I am officially stir crazy. Social distancing is going to be the DEATH of me…but I am doing it for the life of me, and the life of others. I am social by nature, and I need social interaction. Too much time to overthink things is never a good thing for me.
In Jackson county, it was just announced that we have our first COVID-19 case….which means, there will be more. Clearly this person has come into contact with others before she knew she was infected.
When I was a teacher, I used to do this activity with the kids where I would have one 3 x 5 card per student. One card had a red dot on the back. I would have all the kids get up and shake hands with five people in the room. Then I would have them sit down and get up and shake hands with five more people. This represented social interaction. Then I would pass out the cards, and tell the kids to peek at the back and then leave them on the desk so no one would know who had the red dot- representing disease. I would ask the student with the red dot to stand. Then remain standing while anyone who shook hands with this student also stand. Then anyone who shook hands with those five…representing the spread of disease. The students were always shocked to see that most, if not all of the students now carried the ‘disease’. This was my introduction to the hand washing lesson… which was critical for a teacher mom with babies at home, one of whom was always sick.
Which brings me back to today…now is the time to practice good hand washing. Now is the time to reduce contact with others, because we don’t know who has been exposed, and we don’t know if they even know how to correctly wash hands to prevent the spread. Let me just say that I am saying this as my own knuckles are cracking and sore from so many hand washings. Old habits die hard I guess. Late yesterday, restaurants were closed to dine in services….so our communities are beginning to feel the economic impact of this pandemic.
From my makeshift office in my kitchen, while trying not to be distracted by my neurotic dog’s desire to go in and out….every 10 seconds…I spent my morning gathering and verifying resources to compile an easy to navigate list of free or ‘worth the trial period’ resources that don’t require codes and hassles for families:
https://info.edmentum.com/Worksheet-Bundles_Download.html worksheet bundles that you are able to print
https://www.howstuffworks.com/ articles and videos – informational text, STEM related
https://www.exploratorium.edu/ great science and STEAM related activities!!
https://www.khanacademy.org/ math 4-12 lessons
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
https://code.org/learn- one hour free…paid subscription after that
https://www.funbrain.com/ math games and reading material organized by grade level
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids/- for all things historical…divided into kid friendly units
https://www.almanac.com/kids I’ve never heard of this one…but seems like a fun daily visit for kids.
http://thekidzpage.com/ tons of free online activities
https://www.learninggamesforkids.com/ this one has games an some practical technology activities, like keyboarding
https://newsela.com news articles that can be adjusted by reading level
https://www.duolingo.com/ keep your German language skills sharp…or learn another language
Keep plugging along, stay home….and wash your hands!!
