This week, we’re helping fund some science lab kits for a Cleveland middle school, and an assortment of teaching supplies for a Houston first grade, including lots of tools to get them thinking about light. 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 red-state 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 was our bigger project last week, and I’m a bit surprised it’s even still open today. It’s really close to being completed!
Mrs. Lattner needs an assortment of lab kits to allow her Cleveland middle school students to explore the sciences. She has some interesting topics lined up!
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students some hands on kits to increase our scientific knowledge through inquiry and investigations.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Halle School, Cleveland, Ohio
Total: $328.52
Still Needed: $126.02 Completed, thank you! Please consider project #2!
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Lattner:
My Project: Our students love to be engaged in learning. The best way to be engaged and having fun while learning is through hands-on inquiry and practice.
I am asking for hand-on lab kits for chemistry, electromagnetism, and genetics.
These kits will bring the hard to understand abstract concepts to life through doing. The Periodic Table Kit will allow students to physically place the "elements" where they belong and discover why. The Changing Ecosystem Kit will help students to understand the importance of keeping our environments clean. The Genetic Globin Game will help the students visually see the impact of how genes can mutate over generations, bring the Punnett Square lessons to life. The Litmus Paper will be used to test items to learn about acids and bases. And the Intro to Electromagnetism will allow students to delve deeper into electromagnetics, more than just a battery, nail, and copper wire.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our new longer-term project comes from another Houston early-elementary teacher, at a different school, who happened to see us last week supporting Mrs. Garcia’s Spanish-language books project. She took the initiative to sign up for a Daily Kos account and present her project to me via Kosmail!
I’m glad she did, because my usual searches don’t include projects as large as hers, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take one up now and then. She has plenty of time plus, currently, 2x matching funds from Chevron: Chevron recognizes that supporting racial equity in education is essential. In partnership with DonorsChoose, Chevron seeks to provide students with resources that increase access to STEM opportunities for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students a sensory light table and desk with supplies along with hands-on S.T.E.A.M. learning materials.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Green Valley Elementary School, Houston, Texas
Total: $970.06 (2x matching funds from Chevron)
Still Needed: $970.06 $790.06 ($396 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Perez:
My Project: My 1st Grade Scholars are my Super Heroes! Among the many challenges that they face, they have proven their resilience and remain optimistic and are excited to come to school each day.
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically—Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education”, Martin Luther King.
My First Grade Scholars enjoy coming to school each day and they are eager to learn and if you took one step into our classroom, you can see their curiosity that drives them naturally.
My students attend a Title I school. More than 80% receive free lunch and free breakfast is offered to each student. As their Bilingual Education Teacher, I am their voice and will always advocate to close the learning gap and help my students succeed despite the low socio-economic school population. Their creativity, drive for knowledge, and determination to overcome all obstacles is why they deserve much more than what they have.
These donations will further inspire my First Grade Scholars to do well in their day to day learning experiences as well as motivate them to intensify their learning and discovery through the sensory light table and desk through hands-on learning to explore various math concepts with the math manipulatives provided. The students will also be engaged with the science readers provided and the translucent pattern blocks so they can make endless S.T.E.A.M designs and creations unfold right before their eyes. The much needed storage and desk supplies will house these math and science resources for our classroom so they can last for future 1st grade scientists in our classroom for years to come.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Among the requested tools is a whole collection of items for kids to use on a light table. Ordinary things like letters, shapes, and blocks take on a new dimension when they are transparent and glow in pretty colors against the light surface! The first video is a little ad from the maker of some of the products.
But the uses of a light table don’t end there!
Our main project from last week was completed, with major help from our readers!
Project #1, The Gift of Reading: Mrs. Garcia needed books in Spanish, to help her early-grade English learners stay engaged with reading in both languages.
She writes: Oh my goodness!
Thank you so much for your generous donation to my project! I can’t wait to see the looks on my student’s faces when they receive their books! Their Kindergarten graduation is coming soon and that will be the perfect day to give them their surprise.
We also have a note from a project completed by last week, but a bit too close to diary time for the teacher to have gotten the news when we posted.
Doodling Into Existence: Mr. Boston teaches high school in Oklahoma, and wanted these wonderful little 3D “pens”, handheld devices allowing students to create 3D models freehand, by drawing them in the air.
He writes: Thank you for taking your time and money to research and back this project. The students will enjoy making 3d projects for their math, science and any other classes where a 3d model will help them understand and grow. These models and the act of building them will create lasting memories and foster a love for learning.
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 combats the anti-science, anti-education push in conservative America by funding science, math, and literacy projects in red-state 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 975! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.