Learning About COVID with Maps101

A good place to start is with our exclusive GNN article “What Is Coronavirus?,” which can help students understand the basics. Although restrictions have been lifted in some parts of the country since this article was published, the basic advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still sound. Even with a vaccine, there is no absolute guarantee that you will not get the virus. The vaccine is meant to help minimize the effects of the virus to avoid serious complications. 

While many students are on summer break, not all are. Summer classes and year-round schools require that students still manage their schoolwork from home. By the start of the next school year, it is unclear whether students will all be back in classrooms. Some may still be meeting virtually. Use this article to help students learn how to manage working from home. There could be some tips in there that you could benefit from too!

Our exclusive Lesson Map “Healthcare in the United States” takes a look at this hot topic that became even more hot when the pandemic revealed the issues America has with healthcare. This Lesson Map focuses on answering the following Essential Questions:

• What is private healthcare compared to public healthcare?
• Why is healthcare expensive in the U.S.?
• What is the Affordable Care Act?
• Why are people debating vaccinations?
• What impact will COVID have on healthcare in the U.S.?

Using dynamic images and text, this Lesson Map provides all of the content needed for students to be able to answer these questions and more. To teach the lesson, we also provide a teacher wraparound edition with point-of-use suggestions for teaching the material and engaging student interest. Each teacher version also includes leveling for remediation, ELL, and extending the content for gifted and talented.

Of course, COVID is a global pandemic. It has not just affected the United States. This GNN article addresses India’s troubles with the crisis. Today, India is recovering, however, experts have warned of waves of cases. Students should be reminded that the issues are global and that until the pandemic is eradicated, there could still be waves such as that seen in India.

In 2021, the Indianapolis 500 car race took place, although it had a much smaller audience than it typically does. The prior year, because of the pandemic, it had no audience at all. Read this article from 2020 to see how the pandemic affected the world of sports. The Summer Olympics in Tokyo had to be postponed a year. They are scheduled to begin July 23, 2021.