This week, we’re still helping a Nevada middle school class read some exciting biographies, and a San Antonio kindergarten get some Spanish-language math games and activities. 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, math, and literacy 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.
We still have a little bit to go on this great project suggested by Eastern Bluebird. This Nevada middle school class will get a chance to read inspiring biographies and then do a project about them!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help my students learn about important people who have showed resilience and overcome obstacles to make a positive impact on the world!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Jim Bridger Middle School, North Las Vegas, Nevada
Total: $371.29
Still Needed: $199.71 $89.71
Project description by Ms. White: My project is designed to get kids excited about making a difference in the world! Through hearing stories of people who overcame obstacles to make a positive impact on the world, they will learn that everyone has a gift to offer the world! After students read in partners and learn about these topics, they will work in small groups to build models of topics and people presented in the books. Using LEGO's, students will collaborate and work to recreate pieces of the lives of the people they read about. This will provide an exciting twist from the traditional reading and allow them to talk, work with friends and learn about people who made a difference.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
One of the books is the young readers’ edition of Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History. Here’s a short interview with author Keith O’Brien.
Another book in the request is The Girl With a Mind for Math: the Story of Raye Montague. Here’s an interview in which the groundbreaking naval engineer describes how she rose to her position.
The month of September 15 - October 15 is National Hispanic American Heritage Month (sometimes called “Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month”, but the official US government name is as I’ve linked). In recognition, we’ve picked up this very substantial project that will help a San Antonio kindergarten teacher acquire materials for teaching math, but also, develop her own Spanish-language math materials at the appropriate level, which are otherwise hard to find.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students math activities and supplies for centers in our classroom.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Five Palms Elementary School, San Antonio, Texas
Total: $915.18
Still Needed: $624.65 $539.65
Project description by Ms. Llanas: My students are always eager to go to school and learn something new. This project will allow them to have some Math activities/games for their math centers. It will also provide the supplies such as laminating pouches, notebooks, and card stock paper required to create some of our own Spanish Math centers. Spanish material is very difficult to find and sometimes it is just better and easier to create our own. This will help them with some of the concepts they are learning and will be used for several years. This project will benefit several classes in the coming years.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Okay, this week we’re counting up to 50!
We don’t have thank-you notes, since our projects from last week are still open, so I decided to add this little tour of three outstanding specimens in the newly-reopened Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It’s an eye-popping collection overall; it was closed for renovation last time I was there and I hope someday I’ll feel sufficiently safe from plague to go back to the city and see it. [6:34]
DonorsChoose has developed the designation Equity Focus Schools to describe some schools that submit projects. They 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, anti-education push in conservative America by funding science, math, and literacy projects in red-state public school 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 projects 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 995! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.