This week, we’re helping two reading projects: a Los Angeles bilingual third grade needs books in Spanish, and a new elementary teacher in Iowa needs help to improve 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 getting to be 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.
I was all set to pick a science project for our new project #1 today, but here was this bilingual books project about to expire on Wednesday! I am absolutely certain we can push it over the finish line by doing what we do — it won’t take much to make the DonorsChoose algorithm show it to other donors.
Mr. Araiza teaches a dual-language third grade in Los Angeles, and he needs books in Spanish to engage his students.
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students in my 3rd grade dual language class books in Spanish, the target language students are learning.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Harrison Elementary School, Los Angeles, California
Total: $371.35
Still Needed: $176.94 Completed, YAY! Thank you! Please consider project #2 below.
Project description by Mr. Araiza: I am requesting Spanish books for my third grade students in our Spanish dual language class. The items I am requesting will make a great difference in student learning. They will enjoy the books in Spanish because most of the books I requested are of familiar tales they have read in English. Students can and will enjoy these books in our classroom library or at home. My students will see that the Spanish language is a beautiful language.
My goal for this project is to help my students become literate in two languages, English and Spanish.
I do not have any or many Spanish books in my classroom library as of now. If my students are literate in two languages, it will have various lifetime benefits for them. They will have the opportunity to attain jobs that require bilingual skills.
My students are special because they are learning two languages at once. For some English is their first language, they are learning both academic English and Spanish. On the other hand, I have students who speak Spanish, but are learning English. It also favors them to have books in Spanish in our library. Books in Spanish will show them that their native language is valued. Please support my students in becoming biliterate. Thank you.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Rather than make you listen to a reading of a Spanish book, I picked the one about Frida Kahlo, Frida Kahlo y sus Animalitos. Then I found a short tour of her home, the famous Casa Azul in Mexico City where she was born and lived most of her life, narrated by her biographer, Hayden Herrera.
Here’s our more ambitious new project #2, which we have plenty of time to work on!
Ms. Drish is a never-before-funded Iowa teacher who is also new to teaching this year. I’ve been watching this one for a while, and I think the time is right for us to jump in and help her 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: $766.49 $707.96
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!
Seminole author Kevin Noble Maillard reads his book Fry Bread, requested in this project.
Awesome news: both our projects from last week were completed, which was quite a reach! (We did have help, but that’s the idea, and it’s our readers who do most of the work AND create the activity on the project that attracts others.)
Project #1, Igniting Minds: Fostering English Language Development With Beloved Children's Series: Ms. L. is a reading specialist in Houston with many students from homes where Spanish is the primary language. She needed some books to engage her students with reading in English.
She writes: Thanks again for recently donating to the "Igniting Minds: Fostering English Language Development With Beloved Children's Series" on DonorsChoose. Thanks to your support, I will get these books ready to check out just in time for the upcoming winter break so that students can have something special to read. I can't wait to update you soon!
Project #2, Engineering and Programming: Dr. Morales teaches middle school students in Texas, and wants them to have cool robotics kits to help them reach competition level..
They write: Thank you for your donation. Your kindness is much appreciated. As a result, more students will now participate in robotics. This will be the trajectory that propels them towards STEM careers. Thank you once again
for your contribution to our robotics program. It is a true act of kindness from you.
| 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 1140! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.
