This week, we're helping to provide some basic, hands-on materials for students trying to learn from home in Brownsville, Texas and Cape Coral, Florida. 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.
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.
Before presenting our main project, I want to draw attention to an article written by an Oregon public school teacher — Covid-19 Has Made Our Broken School System Worse:
Before our nation’s schools closed, the Federal Communications Commission estimated that around 21 million people in America did not have broadband Internet access. According to data collected by Microsoft, however, the number who can’t access the Internet at broadband speeds is actually closer to 163 million. While districts across the country scrambled to provide mobile hotspots and working devices to students, teachers like me began the demoralizing and herculean task of scrapping years of thoughtfully crafted curriculums in order to provide an entirely new online learning experience. We stepped into our virtual classrooms with the knowledge that, no matter how many shiny new digital resources we have at our disposal, there’s nothing we can do to provide equitable access to education remotely. [….]
Our world no longer looks the same. This pause, which has caused, and will continue to cause, so much suffering may also be a gift, offering a shift in perspective and a chance to pivot. Perhaps it’s a rare opportunity to acknowledge that our nation’s public schools should not be left so alone to provide food, mental health care, and digital connectivity for our nation’s children. That should be, in a fashion almost unimaginable in America today, the role of the larger society. [….]
There is no way to continue putting yet more duct tape on that smashed bumper of a public education system that was already such a wreck before the coronavirus arrived on these shores. Nor is this the time to retreat into our silos, hoarding privilege along with toilet paper and hand sanitizer, too cowardly to demand more for all the children in this country. It’s time instead to reach out across the six feet of social-distancing space that now divides us all and demand more for those who aren’t able to demand it for themselves.
Here’s just one of far too many projects requesting basic supplies for students who don’t have computers at home:
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students school supplies to work from home and some snacks to eat.
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Putegnat Elementary School, Brownsville, Texas
Total: $178.56
Still Needed: $178.56 Completed, thank you! Please consider project below.
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Campos:
My Students: My students are imaginative and fun-loving kids. They come from very low-income households and have not had much experience with the world outside their small community.
Many of my students don't have the ability to learn online.
Many depend on worksheet packets and whatever books they have at home. Despite the hardships they are facing with school being closed, they are eager learners.
My Project: Please help me give my students learning materials for home and distance learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students are not able to leave their homes due to the quarantine in Brownsville, Texas. Most of the parents have lost their jobs and money is very tight. School supplies are not considered essential to them. My student needs a variety of school supplies to complete assignments in reading, math, and writing because most of them do not have a computer or internet services to complete them.
I know my students will love to receive these school supplies and utilize them during our distance learning Zoom meetings, or to complete educational paper packages that our school district has distributed.
Before the pandemic, we used to eat a little snack before math time. I want my sweet students to enjoy a snack while completing their school work at home like we used to do it in our classroom.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
As belinda ridgewood pointed out last week, the preschool students of this Florida teacher are at a disadvantage compared with older kids, since learning at their level is much harder to facilitate online. She’s hoping to get them some materials for math-centered “play”.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students hands-on math materials (counting bears, counting interlocking cubes, dice and play dough) to help reinforce math while distance learning!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Caloosa Elementary School, Cape Coral, Florida
Total: $454.07
Still Needed: $279.66 $185.25
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Clark:
My Students: Currently my Pre-K ESE classroom is being run online through distance learning while the state of Florida has closed schools indefinitely. We know that the remainder of the school year will be based online through Zoom circle times, 1:1 sessions with families and therapists, and providing hands-on learning materials so we do not miss a step from where we left off before COVID-19 took control. The last date the students were in school was March 12, 2020.
I have been making up learning packets for two weeks at a time of worksheets, activity materials, crafts, and books to help give the students materials in their hands.
I personally am funding this and hand-delivering (all with families' consent and practicing social distancing guidelines - dropping at doorsteps/mailboxes). The use of Google Classroom is more for the parents and has been a struggle for the students who are used to hands-on materials and not able to navigate a laptop/Chromebook.
My Project: My students and I are continuing to participate in learning activities together through google classroom and Zoom circle times during this time of COVID-19 distance learning. My students have shown a tremendous amount of resilience through this scary time in history. These materials will help be able to reinforce the activities I show them and they will be able to do with me and also when they are working independently at home.
Learning with hands-on materials is crucial for younger learners, which is why play is essential for learning math concepts.
When students are using bear counters and unifix cubes to practice number, color, quantity, and patterning concepts, these lessons will stick in their memory and be activities they want to continue pursuing so that when they learn addition and subtraction, they are ready with a core foundation of math. Playdough is essential for learning math concepts as well since it can be used in endless ways to make shapes, counters, measurement, weight, and size.
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 $11.7 million so far. (See this update, kept fairly current, about how the funds are being used — nice photos of teachers and kids getting their packages!)
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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With lots of assistance from our readers, last week’s main project — College Starts With a Computer — was quickly completed. Here’s the teacher’s thank you note:
Thank you so much for your generous support of this graduation project. The student is over the moon thrilled that he is getting a laptop and printer to use in college. [….] I just called him to surprise him with the exciting news that this project has been funded.
He surprised me by telling me he will be flying out to Ohio the morning after graduation to get ready to start at The Ohio State University this fall. He will be staying with family until school starts and he is thrilled to have a summer job already lined up for him when he gets to Columbus.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Bradley
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 828! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.