This week, we’re helping two elementary schools with book projects; the Mississippi project will bring more books to a classroom, and the ambitious Alabama project will update the entire school library. 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.
This project was new just last week, and now moves up here as it nears completion: in western Mississippi, this teacher needs more books in her elementary school classroom!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students more books to add to our classroom collection!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Pearman Elementary School, Cleveland, Mississippi
Total: $412.21
Still Needed: $142.21 Completed, thanks! Please consider project #2 below!
Project description by Ms. Jones: This project mostly includes books that my students enjoy reading and taking Accelerated Reading tests on. They requested more Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House books so I included those as bundles. The singular books will be new reads that I think my students will enjoy.
Giving students books that they are interested in promotes them to read more, ultimately turning them into great readers!
I also included an encyclopedia and two books of world records. I enjoyed reading the world record books in elementary school, so I know my students will too!!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
One of the requested book sets has been made into a Netflix series.
This is a “book trailer” for another fun set.
Our friend Eastern Bluebird found us this exciting and ambitious project in Alabama, to overhaul the school library of the James I. Dawson Elementary School, in Huntsville. E.B. adds that the school was recently renamed to honor the late Dr, James Dawson, a very distinguished local educator and the first Black man to earn a PhD in Agriculture from Penn State (short article on the renaming). I’m sure he would be delighted to see this project going on in his school!
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students new, exciting books that foster a love of reading!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households.
Location: James I. Dawson Elementary School, Huntsville, Alabama
Total: $1,189.56
Still Needed: $639.56 $548.56
Project description by Mrs. Rodgers: Help me provide new, exciting books for my students. Studies show that the best way to foster a love of reading is offering kids a vast array of different types of books.
Every kid deserves great books to read that help them love reading.
New books with colorful covers call to young readers in a way that old books simply cannot.
Our school library is very old, outdated, and in great need of an overhaul. You can help put thrilling books into the hands of deserving young readers!
Thank you!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Rather than more trailers about individual books, here are a couple of quick tours of some very nice children’s libraries in city public library systems. The Children’s Library Discovery Center at the Queens Central Library has worked with awesome science museum the Exploratorium, to integrate science and STEM concepts, and hands-on learning in general, into the library experience.
The Santa Barbara children’s library tour even gives us a ride through the book-return slot and down the conveyor belt!
Our main project from last week was completed, with a big assist from our readers!
Project #1, Math Mastery Matters: Mrs. Reiling teaches second grade in a Gulf Coast Mississippi town near Biloxi, and she needed some math activities for her students.
She writes: Thank you so much for your generosity. My students and I are so excited to receive our new materials. We are looking forward to going even more hands on in math. Because of your donations, you made it possible for this project to be funded and we greatly appreciate it.
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 1037! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.