This week, we’re helping an Arkansas elementary-school class that needs fiction books, and a South Carolina middle-school class that needs equipment to do hands-on science labs. 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.
Both of this week’s projects have a special designation from DonorsChoose:
Celebrate Black Teachers and Students
This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
We don’t have all that long to get this reading project for an Arkansas elementary class funded, but I think we can do it!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students books in their hands to promote the love of reading.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than three-quarters of students from low‑income households. Also a Celebrate Black Teachers and Students project.
Location: Fox Meadow School of Creative Media, Jonesboro, Arkansas
Total: $476.73
Still Needed: $154.72 $98.84
Project description by Ms. Wright: In our classroom, we use read-aloud weekly to teach comprehension strategies, examine characters, and discuss story elements.
Currently, we read the book as a class, but I want to provide copies for my students to work within small groups.
This will allow them to dig deep into the text, to really examine the illustrations, and to find evidence to support their answers.
There is nothing better than having a book in your hands and flipping the pages, smelling the newness of it, and losing yourself in the text. Help me provide this for my class.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Of all the books requested, Slugs in Love definitely has the most compelling title!
This never-before-funded teacher in Charleston-area South Carolina needs kits and other hands-on materials to help her middle-school class understand the science curriculum.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students STEM kits to learn Ecology, Chemistry, and Biology!
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Also a Celebrate Black Teachers and Students project.
Location: Baptist Hill Middle-High School, Hollywood, South Carolina
Total: $991.45
Still Needed: $760.27 Amazingly enough, COMPLETED, thank you! Please consider project #1, above.
Project description by Mrs. Parent: Help rural middle schoolers explore the world of science by following the transfer of energy from atoms to ecosystems. Kids are ready to learn! Just need a little help getting the supplies.
STEM kits will help kids visualize the structure of common molecules, experiment with gasses to power their rockets, and even create living ecosystems to study!
They will develop science and critical thinking skills by growing bacteria in a petri dish, experimenting with growing plants using plant stands and terrarium sets and eventually exploring the transfer of energy through an entire ecosystem. Nothing is better than hands-on, all experience hands!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Since molecular models are one of the things requested, this seems like a good excuse to post a song from A Cappella Science. His parody songs are very clever and often at a much higher level than I ever studied. This one is based on Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You.
To my surprise, both our projects from last week were completed! Of course our readers had a lot to do with that.
Project #1, 123, Come Count With Me!: Mrs. Simpson wanted her early-grades Alabama students to have some tools to help them learn beginning math skills.
She writes: Thank you so much for all of your help. My students will really enjoy using these different counters when we’re doing our math lessons. These counters will make learning math skills a lot easier. Thank you again for all of your help. We really appreciate all that you did for us.
Project #2, VA Readers' Choice - Help Us Choose!: Mrs. Henderson, the librarian at a Norfolk, Virginia elementary school, wanted a good selection of high-quality books to be available to her students and teachers.
She writes: Wow, I am so grateful for your interest in our students. We have not highlighted these books in the last few years and I know the students and staff are going to be excited to share in this experience. I plan to move these around the staff and grade levels so we can reach the entire school.
Many thanks and I cannot wait to start sharing these great books with Panda Nation!
| 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 1083! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.
