This week, we’re celebrating our community’s contributions toward completing 750 DonorsChoose projects since this series’ inception in 2009 (10th anniversary coming up in September!)
I’m certain I speak also for nomandates when I say that we’re so proud and pleased to have this chance to bring together classrooms in need with Daily Kos readers who are of a mind to help. We thank all of our community members — those who can spare a donation, and those who support us by faithfully recommending, commenting, and sharing via social media! (Thanks also to folks who sometimes donate and say they saw the project here, without commenting in these threads. There are excellent reasons why someone might do that, but it means we never get to say thank you directly. So I hope you all are reading today so you see me thanking you right here. 😉 )
It wouldn’t be a party without projects to support, and today I brought plenty for everyone! We have one in Michigan and two in Georgia, all with matching funds by Google.org that put them within our range to complete in time. 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 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’ll start in Michigan, where this project for an elementary school honors class is currently receiving 2x matching funds from Google.org: We’re incredibly grateful for the work teachers do every day to create learning environments that represent all students, so we’re contributing $4 million to double donations to classrooms, while funds last, through the #ISeeMe campaign, as part of our new $5 million commitment to public school classrooms.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students Makedo and ZipSnip tools to help students to build cardboard creations.
Economic need: More than three‑quarters of students from low‑income households
Location: Carrollton Elementary School, Saginaw, Michigan
Total: $380.20 (2x matching funds from Google.org)
Still Needed: $206.08 Completed! Thank you! Please see below for more projects.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Fresorger:
My Students: My students are engaged and ready to learn and they deserve the best we can give them. I teach incredible students that are motivated learners in an Honors program. My classroom is unique because I pull the top 10-15% and provide a curriculum that is both academically rigorous and providing opportunities for extended growth and development. My focus includes language arts and STEAM.
My school is a Title I school, and all of my students receive free lunch.
My students are ready to take on the future!
My Project: Students love to build, but it can be hard to provide materials that are safe and sturdy enough for life size creations. My solution is the Makedo and ZipSnip tools. With these tools the students can cut and attach materials to develop their ideas into life size models. We will use the playing cards and brads to make miniature prototypes before the build.
Empower students with three-dimensional thinking by building their creations.
The exciting part is that they are using cardboard, a free material that they are familiar with. All students can can see themselves as engineers and their STEM learning can be inspired with every box they see.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
So then, I spent much longer than I meant to dithering over two Georgia projects (well, after it took me quite a long time to narrow it down that much). And then I thought, Why not both? Heck, this is a party, after all! Both of these projects have until late October, and assuming we can get them whittled down before matching funds run out, that’s plenty of time to finish both.
Here’s a never-before-funded teacher in small-town Georgia, south of Macon. Again, Google.org provides the 2x match.
LONG-TERM PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students a chance to work cooperatively together, develop social skills, think critically, learn building and engineering, and have fun!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Centerville Elementary School, Centerville, Georgia
Total: $796.53 (2x matching funds from Google.org)
Still Needed: $466.53 $177.35 ($89 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Williams:
My Students: My students are lively, hilarious, unique children. Many of my students are part of the Early Intervention Program, meaning they are struggling with reading/writing or math. My hope is to support my students by offering STEM bins for them to use each morning. These bins will allow my students to work cooperatively together, practice building and engineering skills, and focus on critical thinking and problem solving skills.
Our school is a one-of-a-kind place full of teachers who truly LOVE teaching and absolutely LOVE our students!
We are a Title I (low-income) school in the small town of Centerville, Georgia! In this small town, is a community that loves and supports it's children!
Please help me help my students become more cooperative workers, better engineers, and more critical thinkers!
My Project: In an educational world that is so extremely focused on academics, students rarely get a chance to just play and create, especially as they get into the upper grades. I think that we should keep students excited and loving school as long as we possibly can. Having these morning STEM bins will give my students a chance to have fun first thing in the morning while also getting their brain awake and ready to go for the day!
These morning STEM bins will let students show off their creativity in a critical thinking and problem solving way.
Students will be able to come in each morning and have a little quiet time to really prepare themselves for the day and immediately feel some success and pride in creating something interesting and beautiful or working cooperatively through a difficult puzzle.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
I was fascinated by the “Fat Brain Toys” products in her list.
And here, we have a teacher at an Atlanta public school with a STEM focus. I’m sure you’ll see why this one appealed to me.
The school’s website is here, and there are a couple of videos on that page — they’re Facebook, so I can’t embed them here. The second one is of the school principal, Dr. Diamond Jack. In the video, she says, “You know, the brain that God gave our kids on the west side is no different than the brain he gave to the kids on any other side of town.” How sad for us all that people of color continue to have to assert this, 65 years after Brown v. Board. Why don’t we know this yet??
