This week, we’re helping a North Carolina elementary teacher seeking tools to improve her students’ grasp of math concepts, and a South Carolina first grade teacher who needs more engaging books in her classroom. 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.
MAIN PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students the opportunity to see, build, and enhance conceptual understanding of math concepts!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Lake Rim Elementary School, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Total: $221.18
Still Needed: $136.18 Completed, thank you! Please see next project!
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Bowen:
My Students: My school is a co-ed Title 1 institution in North Carolina catering to approximately 700 students from all walks of life. Although we operate on a 100% free lunch system, we are still anchored in excellence. Everyday learning opportunities are provided to our students that allow them to explore, discover, and maximize their potential.
My scholarly Brainiacs are like gems, different yet precious!
They are a bunch of ambitious, hardworking, and willing to learn students. I am committed to my task of ensuring that I provide them meaningful, purposeful, inclusive, and relevant learning experiences daily!!
My Project: Math is the subject many love to hate. But without the right experiences and tools, it may stamp you that mark. Math is everywhere around us, in all shapes, sizes, colors, forms, and patterns. We just need to understand how to manipulate, connect, and reason with our numbers.
I want to provide my scholarly Brainiacs with the opportunities to construct their own cognitive models for abstract mathematical thinking while having fun!
With these manipulatives, my students are on their way to becoming better problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and math lovers! After all, math and success do add up!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
A Montessori “Hundred Board” is one of the items on Ms. Bowen’s list.
I promised more book projects to our friend Youffraita, who is perfectly right about the importance of literacy. When this first-grade teacher says, “I want my students to see that they are readers,” I know she gets it too.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
Resources: Help me give my students fun read alouds that capture their interest and make them fall in love with reading!
Economic need: Nearly all students from low‑income households
Location: Bay Road Elementary School, Hartsville, South Carolina
Total: $296.66
Still Needed: $271.66 Completed! Thanks! See you on Sunday!
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Mixon:
My Students: My students are bright, full of energy, and they love school! They will walk into my classroom in the fall with a zest for learning and I do my best to ensure they continue to have that passion for learning by the end of the year! I am always amazed by how much they have learned and grown!
They walk in the door every day with a smile on their faces and ready to learn!
The students at my school are from single-parent, low socio-economic homes who receive three free meals daily. I firmly believe that a child's background does not predict his/her future.
Our school has limited funds to provide valuable materials to help my students reach their full potential. My hope for my students is to have access to valuable resources to develop their literacy skills and get them ready for 2nd grade!
My Project: As a teacher, I strive to bring excellent literature to my students. My students need to be exposed to interesting books. I am requesting a variety of high interest read aloud books so that I could expand the books I have available for our "Race to Read" challenge! My kids love read alouds more than any other part of the school day. They beg me to read more books to them. They could even listen to the same books read over and over again because of the high interest! I have carefully chosen books that my students will absolutely love. I am asking for funny books and books with diverse characters. I want my students to see that they are readers. They will learn key skills as I bring these amazing books to life!
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
It made me smile to see a few titles I remember on Mrs. Mixon’s list. Harold’s story is perfect for Daily Kos because it involves a great deal of pie. In a good way!
Last week, we were instrumental in completing both of our projects!
Ms. Richard’s Florida fourth grade will be getting a class subscription to Generation Genius, a teaching resource that provides videos, activities, and other science materials that students can use in the classroom or remotely. The project was Science: Generation Genius Class Subscription.
She writes: Thank you! Thank you! I can't wait to show my class all the incredible videos and resources we will soon have access to. Without generous donations like yours, the smiles and sparks of learning wouldn't be possible. Thank you for helping me make science a more memorable and engaging experience for my students.
And then, Mrs. Dermer’s Ohio Head Start class will be getting a great collection of new picture books that will help them develop a love of reading, thank to the project Building Our Library. (She has a very funny “auto-corrupt” typo in her note, but we know what she means, even if her machine does not!)
She writes: Thanks so much for your support in funding our classroom project "Building Our Library." My students will greatly benefit from your generosity. I am excited to share the news with my students upon returning to the classroom next week. Words cannot express the insect you have made in their early education experience.
Our Dollars at Work
Last May, we went to a small Kentucky city on the Ohio River, near Evansville, Indiana, to help Mrs. Lawson’s fourth grade. They needed books, and Mrs. Lawson had selected several collections including a set of Newbery Award winners and a group of science-related titles. The project was Readers are Leaders! (More photos at the link.)
This has been a crazy year for educators and our students. I wish I could detail the many amazing ways I have been using the books you funded through my project, however, my students have barely been inside my classroom. When we began a hybrid model of instruction, I set up a library checkout system in my classroom. I displayed and previewed several of the books and as students became excited about various titles, I shared the books with them. They have checked them out and have been reading them at home and returning them when finished.
In our reading curriculum, we use several read aloud texts to expose our students to a variety of styles, themes, and cultures. I absolutely love the read alouds! We also do mini-lessons to develop reading skills such as word solving strategies and literary analysis. The days we do have our students in our classrooms, we do guided reading in small groups to provide a time for more individualized coaching and practicing of the skills we have learned. Finally, independent reading is a critical component. That is where the books you purchased come in. They are interesting, relevant, award-winning texts that are of high interest to my students.
All of my students who have borrowed books from the set have enjoyed them. Thank you so much for helping me build my classroom library and get high-interest books in the hands of my students. You have certainly made a positive difference.
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 873! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.org.