This week, we’re helping a Nevada 4th-grade teacher bring her class a novel, and a first-year teacher in Iowa who needs books for her classroom 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 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.
📚 It’s the time of year to remind you that, if you like helping DonorsChoose and feel you could use some more tax-deductible donations in 2024, but don’t have a lot of time to choose projects right now, you can always make a lump donation as an account credit. Such a donation, in any amount, goes into your DonorsChoose account, and you can use funds from it any time during the next year to apply to projects of your choosing. One year after you make the donation, if there is anything left unapplied, DonorsChoose will apply it to projects on their “urgent” list.
📚 Go to this link to do this, or to see answers to common questions.
We have a new main project this week! Mrs. Wilson teaches 4th grade in a Nevada city just south of Las Vegas, and she wants her students to be able to read a prizewinning novel about a character with learning disabilities.
And, we have a 2x matching grant available, from one of the favorite authors we’ve seen in our projects: The Mo & Cher Willems Foundation thanks teachers and donors for their work getting more new books into the hands of new readers!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students the novel "Fish in a Tree" and some fun bookmarks to keep their places while reading.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Harriet Treem Elementary School, Henderson, Nevada
Total: $260.11 (2x matching funds from the Mo & Cher Willems Foundation)
Still Needed: $260.11 Completed, thank you! Please consider project #1a below.
Project description by Mrs. Wilson: The 4th graders at our school are excited about learning! The kids are curious and enjoy working in small groups to expand their understanding. Our 4th graders are working towards becoming independent, self-aware learners.
The novel, "Fish in a Tree" is a great story of overcoming adversity and believing in yourself and will help our 4th graders to grow.
Our 4th graders love to read stories that are relatable and engaging. This novel will give the students a chance to make connections, analyze characters, and create new ideas.
We are so appreciative of the help that our donors choose to provide.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Someone good at making quick sketches has made a trailer for the book Fish in a Tree.
Since project #2 was most generously completed by a reader, and I know this is a time of year when people like to help others, I am adding in an auxiliary project that has matching funds under the same grant as the one above. As always, we’ll carry into next week anything not funded today. (Later: ha! #1’s completed too, so I’m glad I added this one!)
Mrs. Arias’s elementary school in Lubbock, Texas is lacking in fairy tales, and she needs some for her classroom library.
PROJECT #1a
Resources: Help me give my students the wonder of fairy tales as they begin their reading journey!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Hodges Elementary School, Lubbock, Texas
Total: $252.58 (2x matching funds from the Mo & Cher Willems Foundation)
Still Needed: $252.58 $232.58 ($117 from us)
Project description by Mrs. Arias: Our elementary school serves a diverse student population, many of whom face socioeconomic challenges that limit their access to quality literature at home. Fairy tales have long been cherished for their timeless appeal and their ability to foster imagination, critical thinking, and cultural understanding. Unfortunately, our library’s collection of fairy tale picture books is outdated and insufficient to meet the needs of our young readers. We are seeking funding to curate a vibrant collection of fairy tale picture books that will inspire, educate, and engage our students.
These books will foster early literacy skills through captivating storytelling and illustrations.They will also encourage critical thinking by comparing and contrasting traditional and modern tales.Through these books, we can celebrate cultural diversity and promote inclusivity.
They will help us support classroom instruction by aligning with literacy and social studies curricula.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
I don’t remember this 2005 Terry Gilliam fantasy, so I expect it didn’t do so well at the box office (confirmed), but it looks quite entertaining. And it’s late in our day, with a bonus project, so I don’t feel obliged to be terribly didactic. ;)
We’ve made good progress on this project #2 in just a couple of weeks! Ms. Drish is a never-before-funded Iowa teacher who is also new to teaching this year. She needs our help to improve her classroom library.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students a better classroom library! I want to expand our library as much as possible!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than half of students from low‑income households.
Location: Lowell Elementary School, Waterloo, Iowa
Total: $983.44
Still Needed: $428.92 Completed, yay! Thanks to all donors. Please consider project #1 above.
Project description by Ms. Drish: My class library is good but it could be way better! I am a first year teacher this year and trying hard to make my classroom the best I can for my students this year!
Books help students learn so much!
I will use these books as read aloud through out the year! The students will be able to use even more books during their time to read and look during the week! The more books the better always! I really appreciate any donation at all and thank you soo much for it!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Since Mo Willems wrote some of the books requested for this project, and is helping fund the other project, here is an interesting interview he did with Today last year.
As you’ve guessed by now, our #1 project from last week was completed with plenty of help from our amazing readers — thank you!
Project #1, Sensory Science: Ms. Watkins teaches an early-elementary grade in Ohio, and needed appealing materials for her science center. She seems pretty excited, and that’s giving me a happy smile.
She writes: Thank you so much for funding this project!
I appreciate all of the donors thoughtfulness and generosity!!! It is so kind of you all!! I appreciate everyone! I am really overjoyed by this generosity!!! I know my students are going to be excited to receive these things when we get back to school!!!
Happy holidays to everyone!!! Thank you again!!
| 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 1142! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.
