You know those comments you get sometimes as a parent starts to walk out of the door after coming in for a quick chat or to discuss a concern?  How they are sometimes the most important bit of information you got from someone that day?  Well I had a moment like that this week.  The parent mentioned to me that her child said that everyone was avoiding another child (one I didn’t know) because he was Chinese and while he hadn’t EVER been to China, the kids all thought they would catch the Corona Virus from him.  I smiled, thanked her for telling me then stood staring around my empty classroom wondering where to start (ok, so this might have been after I calmed myself down by how angry the idea made me).

Is it any wonder really, when the country is going crazy and buying up all the toilet paper they can find leaving none for the rest of us, that students are also over reacting?  While the government starts its uphill battle educating the public (for heaven’s sake – Kleenex TP is made in South Australia!), I began planning for educating my students on the matter. A quick check of the Health Curriculum and I was on my way.

For anyone who has never used the Student-centred news reporting program Behind the News, it is always a great go-to when I need topical events explained in a very child friendly but not dumbed down way.  I don’t remember the last time I watched a full episode in my classroom, but I love that I can access the individual stories and just watch those.  The most success I’ve had lately using BTN was when I gave my students 3-4 questions that had to be answered on the episode we were currently watching.  I made them editable for Google Classroom (which is the platform my school uses) and students watched an episode on Bushfire Prevention and answered questions as they watched.  We started by watching the story once through without Chromebooks out then again answering as we went (My Bushfire unit with this activity in it is available in my TPT store).  Now this may sound pretty straight forward, but at the end of the second viewing, I had students ask me to play it a third as they hadn’t got everything and one student then asked that I wait so she could discuss her thinking first with her friend before she kept going – and here’s the kicker – the rest started nodding their heads in agreement!  A four minute news story and they were asking me for time to discuss their thinking with others before committing more ideas to paper!  Yup, I was definitely using this strategy again!!

Fresh off this success, I hopped onto BTN and find some great short (3-4 mins each) reports for students and make up some editable student activity sheets to go with them.  The reports I chose covered basic background info, the World Health Organisation, the concept of Quarantine and COVID-19’s impact on business and stock markets.  My thinking is this gives students a nice rounded background on what it is and what is happening about it and because of it.  Pair this with a a separate video on how proper hand washing stops the spread of viruses and I was on my way.  To tie in all this new information into the health curriculum, I added a couple of student assignments around educating others and I was good to go. If you’re interested in seeing what I’ve come up with check out my preview on TPT here.

Bringing the discussion of the Corona Virus into the classroom makes it something that is open to discussion and that is the best way to ensure that students get the facts on something and not react to the pandemonium and panic they are seeing around them.  Now if only I could find a solution to where I can buy some toilet paper when I run out!