This week, we’re helping a Cleveland third grade and a St. Louis high school (including its after-school computer club) with projects that will give the students hands-on experiences with building and programming. 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, math, and literacy projects for red-state public schools in low-income neighborhoods. As always, our conduit is DonorsChoose, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation that facilitates tax-deductible donations to specific, vetted projects in public schools.
Mrs. Halaburda wants her Cleveland elementary students to have some new building toys to work with.
PROJECT #1
Resources: Help me give my students new STEM building tools to ignite their curiosity.
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Halle School, Cleveland, Ohio
Total: $242.47
Still Needed: $192.47 $132.47
Teacher’s Comments from Mrs. Halaburda:
My Project: My students are extremely creative and eager hands-on learners. They love using STEM materials to work alone, in pairs or teams to build a variety of things. They amaze me with their creative ideas and final products. They love to talk through the project as they are building and can't wait to present their creation. They love to take pictures with it and send the pictures to their parents or print them to hang in the school. They will love these new tools and the creative juices will be flowing as they work through their designs.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
Here are a couple of the STEM toys requested.
Ms. Williams needs her St. Louis high school students to have a chance to program these cool little golf-ball-sized robots.
PROJECT #2
Resources: Help me give my students by providing Sphero Mini equipment for our STEM / Computer / Technology Student Associate Club. My goal is to expose and educate my scholars in technology in a fun and creative way(s).
Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households.
Location: Riverview Gardens High School, Saint Louis, Missouri
Total: $527.25
Still Needed: $409.60 $349.60
Teacher’s Comments from Ms. Angela Williams:
My Project: Technology and coding are a part of everyone's life now. It is important to educate on how technology works. By having the Sphero Mini in the classroom I can achieve taking the fear out of coding for my students.
The Sphero will be used to teach coding, math practices, and navigational skills when used in obstacle courses.
It will foster team cooperation and self-reliance. Yes, a small little robot can do all that for just one child.
The Sphero will be used in class and in the after-school computer club.
Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference!
The first video is a manufacturer’s ad for the product; the second is a review that gives a little more detail on the many things the robots can do.
BOTH projects from last week were completed! We got some help with that big one, but part of our strategy is to help projects become more visible to other donors, so that’s great!
Project #1, Reading in Math Class: Mrs. Murphy teaches middle school math in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and needed math-themed stories to stock her classroom reading nook.
She writes: Thank you for your donations toward my project. These books will ensure that my students can see how math is used in everyday places. I cannot wait to share these stories with them and watch their curiosities grow. Your kindness will help inspire my learners for years to come. Again, thank you for all your support.
Project #2, Young, Black and Lit: Ms. Strozier’s literacy project sought books that could help her elementary school students see themselves in the stories and know they are valued.
At this writing, Ms. Strozier hadn’t seen the news yet, but we’ll bring you her note when she has a chance to respond.
DonorsChoose has developed the designation Equity Focus Schools to describe some schools that submit projects. They meet two criteria: at least 50% of students are Black, Latinx, Native American, Pacific Islander, or multiracial, and at least 50% of students qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the standard measure for school economic need. You can read more at the link about their efforts to address the longstanding inequity in education. |
Founded in 2009, The Inoculation Project combats the anti-science, anti-education push in conservative America by funding science, math, and literacy projects in red-state public school classrooms and libraries. Our conduit is DonorsChoose, 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 projects 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 980! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.