This week, we’re helping a Kentucky fourth grade that needs books, and a Louisiana kindergarten struggling to kindergarten from home without crayons, pencils, or paper. 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.
Here is DonorsChoose.org’s message about the current situation:
Coronavirus Update: Thank you for your continued support of teachers; they need us right now! We are working closely with teachers and will fulfill all funded projects on the timeline that is best for their school.
We started this project last week as a long-term project, and it made so much progress that I’m moving it up here this week!
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students quality reading material to build our classroom library and build their brains!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Whitley Central Intermediate School, Williamsburg, Kentucky
Total: $245.18
Still Needed: $141.65 $59.00
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Lawson:
My Students: My fourth grade classroom is made up of thirty unique students who love to use hands-on activities to learn. My students walk into our classroom every day full of life and ready to learn. I try my best to find new ways to help keep them engaged in learning and moving forward.
I teach at a Title I school in Kentucky where one hundred percent of our students receive free breakfast and lunch.
Many of our students receive backpack food on the weekend. Despite so many hardships, my students are eager to learn and do their best. They want to be in school because they want to learn all they can, so they can be successful one day. I may not be able to control their home lives; however, I can certainly control their experiences during the school day.
My Project: These books will enhance our classroom library and provide opportunities for students to read quality and engaging literature. I am a huge fan of the Newbery Award books. I believe that they have depth, complexity, and quality that many of the more trendy books do not have. I like to recommend these books to my students for individual reading and read some aloud to them.
The science books will engage our students with interesting topics related to what we are learning in class.
Science is of particular emphasis in 4th grade. I am excited about the books in the set on this project.
I am looking forward to having these resources to share with my students!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
For our second project, here’s a never-before-funded teacher in a small Louisiana town south of Baton Rouge, who has a class of kindergarteners trying to learn from home. But at home, they lack the basic school supplies to allow them to participate in lessons and activities. Let’s help her send them paper, pencils, crayons, scissors, and other supplies they need to get the most from distance learning.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students basic school supplies of pencils, sharpeners, paper, and other supplies to let their remote learning become a hands-on, fun, and meaningful experience just like they get in school.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: G W Carver Primary School, Gonzales, Louisiana
Total: $472.94
Still Needed: $185.35 Completed! Thank you!
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Palmer:
My Students: My students are from Louisiana. My students who love coming to school eager to learn have been stripped of this experience because of COVID 19. My energetic kindergartners who normally are in class are now at home struggling to keep up with lessons and assignments.
On a normal school day, my students would be eagerly reading books, writing stories, learning new words and learning math strategies are now at home reduced to watching me teach daily through videos and scheduled Zoom meetings.
Although their daily routine has been disturbed by the events of the day, we are still keeping the learning going through remote access learning. My students beam with joy. They love to learn!
My Project: Having proper materials make learning fun, hands-on and meaningful. Learning in a box at home allows children to have an active part in their learning thus creating strong student engagement and more successful learners. During daily remote learning videos, students will have the materials they need at home to complete assignments, engage in independent work while participating in class lessons. Currently, my students are working at home with limited or no supplies. Making sure my students have the proper material at home ensures their motivation to learn. I have noticed amazing differences in my students when they are given the proper materials. With the proper materials, they are excited and motivated to participate in learning.
My students are noticeably more engaged in their work and less distracted when they are given the proper materials to work with, thus making work fun, engaging and meaningful.
The products that I have selected will help my students by giving them additional support to aid in the learning process. The materials given will aid students in their remote learning. They will also save parents the added expense of having to purchase these items in a time where most of my parents are not working.
I have seen in my 30 years of teaching, how having the proper materials readily available add value to the learning experience and can positively affect my students work and desire to learn.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
DonorsChoose.org has set up a special coronavirus relief effort to help teachers in highest poverty areas send educational materials to students who are trying to learn from home. This effort isn’t limited to math and science projects, but we thought our readers might be interested in hearing about it. The fund has raised over $6.4 million so far. (For a limited time, there are matching funds! See link. Also, see this update about how the funds are being used.)
Urgent Coronavirus Response: Help teachers get key resources to students at home.
