ELL News Headlines

For many K-12 educators, Zoom only entered the lexicon a few weeks ago, as the coronavirus outbreak shut down schools nationwide. Already, it's taken on a lot of baggage. Schools across the country are evaluating their engagement with Zoom, with decisions varying from place to place. Some districts have discouraged teachers from using it, or banned it altogether. Others are taking a more cautious approach, exploring its potential while sticking with tools they had already vetted more thoroughly prior to the nationwide shutdown.

A good part of Percy Deal's day is spent hauling water for his family and livestock in two 55-gallon barrels. So when he heard on the radio how often and for how long he was supposed to wash his hands to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, he was overwhelmed. Forty percent of the Navajo Nation doesn't have running water or indoor plumbing. Deal lives on Black Mesa in northeast Arizona next to a coal mine that shut down late last year. And mining did more than just drain the tribe's aquifer. Decades of uranium extraction have left generations of Navajos with major health problems. Adrian Lerma says these mines created conditions like autoimmune disorders that have left this community vulnerable to the coronavirus.

Neither author Mary Wagley Copp nor artist Munir D. Mohammed had ever worked on a children's book, but their first effort was snapped up by a major publisher, and advance reviews are enthusiastic about the story and illustrations. "Wherever I Go" is the tale of a family waiting in an African refugee camp and hoping for a "forever home."

Whitmore-Bolles Elementary School in Dearborn promptly locked down after classes were dismissed on March 11 following the announcement that a staff member had been exposed to COVID-19. Two days later, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced a state-wide mandate by which all public, private and boarding schools must be shut down for at least three to four weeks. The impact was perhaps hardest felt by the teachers at Whitmore-Bolles who were locked out of their classrooms due to the massive cleaning and sanitizing effort that immediately went into action. Unable to access books, notes and other materials left in their classrooms, teachers relied on what they had available, on web-based materials and each other to assemble the virtual lesson plans.

As publishers adjust to the school closures and needs of educators and public librarians, Audible has stepped up with a new offering, Stories.Audible.com. The site will be "a place where anyone, in any country, can enjoy unlimited streaming of hundreds of titles for kids and families for free," according to the company's announcement.

Every elementary school student in Glastonbury was sent home with an iPad on the day Connecticut’s governor declared a “public health emergency” to blunt the spread of the coronavirus. On it were all the learning platforms students would need to resume learning online. Students without internet access at home were provided a connection by the district. A few days later classes for this suburban town’s nearly 6,000 students went virtual. That morning, Molly Willsey’s first graders logged onto their iPads just after 9 a.m. and started their school day. In one of Connecticut’s poorest cities, however, the transition hasn’t been nearly as seamless. In Bridgeport, where one out of every 26 public school students in the state attend school, some children were sent home with with worksheets and assignments, but this was an effort by individual teachers and not a coordinated approach by the district. Many of Bridgeport’s students went home empty-handed.

As schools have shut down across America, the nation's education community is beginning to pressure Washington for stimulus funding to help weather the coronavirus pandemic. But what could and should a K-12 stimulus actually look like? 

First Book, a national nonprofit that gets books, education materials, and other life essentials to children in need has a new, immediate mission — get seven million books to kids whose schools are closed but don't have books at home or internet access.

As the growing COVID-19 pandemic shuts down school for millions of students, educators are worried not just about missed class time but missed meals, with an estimated one in six children living in homes without enough food, and many families relying on schools to feed their children.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee won’t be held as scheduled this year because of the coronavirus. Scripps announced its decision Friday morning, citing recommendations against large gatherings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the ongoing state of emergency in Maryland.