness to help me create a fun way to teach math to my students.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
I needed to include two of these. This guy has a million of them.
Meanwhile, on the opposite edge of Missouri, this St. Louis teacher wants her high school students to have a chance to read a work by Toni Morrison.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students additional copies of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School*; nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Riverview Gardens High School, Saint Louis, Missouri
Total: $226.72
Still Needed: $226.72 $140.75
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Dunnell:
My Students: My high school students are living their best lives and becoming proactive, productive, and positive pieces of their community and the world.
My scholars have grown up in an area filled with turmoil and trauma, but they have overcome the negatives and are living their lives in a positive way.
My students are living in poverty. They attend a Title I school in Saint Louis, MO. Every day they have struggles, but none of them let their struggles define them. They will succeed at whatever they put their mind to because they are passionate, hard-working, and want to be better than a stereotype.
My Project: My students enjoy reading about people who have lived similar lives to their own. Having a class set of novels allows my students to read alone or in small groups.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison lets my students into a life and culture that they understand, but it also helps them see that world, their world, from the outsider's point of view.
This novel helps them to see things from a different viewpoint--which helps them understand others. This leads them to become a more caring and empathetic part of their community.
This novel shows them that their words matter, their culture matters, that they matter.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Two videos again! This very short clip is meant to help modern kids understand several cultural references in the book that are ancient history to them. It’s startling to an older adult in the same way as those annual lists of things this year’s graduating class has never heard of.
This interview with Toni Morrison about The Bluest Eye runs over 20 minutes, but it’s such a pleasure to hear her speak!
Last week, our main project was completed, mostly by TIP donors, and our long-term project met its goal with a lot of help from us as well.
Project #1, Micro Ecosystems: Ms. Wilson’s high school zoology students attend an inner-city gifted and talented program in Oklahoma City. They needed materials, plants, and tiny animals for their closed-ecosystem project.
She writes: Thank you so much for making this project possible for my students! They are looking forward to exploring how all the elements of an ecosystem work together, and how different nutrients cycle. They have a strong love of hands on labs and real life application of what they are learning.
Project #2, Reading Is Mathematical!: Ms. McDonald’s North Carolina elementary students needed a collection of stories with a mathematical theme.
She writes: I will utilize the math literature requested with my math lessons. I am eager to integrate reading into math! This is definitely a way to connect students' conceptual learning to a love for reading. Without your many donations, this project would not have reached so many boys and girls. Thanks again!
*DonorsChoose has developed a new designation for schools that submit projects. Equity Focus Schools meet two criteria: at least 50% of students are Black, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multiracial, and at least 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the standard measure for school economic need. You can read more at the link about their efforts to address the longstanding inequity in education. |
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose, 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 933! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.