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HOMESCHOOLINGRESOURCES | REAL-LIFELESSONS
Learn about Germs
It’s a great time to teach your kids about germs and, in particular, COVID-19. This exercise can serve as a science lesson while helping ease kids’ anxiety about the threat of the disease.
PBS.org recommends providing your children with age-appropriate information about the disease, reas- suring kids that they are safe and many people are working to keep us healthy, and teaching kids how to take reasonable hygiene precautions to prevent the spread of disease.
ABOUT THE DISEASE
Learning about COVID-19 can help allay fears children may have about the disease. KidsHealth.org recom- mends first asking what your children already knows about the disease. If your kids don’t seem interested in talking about the issue, that’s OK. If they do want to talk, answer any ques- tions they have honestly, and if you don’t know the answer, be honest about that, too. Speak calmly and be reassuring.
If your children are getting informa- tion from questionable sources, such as sensationalized websites or click- bait headlines, talk to them about evaluating their sources of informa- tion. Offer appropriate sources of information for children, such as the CNN 10 news show (https://www.cnn. com/cnn10), Student News Daily (www.studentnewsdaily.com) or PBS NewsHour Extra (www.pbs.org/news- hour/extra).
Check in with your children often to see what new information they’ve been taking in about the disease, so you can answer any new questions they might have. Be sure they are not obsessing and constantly taking in information about the pandemic.
Be sure children know the symp-
toms of COVID-19 (fever, cough, shortness of breath, and in some cases, flu-like symptoms), so they can report them to you if they experience them.
TEACH ABOUT PREVENTION
Educating children about their role in preventing spread of disease helps them feel in control of some part of the situation. Talk about the impor- tance of proper handwashing, sneez- ing or coughing into their elbow, social distancing, not touching their faces, eating well and getting enough sleep.
Teeangers are old enough to have a more adult conversation about their role in preventing the disease and take in media about the toll the dis- ease is taking.
TEACH A LESSON
If you’re homeschooling, consider doing a unit about viruses, including coronavirus. BrainPop’s animated explanation of the virus is a good place to start. It’s part of an entire les- son on viruses, including quizzes, worksheets, recommended reading, a graphic organizer and related games. See the lesson at https://bit.ly/3af- 5pvT.
German science content provider Kurzgesagt: In a Nutshell, also offers a kid-appropriate explainer of the dis- ease. Watch it at https://bit. ly/2vP37oA.
The National Science Teaching Association offers a list of resources for teaching about coronavirus at https://bit.ly/39aB3JX.
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