This week, we’re helping elementary and preschool teachers in Texas and Florida to bring their classes robots, science books and games, and kid-scale lab equipment. 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.
Last week when we started this project, it had 2x matching funds from another source. This week, it’s receiving 1.5x matching funds from Verizon, so it will take a bit more doing to finish it up: Verizon is helping to give millions of kids the tech education they deserve. We're putting technology, access, and innovative learning programs in the hands of students to put them on the path to success.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students an introduction to coding by using OZOBOTS. These little robots will help my students learn to code with markers and then we can transfer the learning to digital coding.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Vida N Clover Elementary School, San Juan, Texas
Total: $437.62 (1.5x matching funds from Verizon)
Still Needed: $208.45 $71.69 ($48 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Romero:
My Students: We are a Title I school located near the South Texas border with Mexico. Our students are at risk with 100% free breakfast and lunch. Many of our students are Hispanic and do not speak English at home.
Each child in my classroom absolutely loves learning but doesn't have the resources to do all they are capable of doing in the classroom.
Despite these challenges, they come to school eager and ready to learn.
Please help me close the educational gap.
My Project: These little robots will help my students get introduced to the world of STEM. Ozobot is a miniature smart robot that can follow lines or roam around freely, detect colors, and can also be programmed. They will learn to manually code with markers and then take that knowledge to learn to digitally code. They promote logical thinking, problem solving, persistence, collaboration, creativity, and communication.
All of these skills improve academic success.
Using Ozobots in the classroom will empower my students to understand that they can influence how and why technology is used. They will let their creativity flow and reach for new heights as they become innovators and shift their understanding of what's possible when they learn something new.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Here’s our other open project from last week, for a never-before-funded teacher. I’m writing this without knowing whether the THRIVE matching code still has funds, but let’s try it and see if we can speed up completion here. (YES, it works!)
MAIN PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students games and visuals so they can learn all they can while having fun in their science centers.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School, Dallas, Texas
Total: $476.94 (use code THRIVE at checkout to double your donation)
Still Needed: $257.82 $47.53 ($24 if we all use the THRIVE code)
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Martinez Hernandez:
My Students: My students are bilingual second graders. They are mostly Hispanic. The grand majority of them come from low income homes. They are 7, turning 8 years old. And struggle a bit with reading.
They love to learn, create, participate and help with experiments and absolutely loooove doing centers.
In class they are learning all about science so they are super exited and come every day with a lot of energy. They love to work in teams, are super competitive and are always up for a team competition.
My Project: Science centers are an every week thing in my class. It gives the students the opportunity to be independent and responsible for their own work. Kids love doing centers. One of their favorite centers of the entire year has been the Can Do! Games.
These new additions to class will keep kids motivated while enjoying a center where they can be competitive and play while learning.
With them, kids can learn about Earth, Force & Motion and Matter. The Read About Science Learning Centers will be a new activity in class. With them I intend to help kids learn about Life Cycles, Plants, States of Matter and Animals while helping increase their reading comprehension skills.
The I Know The Answer! Game Buzzers will bring a new intensity to the games in class, while the Magnet Bars, Charts and Kids will keep the class organized and the students will know whose turn it is to go to each center.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Since our two existing projects are getting close, I’m adding another one to try and make sure latecomers have a chance to help. This Head Start teacher’s school was just designated a STEAM school, and she is excited, but scrambling to provide appropriate resources in a classroom that starts with none. PNC Grow Up Great is providing 2x matching funds: Extending the reach of innovative, high-quality resources and experiences in pre-K classrooms advances the program’s mission of inspiring great futures for young children.
BONUS PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students 12 kid-sized flashlights, farm animal counters, 12 hand magnifying glasses, 12 unbreakable test tubes, and 12 super safe eyedroppers for our classroom.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Oak Grove Elementary School, North Miami Beach, Florida
Total: $203.56 (2x matching funds from PNC Grow Up Great)
Still Needed: $203.56 $109.21 ($55 from us)
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Parker:
My Students: My classroom is part of a Head Start Program in a Headstart through 5th-grade school in North Miami. I serve up to 20 children, with inadequate technology resources to reach the students' full potential.
Our beautiful school has a high number of students who are first-generation immigrants from Haiti.
In funding this project, these children will have access to their daily activities and make much more progress in their learning growth.
Each student has great potential for learning, and this project will enhance their ability to excel.
My Project: This month, our school was officially designated a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) school. We are so excited that we made the requirements on our second try.
Because the disciplines are all intertwined, applied sciences will have to be infiltrated in every area, starting from Pre-K.
Although I am very excited to be part of the solution, the weight of Pre-K being the foundation or stepping stone seems heavy as my classroom lacks most of the early learning science resources, manipulatives, and technology to make STEAM in our Pre-K curriculum a success. The list for early learning scientific materials for my students was so incredibly long, that I decided to break the projects into affordable chunks.
In part one, I am requesting, magnifying glasses, test tubes, farm animal manipulatives, eye droppers, and flashlights for our science exploration center. Please donate and help me build my science curriculum for my Pre-K students.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Our main project from last week was completed, with a big assist from our readers!
Mrs. Rolle, the technology teacher at a North Carolina elementary school, will be able to start a robotics club with the Lego Mindstorms set this project will provide, with an eye to competing in the near future and helping to close the STEM gender and diversity gap. The project was Closing the Gap with STEM!
She writes: I can't express how grateful I am for your generosity!! Receiving the email that our project was funded made my day! This is a giant step toward building our robotics club this year. The opportunities the Mindstorm kit will provide are endless. My students will be thrilled! Thank you so very much. You're amazing!
Our Dollars at Work
In February, we helped Mr. Trull, a first-year 4th-grade teacher in South Carolina, to get some resources to help his class understand fractions. The project was Making Mathematicians. (More photos at the link.)
On behalf of all of my students, and myself, thank you SO MUCH for your support in our classroom. Your donations were put to great use and allowed us the opportunity to further our learning in a fun and engaging way. Far beyond the enjoyment it provided, it really furthered their conceptual understanding of decimals and fractions — something that is otherwise really difficult at this stage.
Speaking of fun —
4th graders are an energetic and rambunctious bunch.
In fact, I dare say that my homeroom was UNUSUALLY rambunctious.
But you'd never know it while they were working in their math stations which were made possible by you. I lost count of the number of comments amounting to how fun class was and how the time flew by way too quickly. Ya know, it wasn't always like that.
In fact…
I won't name names,
but getting a few of my students to participate in or complete their math work was like PULLING TEETH. That was before your help. They now voluntarily RUSH to math centers at any possible time. Sometimes, recess included.
Thank you —
not only for giving to our class,
but more importantly,
for becoming a part of it.
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 766! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.