How do you teach students about Covid-19 at schools? How do you explain the concept of a pandemic? And how to do you get across guidance around prevention? What does this look like for a six-year-old as opposed to a 16-year-old? These are some of the issues Cambridge University Press grappled with as we developed a series of worksheets to explain the virus and the situation we find ourselves in globally and in South Africa.
Working with Life Orientation specialist and author Edna Rooth, we have published these worksheets for use at home or in the class. The worksheets are a response to Covid-19 and function as a Social and Emotional learning (SEL) curriculum. We divided the worksheets by the four phases in the curriculum, covering all twelve grades. Each pack has between ten and fifteen worksheets with extensive teaching notes. The worksheets are printable, and we are encouraging users to share them via email or WhatsApp, so they reach the teachers and learners who needed them most. Parents can also use these worksheets with their children. Topics covered include information on pandemics, facts about the Covid-19 virus, prevention, stigma and depression. There are many practical tasks included in the worksheets, such as guidance on how to make a mask.
Sample Worksheets for teaching Covid-19 at schools
They are really brilliant! What great work, and clearly a lot of work. This is the most comprehensive set of materials for schools I have seen – probably the best in the world right now.
Dr James Lees. Senior Lecturer, HIV & AIDS Programme, University of the Western Cape
Foundation Phase Covid-19 Worksheets (grades 1-3)
- Worksheet 1: How do you feel in the time of Lockdown?
- Worksheet 2 What is a pandemic?
- Worksheet 3 Why is hand-washing important? How to wash your hands.
- Worksheet 4 What is social (physical) distance?
- Worksheet 5 How to use your cloth mask.
- Worksheet 6 What does isolation mean?
- Worksheet 7 Be safe; how to report harm
- Worksheet 8 How to sprout vegetable seeds
- Worksheet 9 How to be safe from the virus
- Worksheet 10 Make and fly a kite with a stay safe message
Intermediate Phase Covid-19 Worksheets (grades 4-6)
- Worksheet 1 How do you feel about lockdown? Why lockdown?
- Worksheet 2 What is a pandemic?
- Worksheet 3 How to prevent the virus from spreading
- Worksheet 4 Start a small vegetable garden in a container
- Worksheet 5 What is stigma?
- Worksheet 6 Make your own mask
- Worksheet 7 Be safe: how to report child abuse
- Worksheet 8. How to use the internet safely
- Worksheet 9. Be sure and safe
- Worksheet 10. Make paper planes with stay safe messages
Senior Phase Covid-19 Worksheets (grades 7-9)
- Worksheet 1 How do you feel? How to keep a pandemic journal
- Worksheet 2 What are the effects of a pandemic?
- Worksheet 3 Design a pattern and create a cloth face mask
- Worksheet 4 Keep your hands virus-free
- Worksheet 5 Report child abuse and oppose gender-based violence
- Worksheet 6 Cope with stress and depression
- Worksheet 7 Use social media responsibly
- Worksheet 8 How to fact-check information
- Worksheet 9 Grow a vegetable garden in a small space
- Worksheet 10 Oppose virus-related stigma
- Worksheet 11 Create a powerful message about social distancing
- Worksheet 12 Create a collage about what you have learnt about yourself during the pandemic
FET Covid-19 Worksheets (grades 10-12)
- Worksheet 1 How do you feel in this time of the pandemic?
- Worksheet 2 Love relationships in the time of a pandemic
- Worksheet 3 Social distancing in perspective
- Worksheet 4 Living with a person who has contracted the virus
- Worksheet 5 Make your own face shield
- Worksheet 6 Grow fruit
- Worksheet 7 Be a digital citizen
- Worksheet 8 How to cope with stress
- Worksheet 9 Avoid alcohol and cigarettes
- Worksheet 10 Oppose and report gender-based violence
- Worksheet 11 Dispel myths and fact-check information
- Worksheet 12 Volunteer to help in the time of a pandemic
- Worksheet 13 Oppose stigma
- Worksheet 14 Each one; Teach one