This week, we're continuing a South Carolina project to get early-grades students engineering happier endings to fairy tales, and starting an Oklahoma project to bring fifth-graders a set of books that help them think about and discuss why and how experiments come out as they do. We hope that readers who support quality public school education will help these teachers and students by sharing or supporting our featured projects.
The Inoculation Project is an ongoing, volunteer effort to crowdfund science and math projects for red-state public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
This project, started last week, is making good progress! Here’s what nomandates wrote about it:
A never-before-funded librarian at a rural South Carolina school is requesting both fairy tales and folk tales STEM problem-solving kits, as well as STEM story books. This project will reach 450 students.
Space Shuttle Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair was born in Lake City, which has a population that is 71% African-American.
11th-hour note: When we started this project, it was receiving matching funds, but as of Saturday night, apparently those funds have run out. (They were definitely still there Saturday afternoon when I wrote this diary!) It’s not as if it’s in imminent danger of expiring; it’ll just take longer to complete than we were expecting. And now I am pretty attached to the similarly beefy project I picked out, because that’s what happens, so maybe you’ll be seeing both of these for a week or two more!
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: My students need these materials to increase engagement in STEM related activities that are also linked to the stories we read aloud in our classrooms.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Lake City Early Childhood Center, Lake City, South Carolina
Total: $536.54
Still Needed: $284.72 Completed! Thank you! There’s another project below.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms Ellibee:
My Students: We are a small, rural community at a primary school that caters to nearly 450 4K - 2nd graders. Our students are young, vivacious, and ultimately curious about all things related to our media center! They love books and technology, and I wish to entice them to explore more.
This is my second year at this school, and I'm working diligently to create unique opportunities for our students to work towards improving their academic skills, and involving them in the care of their community at a level they can understand.
Our entire student body receives free lunch, most of our children come to school ill prepared for the most basic of school needs. It's pivotal that I do my part to help my students feel welcome and a part of the family of students, teachers, and staff we've created here; and illustrate to them how to give back to the community they care so much about.
My Project: This project will allow teachers to check out kits from the library to use during unit studies on fairy tales, folk tales, and specific STEM projects that we are building a read aloud collection for.
My Project: This project will allow teachers to check out kits from the library to use during unit studies on fairy tales, folk tales, and specific STEM projects that we are building a read aloud collection for.
The purpose of this project is to enhance and extend what is available in the classroom in science, mathematics, and literacy skill manipulatives.
It is imperative to link what we do to literature to increase our students interest and engagement in reading comprehension. Helping to transform these stories into a reality by having these project kits allows us to bring more mathematics and science into stories we already read to our students.
Our students deserve every opportunity to have innovative and engaging material available to them, and this project helps to enhance what we work so hard to provide for them.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our new long-term project is in a suburb of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The idea behind the requested series of books, described by their author below, sounds like a good one.
LONG TERM PROJECT
Resources: My students need various science books that will engage them in higher level thinking in our science class.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Lynn Wood Elementary School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Total: $234.31
Still Needed: $234.31 $144.31
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Miller:
My Students: I teach fifth grade at a suburban school in Oklahoma. My students come from various cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. They are a diverse and unique bunch. Each day, we strive to do the very best we can. We are a Title One school and a large percentage of our students qualify for free or reduced price lunch.
Our school is a learning community.
We try to meet the needs of every student and challenge them to set and reach goals each and everyday.
My Project: Science is a fun and engaging discipline. However, it is also difficult for some students. In science, students are asked to create and explain. There isn't always one "right" answer. They are asked to engage in higher-level thinking and creating. We are requesting a set of books that will help our students become more scientific thinkers. The "Uncovering Student Ideas in Science" series is a set of books that includes various assessment probes for students. These questions are not just simple "one-answer" questions. They require students to think and justify their thinking. To not just give the correct answer, but to give the "why" and the "how." In our standardized-test world, that is something that is not easily taught. These questions and activities will help us take our students science thinking to the next level.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
An interview with the author explains the idea behind the books.
Here’s an example of the kind of question involved.
Last week, we helped a Houston-area elementary school, still struggling to recover from Hurricane Harvey. Their librarian hoped to supply their library with some new books, and with tools and supplies to allow students to build and create using readily-available cardboard. The project was Books + Tools for Creating Cardboard Construction = Future-Ready Learners.
Ms. Reed writes: Wow! I am thrilled and very, very thankful that you supported this project. My children will experience so much joy as they get to read and create with the books and kits you funded. I will begin saving boxes so the designing and building can begin! They are going to be so excited when they see the new books.
Our Dollars at Work
Late in January, we completed the project Passion and Perseverance Can Make Electricity!, to help Mrs. Scott’s Charlottesville fourth and fifth graders get copies of the book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. It’s the non-fiction story of young William Kamkwamba, who learned, by reading on his own, how to build a windmill out of scrap and bring electricity and running water to his village in Malawi. (More photos at the link.)
Our fourth and fifth grade teachers are thrilled to get a copy of this book. The qualities of perseverance and courage are portrayed throughout this non-fiction story as William has to learn how to make electricity from the materials around him in a small African village. In a school with a diverse population, it is imperative we give our students real examples of people that have used their passions to improve our world. Electricity is a topic that is studied for the first time in our fourth grade curriculum and this book is the perfect way to connect literacy with content. Thank you for supporting our school.
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in traditionally red-state classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose.org, 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 two science or math projects in red states, preferably 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 646! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.