(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Inoculation Project 1/22/2023: Colors of Photosynthesis; Colors of Third-Graders [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-22 It was just this week that folks in the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup thread one morning were talking about crayons that include a wide variety of skin tones, not just that pallid peach color that Crayola used to call “Flesh” when I was a kid. And here is an elementary-school librarian in South Carolina, looking for building and creative supplies for the students, to include a similar set of colored pencils — that’s what she’s referring to in her description: the “More than Peach® Colored Pencils - Multicultural & Rainbow Combo Pack”. (More on that later!) PROJECT #1 Project: Center Supplies for Library Learners Resources: Help me give my students K'Nex, More Than Peach colored pencils and construction paper. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; nearly all students from low‑income households. Location: Woodland Heights Elementary School, Spartanburg, South Carolina Total: $232.84 Still Needed: $ 133.42 $108.42 Project description by Mrs. Graham: Welcome to #TeamREAD, where every reader is celebrated! Our library serves over 415 students in K-5th grades, with weekly library lessons, stories, and information literacy instruction, all served with a technology and media arts integration twist. For many of our students, the school library is their only means of access to reading materials and other library services. No matter what challenges they face outside of school, my students know that they are valued and appreciated whenever they visit the library. We have students of varied backgrounds, and while some students have access to building and art supplies, there are many more that do not. They will love using K'Nex, More Than Peach colored pencils, and construction paper to express their creativity. DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! So, I didn’t realize this when I picked this project, but the founder of the More Than Peach line of art supplies is Bellen Woodard, a girl then in third grade (she’s 11 now!), who one day really thought hard about the “skin-colored” crayon and decided it just would not do. She tells her story to a woman speaking with her as part of a series of CEO interviews sponsored by Target, who are carrying Bellen’s products. x x YouTube Video Project #2 is quite ambitious, but it has enough weeks left that I think we can push it over the finish line. (If we can’t, they’ll give our donations back, so no harm trying!) Ms. Delchamps teaches high school biology in Mobile, Alabama, and she wants her students to be able to do a fascinating project to understand what pigments plants use to go about their business of photosynthesis. They’ll need, among other things, this snazzy little spectrophotometer. PROJECT #2 Project: Pigments and Wavelengths of Light Resources: Help me give my students a fun, educational lab experience where we can actually see the wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected by plants. Economic need: An Equity Focus School; more than half of students from low‑income households. Location: Murphy High School, Mobile, Alabama Total: $1,105.96 Still Needed: $ 925.96 $898.96 Project description by Ms. Delchamps: This project focuses on preparing plant extract to see and measure the wavelengths of light absorbed by the plant pigments. They also understand why we see pigments in certain colors. The first step in photosynthesis is absorbance of light for the energy source, and this experiment lets students see first hand how the light-dependent reaction works. They are then able to demonstrate by graphing the different wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected. Students love to see how science actually works in the world around them. This lab is one of my favorites! DONATE HERE Donations of ANY size can make a BIG difference! The Amoeba Sisters give us a rundown of what’s going on. x YouTube Video For those who’d like some more detail, and additional snark, Hank Green can help you out. x YouTube Video Our first project from last week was completed, with help from our readers that started back on New Year’s Day. Project #1, Exploring the Lunar New Year With STEMs!: Ms. Olenja teaches middle school in Greenville, South Carolina. She needed materials for a series of STEM projects with a Lunar New Year theme (appropriate, as Lunar New Year starts today). She writes: Your generous donation makes it possible to provide elevated learning experiences to my students. My students are looking forward to integrating STEMs while learning about the Chinese Lunar New Year. Projects like this will encourage students to expand their learning experiences while being creative and working together to develop creative solutions using the Design Process and literature. We are so thankful for your support! Also, from the week before last, A Journey to New Worlds: Mr. Muga teaches sixth grade in San Bernardino, California, where his students love to travel through reading to far-off places. He wanted a science fiction novel for them that would extend their travels and experiences.​ ​ ​ He writes: ​I can't believe the generosity of you donors. I struggle to find enough copies of books for my students, especially ones that represent the cultures that make up my classroom, so this is amazing! My students and I can't wait to explore this new world, and it's because of you. Thank 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 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 1013! The success-list diary also contains links and additional information about DonorsChoose. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/22/2148579/-The-Inoculation-Project-1-22-2023-Colors-of-Photosynthesis-Colors-of-Third-Graders Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/