Google.org does the matching honors once again.
LONG-TERM PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students Micro:bit Tinker Kits to create a technology-based solution to a problem.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Hollis Innovation Academy, Atlanta, Georgia
Total: $420.19 (2x matching funds from Google.org)
Still Needed: $420.19 $59.25 ($30 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Smith:
My Students: The scholars at my school strive to exhibit our six habits of character each day; self-discipline, perseverance, collaboration, communication, empathy, and creativity. This year we will center our focus on Empathy to encourage students to use their gifts and talents for social good. Our scholars have persevered through many challenges such as the start of a new school, moving from space to space due to construction, and the addition of a new grade each year since the school has been in existence. Despite these challenges, they love to display their creativity in all areas, but especially in STEM. We are a Title I school in a high poverty area where many students face obstacles once they leave school. While in school we want to expose them to many STEM-related opportunities to show them that through STEM with a specific focus on computer science, they can create solutions to the problems they see in their country, community, and school.
My Project: This year, I want my students to begin to think about social justice issues around them and see that they have the power to effect change with the problems they see and/or encounter. For the past 3 years, my students have had STEM classes and clubs that introduced them to computer science. In addition to our focus on computer science, we also have been teaching our students about empathy and how to have empathy for others.
Now, that they have that background I want them to begin to apply those skills and concepts in projects that create solutions to real-world problems.
The Micro:bits are small devices that can be programmed to do Big Things! The students will use the Micro:bit kits along with other resources to design/build solutions that will address a social issue around them.
If this project is funded my students will see that they can become producers of good with the technology they have available to them versus always in the role of consumers. Above all I want my students to believe that they can create and MAKE GREAT THINGS HAPPEN!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
This one is geekier; also see specs here.
🎸 Here’s another project we can support, alertly noted by nomandates: kossack zen bassoon is a music teacher, and currently has an ambitious project open to provide guitars to his music class, in a high-poverty school in red Indiana. It’s not science/math, but we certainly have supported other projects by Daily Kos teachers in the past, and we’re glad to share it here and encourage our readers to donate or to support it with FB shares, tweets, or whatever other means occur to you. He’s going to need plenty of support to make that goal! 🎶
➡️ ➡️ IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DONATE, USE CODE ROCKET AT CHECKOUT to DOUBLE YOUR GIFT! ⬅️ ⬅️
Last week, DonorsChoose was closed (!), so nomandates took the opportunity to post a new success-list diary that starts at #751. Two weeks ago, however, we posted four projects, determined that at least one of them would be completed as our 750th project — and ALL of them were completed. So!
Weather It Up! Season It Up! Ms. Adams’ first graders in Georgia will get some weather instruments and other materials to help them understand weather and seasons. Ms. Adams writes: Thank you so much for your generosity! Your donations will allow my students to explore all concepts of seasons and weather. Early experiences in science help children develop problem-solving skills and motivate them toward a lifelong interest in the natural world. I know my students will be fully engaged in this science unit.
Space Books for Our Space Unit: The third-graders in Mrs. Lewis’s Tennessee classroom are getting a stack of exciting new books about the solar system, galaxies, and space travel. She writes: Thank you so much for your generosity! I can't wait to use these amazing books to help teach my earth and space science unit this fall. My new third graders will be so excited to have all of these brand new science books. I can't begin to thank you enough!
Engineering With Stomp Rockets: I picked this project on Fathers’ Day in memory of my late dad, an aerospace engineer from Michigan. He’d be delighted to see this Michigan seventh grade engineering and launching their rockets and making calculations to maximize the distance flown! Ms. Birdwell writes: Thank you for your extremely generous donations! I can't wait to see my students faces when they see these stomp rockets and supplies delivered! We are going to have a great time experimenting with different rockets and practicing the engineering design process along the way. Thank you again for making it possible to engage my students in meaningful learning!
Just Code It: Robots and Rockets & Droids, Oh My! Meanwhile, in Ohio, Mrs. DePascale’s middle-school science club/STEM team has been begging to learn about robotics and coding, but they’ve not had the money for materials — until now! Mrs. DePascale writes: Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your generous support. I am humbled and quite grateful that you have chosen my project to make your contribution. The effects of your donation will be felt not only this year, but in many years to come as my students use these phenomenal materials to learn the skills that they will need to succeed in their future careers. Thank you for believing in me & my students!
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science push in conservative America by funding science and math projects in 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, 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 753! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.