This week, we’re helping at two middle schools: an Oakland science class needs the most basic school supplies, and a Des Moines class seeks books about the Second Sudanese Civil War. 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 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 have a new project #1 this week! Many thanks to Eastern Bluebird, who often takes the trouble to look for good projects to suggest for us. I don’t typically look at California projects — after all, there are plenty of projects in states where public education overall is more beleaguered — but of course there are communities in California that struggle with impoverished schools too, and EB noticed this one.
This project is in Oakland, home town of both Daily Kos and Vice President Harris. Ms. Branco teaches middle school science there, and neither her school nor her students can afford some very basic school supplies that they need to do their work.
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students school supplies to learn in the science classroom!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Roosevelt Middle School, Oakland, California
Total: $170.74
Still Needed: $150.74 Completed, thank you! Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of room for you on project #2 below. ;)
Project description by Ms. Branco: We Need BASIC supplies! We are requesting the use of basic school supplies. We need pencils and glue for our students. These materials are necessary for a well-rounded classroom because in science we are constantly gluing stuff whether it comes to doing experiments that need glue or gluing cool worksheets into our science notebooks to learn about planetary science or even geography. A lot of students can not afford basic school supplies such as pencils so I'm asking for pencils to be able to provide students the proper tools for not only my classroom for all of their classes.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Faber-Castell offers a brief but very comprehensive tour of their pencil manufacturing process.
We made good progress on this ambitious and excellent new project #2 last week!
Mrs. Filippelli, a never before funded teacher, wants her Iowa middle school students to learn about children’s experiences in the Second Sudanese Civil War.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students the chance to read multiple perspectives of the lost children from the Second Sudanese Civil War with the book "Lost Boy, Lost Girl Escaping Civil War in Sudan."
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than three-quarters of students from low‑income households.
Location: Weeks Middle School, Des Moines, Iowa
Total: $753.46
Still Needed: $604.05 $425.22
Project description by Mrs. Filippelli: In order to understand the events that children experienced during the Second Sudanese Civil War I want my students to read from multiple firsthand experiences, including the Lost Girls, which is often times overlooked. In order to do this, I need to find the funds to buy two classroom sets of the book "Lost Boy, Lost Girl Escaping Civil War in Sudan" by John Bul Dau and Martha Arual Akech.
By being able to read multiple books about the same topic from different firsthand accounts, my students will have a deeper understanding of the Second Sudanese Civil War.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
John Bul Dau, an author of the requested book, gives a TED talk about his experiences. About 18 min. He’s a very engaging speaker!
Our #1 project from last week was completed, just as we’d hoped! Many thanks to all our readers, including those who did not check in here!
Project #1, STEM Project: Solar Cars, Solar Bugs, Electrical Circuit Models Building: Mr. Oni teaches third grade in Milwaukee, and he was seeking some cool STEM activities for his students.
He writes: From a very sincere heart, I and the entire 3rd grade student of Westside Academy want to say a very BIG thank you for your generous donation. This will surely important impact the children learning positively. Without you this vision might not be possible. We are very grateful that we find you to believe in our vision.
| 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 seeks to fund science, math, and literacy projects in 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 1131! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.
