This week, we’re helping a Fort Lauderdale teacher get some materials for science projects, and a Norfolk, Virginia teacher stock up on a lot of recommended books. 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.
This week, we have two new projects, and both of them 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.
This Fort Lauderdale teacher needs a few simple supplies to enhance her fifth grade’s science lessons!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students gram cubes to learn about mass and using balance scales to measure mass and pull back cars and trucks so my students can explore friction.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Also a Celebrate Black Teachers and Students project.
Location: Dillard Elementary School, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Total: $155.45
Still Needed: $155.45 $44.96
Project description by Ms. Wood: My students love to use their hands to explore science. I have balance scales, but no gram cubes. I have a variety of surfaces, but no toy cars to test the friction of the surfaces. I have confetti, but no balloon to rub on fabric to magically lift the confetti. Please help me to bring these necessary items to our science lab so we can enrich my students' learning. I want the students to be able to use the gram cubes to understand mass as well as the tools we use to measure mass. I know by using the toy cars on different surfaces, they will have an experience with friction that they will enjoy and remember. The balloons allow each student to explore static electricity on their own. All these hands-on activities enhance their learning.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Static electricity is one of the topics Ms. Wood hopes to explore. SciShow tells us more.
Our new project #2 is a very ambitious one, but it has lots of time remaining, so I believe we can nudge it into the limelight and get some additional donors aboard to help.
Mrs. Henderson is drawing on two lists of distinguished books: Virginia Readers' Choice is a project of the Virginia State Literacy Association, and America’s Battle of the Books is a “voluntary reading incentive program” that offers grade-targeted reading lists and assists schools to put on a fun tournament/game show-style competition for readers.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students access to books from the Virginia Readers' Choice list and the upcoming Battle of the Books for Norfolk, VA.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Also a Celebrate Black Teachers and Students project.
Location: Jacox Elementary School, Norfolk, Virginia
Total: $744.25
Still Needed: $694.25 $558.95
Project description by Mrs. Henderson: I want to provide multiple copies of this year's selections from Virginia Readers' Choice and Battle of the Books to our students so they have the opportunity to participate in these programs. The Virginia Readers' Choice is a great venue for reading aloud in the classroom and Battle of the Books encourages students to collaborate and share knowledge.
This project will benefit students by providing access to quality literature and promoting reading as a life-long pleasure.
There are so many benefits to reading: expanding your worldview, building problem-solving skills, and improving memory and concentration. Plus, it's fun!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
One of the requested titles caught my eye: Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built. Looking on YouTube, this is what I found about Mr. Gutiérrez.
Both our projects from last week were completed, largely thanks to our readers!
Project #1, Fun With Fly Guy!: Mrs. Ricard teaches first grade in a small Mississippi Gulf Coast city. She was hoping her students could have a set of the “Fly Guy” stories they love to read.
She writes: How exciting to have our project funded. We love Fly Guy. We will enjoy reading these books every day. Having your support is so wonderful and we Thank you so much for supporting public education. Bless you for your donation. My students can't wait to read our new books.
Project #2, Engaging in Hands-On Classroom Engineering: Ms. Barajas wanted her Los Angeles third grade students to be able to design and build model vehicles and learn some physics.
At this writing, she has not yet seen the good news. We’ll bring you her note on a future Sunday when it’s posted.
| 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 1080! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.