Coronavirus has closed schools across the country. Right now, teachers need to get supplies in the hands of students at home to keep them learning, especially in our country’s highest-need communities. We surveyed over 3,000 teachers, and 97% of them are worried that school closings are going to hurt their students’ learning.
Teachers need your help now to get the technology, basic supplies, and hands-on activities they need to keep kids learning at home.
Here’s how it will work:
- You make a donation of any amount to Keep Kids Learning.
- All donations go to teachers at schools serving low-income communities where most students are eligible for free and reduced lunch.
- Teachers select the materials they need and distribute them to students at home.
DonorsChoose, the classroom funding site for public school teachers, is committed to getting teachers what they need to give every student a great education. Usually, funded supplies are shipped directly to classrooms in need. With schools closed, this new pilot program for delivering on our mission empowers teachers to get supplies directly to students at home.
We’ve automatically waived our 15% optional donation for this program, so 100% of your gift will go to supplies for teachers and their students.
DonorsChoose.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with Charity Navigator's highest 4-star rating. Visit our help center for details on how Keep Kids Learning works, or for more information on how we're responding to teachers impacted by coronavirus.
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Our main project from last week was completed, with a big assist from our readers!
Ms. Taylor’s San Diego kindergarteners need to keep learning from home so they can be ready for first grade, and many families can’t afford computers and internet access. Ms. Taylor will be able to surprise her students with math and reading materials when they come to the food distribution center, thanks to the project Covid 19 School Closure.
She writes: I am overwhelmed by the community support for our students and our schools. These educational supplies mean more than ever during this time. Young children need physical materials to work with, not just a screen. Parents need a guide. You have made student learning possible, and greatly helped my instructional capabilities.
Our Dollars at Work
I have quite a backlog of photos, and maybe we’ll get to more of them while kids are learning from home and teachers may (may!) have fewer new pictures to share.
This project dates from fall of 2018. At Ms. Morgan Valdovinos’ school in Galveston, students were furnished with plastic flatware and straws packed in plastic bags, resulting in hundreds of plastic items per day being disposed of just by her class! She aimed to make a change that would help educate her class on this issue, and we were able to help her project to provide reusable metal sporks and straws for her students. The project was We Say No to Single Use Plastics! (More photos at the link.)
Our class is so passionate about saving the planet. In fact, this is one of their favorite topics to share about. They are currently working on research projects that focus on a specific animal and its habitat. Through this research, they are learning about what threatens these animals and the habitats they live in. The kids have bright ideas on how they can help protect and conserve. Their work will be published into a class book that each of them will receive in May. Thank you for helping to inspire these young minds. We are truly grateful for your contribution. Now, some words from the kids!
1.How do you use the sporks, straws, and picnic blanket?
"I use them for breakfast and lunch."
"We used the sporks and straws for the ice cream party. And for the picnic blanket we did a picnic. It was so nice of you."
"We use the straws for juiec, fruit, and more."
2. How did you feel the first time you used the sporks, straws, or picnic blanket?
"I felt good the first time. It felt like I was at home for me, because we use these at home."
"The first time I used them I felt nervist."
"I felt super happy that we started to help the aninimals."
"The first time I yoused them I felt just you know amazed, proud of myself."
3. Why do you like using the sporks, straws, and picnic blanket?
"The reason I like using the picnic blanket is because we get to eat outside as a class family and have fun with each other."
"I like using the sporks because they are so fun to eat with!"
"I like using the sporks and straws because they are reusiball and because the animals in the sea whont diy."
"I like using sporks and straws because they stop me from useing plastic."
4.Why is it important to use reusable items?
"It's like if you don't recicle and use plastic, animals will start dieing and then they will all go exstinct. Then you won't get to see them enymore, and you'll be sad that you used plastic. So that's why I like to recycle and reuse stuff."
"It is importing for us not to use plastic becuse we don't want to hurt ocean animals."
"We love our animals so that's why we recycle and use sporks. We are thankful for you guys giving us sporks, we love you."
"The reson it is so good to use reusable items is because it saves our planet and the sea animals, and it even saves us!"
"Plastic is really bad for the ocen and all the sea animals are dieing of plastic. It's really important to pick up plastic in the beach and that's why we use metal sporks and straws."
THANK YOU
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 819! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.