This week, we’re in Florida: a Head Start teacher needs to assemble supplies to give her students the early basis in STEM that they need, while another early-grades teacher seeks real books her students can hold and touch. 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.
This project from last week is soooo close to being finished, I almost feel silly, here on Saturday evening, making the box for it! (1 am: nope, it’s still open!) 2x matching funds makes it even easier to finish.
MAIN PROJECT PART 1
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: $109.21 Completed! Thank you! More projects below.
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!
In for a dime, in for a dollar, my dad used to say. Here’s part 2 of Ms. Parker’s Head Start project, also with 2x matching funds from PNC Grow Up Great and also very close to success.
MAIN PROJECT PART 2
Resources: Help me give my students 48 magnets, momma and babies jumbo farm animals set of 8, and 25 headphones for our classroom.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Oak Grove Elementary School, North Miami Beach, Florida
Total: $176.28 (2x matching funds from PNC Grow Up Great)
Still Needed: $171.93 Completed! Thank you! One more project below.
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 all disciplines/subjects are intertwined/related, applied sciences will have to be infiltrated in every area, starting as early as with our Pre-K students.
Although I am very excited to be part of the solution, the weight of Pre-K being looked upon as the learning 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 science 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 two affordable project chunks.
In part two, I am requesting 25 headphones for our science exploration and listening/technology centers. We also are requesting magnets and additional jumbo farm animal manipulatives for our science exploration. Please donate and help me build and enrich the science curriculum and science exploration experiences for my Pre-K students.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Every now and then, we focus on a literacy project. This one appealed to me because the books being sought are ones that I agree are classics, in general — not many are too recent for me to know. They’re pictured below, so you can see if you agree. This second-year teacher has never been funded at DonorsChoose before. (Code THRIVE is reportedly out of funds, so we’re on our own for the rest of this — luckily, that “rest” is not all that much!)
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students good books. As a 2nd year teacher, I am constantly trying to build my classroom library so that my students can have a variety of books to choose from.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Chickasaw Elementary School, Orlando, Florida
Total: $177.39
Still Needed: $177.39 Completed! Thank you! See you next week.
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Miller:
My Students: My students are in the dual language program, which means half of their daily instruction is in English, and the other half is in Spanish. I teach reading and math in English, while my partner teacher teaches science, social studies, health, and Spanish language arts in Spanish. The goal is for them to be fluent in both languages.
In our class, our favorite quote is "It's okay not to know, but it's not okay to not try.
My students face challenges everyday because most of them are learning a different language. Besides learning a new language, they are also learning to read for the very first time, in both languages.
My Project: My students are required to read books on their reading level and take quizzes that test for comprehension. I want to ensure that my students have a variety of books to choose from. Not only do I want them to read, but I want them to read interesting books that will build their motivation to read. Currently, my book selections are limited, so most times my students have to read books online. I think that's a great option, however, as they are learning how to read, I'd like for them to be able to use their fingers as they track each word, and interact with the pages and the pictures.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Two of our projects from last week were completed, with a big assist from our readers!
Ms. Romero’s fifth grade, in a Texas border town, will get some little Ozobot robots they can program to move around by coding their route with colored markers, thanks to the project Robots, Robots, Everywhere! Let’s Learn to Code.
She writes: I am so happy to announce that our project has been fully funded. Thank you so much for your kind donations. This project will bring STEM into my classroom.
My students and I were so thrilled to hear the news when the email arrived this afternoon. They are excited to get their hand on these tiny robots. Having these OZOBOTS will allow them to begin learning to code.
Meanwhile, the second-graders in Ms. Martinez Hernandez’s Dallas classroom will have lots of new books and games about science topics, via the project Science Centers.
She writes: Thank you sooooo much! I am incredibly happy! I can barely believe it. This is amazing. I was starting to think this project wouldn't be funded. I am so grateful. The kids will be so excited to be using these materials and exploring in the centers. This will greatly improve their experience in science class!!
Our Dollars at Work
In July of 2018, we helped Mrs. Faasii’s sixth grade class in North Carolina get materials they would need to build their own working aqueducts, like those they would study when learning about ancient Rome. But in September, Hurricane Florence happened, and closed their school for nearly two months. When they finally got caught up, they did indeed build their aqueducts! The project was STEM and Social Studies: Building Aqueducts Like the Romans. (More photos at the link.)
I want to thank all of you for your donations! I came up with this idea back in July and had so much fun organizing the chaotic fun. Our school year started off to a very rough start. On September 10th, just 9 days into our school year, we received word that we would be closing school because of a hurricane coming our way. Little did we know that would be our last day of school until November 1st. Hurricane Florence slammed into our tiny town and left a trail of devastation in its wake. Many of my students are displaced, living with friends and family. We had several coworkers who lost their entire households. This put us very behind in our curriculum.
After finally getting back to school and getting back on track, the time finally came to complete our project. Students helped gather our "found materials" to create the aqueducts. We utilized the duct tape and tubing from the donors choose project, along with water jugs, cardboard, styrofoam, string, bubble wrap, crates, toilet paper rolls, and lots of other found items. The kids had a blast coming up with their plan and and creating their structure. We were able to have the project become cross curricular. My co-team mate integrated science into the lesson, talking about hypocausts and aqueducts compared to modern technology. We had an 8th grade math class down to measure the rate and volume of the water. The kids said it was one of the best hands on lessons they ever had!
Thank you for helping my students learn the value in STEM and social studies!!
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 768! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.