This week, we're helping to provide hands-on materials for lessons that provide nonfiction frog and turtle books to an elementary school class in Missouri, a butterfly habitat set to a high school class in Alabama, and pre-made microscope slides for use in all 6th-grade science classes at a middle school in Dallas.
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.
We’re quite close to completing last week’s long-term project.
PROJECT #1
Resources: My students need nonfiction animal books to expand their knowledge of animals.
Economic need: More than half of students from low‑income households
Location: Jasper Elementary School, Jasper, Missouri
Still Needed: $54.89 Completed! Please consider Project 3 below.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Kellenberger:
My Students: I am the K-2 Title I reading teacher in a low income southwest Missouri school district. I work with approximately 30 students, either individually or in small groups.
I love working with the youngest struggling readers who usually still have the "love of learning".
Their potential for learning can only go up if I can help them see the relevance of how learning to read is a vital life-long skill.
I do a variety of reading assessments to help guide my instruction and also collaborate with the classroom teachers. I strive to use many multi-sensory strategies to address my students' many learning needs.
My Project: As a reading teacher I am always trying to find books that hold the attention of my students. Young and old students love to learn about the changing world around them.
These nonfiction frog and turtle books will catch the attention of my young beginning readers.
Students need the opportunity to practice reading and what is even better is when the books are interesting and fun. They can shore up their reading skills and acquire new knowledge about the world around them.
I have some tadpoles that we are watching grow right now in my classroom. The tadpole to frog book will help them while watching the tadpoles grow.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our first new project will support a never-before-funded teacher who will use butterflies to teach the concepts in bold below (my emphasis).
PROJECT #2
Resources: My students need to experience the metamorphosis of butterflies first hand!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Greensboro High School, Greensboro, Alabama
Still Needed: $174.76 Completed! Please consider Project 3 below.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. McFarland:
My Students: I'm probably biased, but I think I have some of the best students around! The students in my classes are the reason I come to work every day. They're goofy, they're funny, and they genuinely brighten my days.
That being said, I want to give my students the absolute best of everything, because I know that's what they deserve!
I want my biology class in the fall to be immersive, engaging, and to always keep them guessing. The textbook/definition biology classrooms of the past won't be found in Ms. McFarland's curriculum!
My Project: I think as we're learning about the incredible transformation that butterflies go through (as well as butterfly conservation), being able to actually watch this change happen first hand will be incredibly interesting for my students!
This will be a learning activity that will stick with them forever!
Watching the metamorphosis of butterflies within their classroom will be much more impactful to them than learning about it through pictures and definitions.
This lesson will be helpful to learning concepts such as bilateral symmetry, homeostasis, and vestigial/homologous structures. This project is one that will be an enjoyable experience for all of my students involved, as well as other students within the school who love to stop by my classroom to visit my animals.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our new long-term project will support another never-before-funded teacher who has already donated twice to her own project.
Resources: My students need a Frey Scientific prepared slide kit for hands-on learning about science!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: W H Gaston Middle School, Dallas, Texas
Still Needed: $274.69 $192.64
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Norlander:
My Students: Our students all live within a 5-mile radius of the school, with the large majority residing in one of the many apartment complexes surrounding this community. Our families all qualify for a free breakfast and snack program because of their economic backgrounds. 100% of our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Approximately 90% of our students are bilingual. We have wonderful programs in place to help students realize their full potential and families to get the resources they need to foster that success.
Our 6th grade science students need pre-made microscope slides to use in THREE classrooms for science instruction throughout the year.
After-school enrichment with 6th grade Science Club would also benefit from these slides. What these students lack economically, they make up for in human spirit and determination. They make you want to work harder every day because they are so worth the time.
My Project: The 6th grade science team needs Slides Prepared Set from Frey Scientific in order to teach students about cell components and structure. Cell theory is often very difficult for students because the cells cannot be seen by the naked eye, making concepts seem disconnected.
Students LOVE to experience microscopic scientific inquiry and, while we have some microscopes, we have no slides!
Having hands-on learning greatly improves student engagement and knowledge retention, making this a very important part of their learning. These slides will be used for many years so your donation will touch hundreds of young lives every year.
Thanks to an assist from our generous donors, a San Antonio elementary school classroom will receive books about the lives of great inventors as well as 3-D building kits. Here’s the teacher’s thank you note:
You are truly our heroes. Thank you so much for helping provide materials to little minds who need it most. Your kindness and compassion will be felt by all the little hands and minds that will utilize these amazing resources. It is my goal as an educator to shape and inspire my students to become individuals like you. I am beyond thankful and grateful for your warm hearts.
With gratitude,
Ms. A.
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 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 664! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.