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The Inoculation Project 8/13/2023: Nevada and Wisconsin Classrooms [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-13

This week, we’re helping a Nevada elementary teacher get her students some board games, and a high school teacher in Milwaukee get his class the materials for an environmental science project. 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 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.

Here’s a new project that I think we can push to the finish line before it runs out of time. Mrs. Leaver teaches in a North Las Vegas elementary school that has some difficult conditions you can read about in the left sidebar on her page. She wants her students to have some classic board games, both to help with their social skills and to help them with the various academic skills they’ll use to play.

PROJECT #1 Project: Board Games Help Us Learn Skills Resources: Help me give my students board games to help improve their social skills. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Location: Reynaldo Martinez Elementary School, North Las Vegas, Nevada Total: $171.45 Still Needed: $ 171.45 $96.45 Project description by Mrs. Leaver: My school is a Title I school in North Las Vegas, Nevada. All of our students receive free breakfast and lunch due to their low socioeconomic status. There are many challenges my students face outside of school, but despite those challenges, they come to school ready to learn. My role at the school is to help students overcome their unique challenges by providing them with resources, basic needs, and individual case management. Services I provide include providing basic needs (school supplies, clothing, food, etc.) and providing support in improving behavior, attendance, and academics. These board games will be used to help my students learn and use social skills in a fun setting. Board games will provide an opportunity to practice cooperation and strengthen their social skills. Besides working on social skills, these games also [help] students to work on reading and math literacy! DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! This little ad was made by Hasbro Australia, although these games sound like Americans! x x YouTube Video In case you’d forgotten how to play Clue (which is among the games requested), it does help young players hone their reasoning skills! x x YouTube Video

We’ve really been doing well on this ambitious science project for a few weeks now! Mr. Allen in Milwaukee needs some help with equipment for his high school environmental science students.

PROJECT #2 Project: Exploring Our Environment Resources: Help me give my students the equipment to study their environment and the impact of human activities. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Location: Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Total: $916.13 Still Needed: $ 462.16 $272.16 Project description by Mr. Allen: Our Environmental Science students at WCLL are excited to learn about aspects of the environment they we unaware of. Using the materials listed in this project students will examine factors that affect water quality and soil quality. Using water samples collected from the nearby Milwaukee River students will identify chemicals that may be present in the water samples. They will use a sample of soil from a local park to examine pollutants that may be present in it. Students will track those chemicals to pollution sources such as vehicles, industries, or other sources. DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! Educator Claire Cambardella of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation demonstrates how water quality is tested at a local stream. x x YouTube Video Here’s environmental scientist Dave, from the EPA in the Australian state of Victoria, to show us how soil is tested for pollutants. x x YouTube Video

Our main project from last week was completed, thanks to all our readers, but a special effort by one in particular. [Note: I don’t normally edit the teacher thank yous, and I know that for years we’ve all been donating under our real names over there and writing as our user names here. However, I’m going to remove our names from Mrs. Green’s note when I post it below. They’re still on the DonorsChoose page, of course — it just made me a bit twitchy to see the names here on the Daily Kos page. Many thanks to Mrs. [donor] for ferreting out various matching offers that could be applied!] Project #1, Books Like Me: Mrs. Green is a school librarian in a very tiny (population less than 1000) Alabama town west of Montgomery, and her students wanted to read books that they could relate to. She writes: I am so excited and grateful that the “Books like me” project got funded! I would like to personally thank Mrs. [donor], Reese’s Book Club and the Sonic Foundation, Ms. [donor], Ms. [donor], Ms. [donor], and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. You all have been awesome and this project would not been possible without each and everyone of you!!!

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 seeks to fund science, math, and literacy projects in 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 1047! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose.

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