During the self isolation and shelter-at-home that is necessary to ensure our common health during the COVID-19 pandemic, Internet access becomes even more essential. Low-income families may receive low-cost Internet access from these providers:

• Comcast’s Internet Essentials (“affordable Internet at Home for Eligible Households”) offers the first two months free, and after that it’s $9.95 per month plus tax.
• Verizon’s Lifeline Discount offers broadband Internet for $9.25 per month plus tax (details in English, Spanish).

You may be well connected; please spread the word so that others are, too.

Area museums have compiled this list of age-appropriate, online resources for learning about the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, as presented by the Discovery Museum:

• Frequently Asked Questions and Answers: Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and Children, from the CDC.
• Cover Your Cough and Sneeze! How to Teach Kids to Cough/Sneeze into Their Sleeves, from Boston Children’s Museum.
• Small people can have big feelings when they hear about scary information on the news. Here is a great article from Huffington Post on how to talk to them about coronavirus from experts.
• Talking To Kids About the Coronavirus, from the Child Mind Institute
• Just for Kids, a comic exploring the new Coronavirus, from NPR
• A video to teach your children how hand washing helps prevents the spread of Coronavirus from Nanogirl.
• With the shortage of hand sanitizer, now is a great time to do a little science at home. Here is a recipe from Popular Science for making homemade hand sanitizer, an activity you can do with your child.
• And for older kids, Transmissions: Gone Viral, by the New York Hall of Science, an interactive comic book on the topic of viruses the scientific process–how to collect evidence and draw conclusions.

The MIT K12 MakerLab has launched a newsletter to help K-12 educators in all fields develop fun and effective Maker experiences for their students. Sign up here.

Boston Tech Mom has compiled a great list of summer STEM programs offered by colleges and universities in Massachusetts.

As postlogue to her Boston STEM Fair, Boston Tech Mom has published her 2020 Guide to STEM Programs in Massachusetts.

Green Newton created its School Connections initiative two years ago to promote environmental sustainability in and beyond Newton classrooms. It’s currently working with seven of Newton’s 15 elementary schools, one of four middle schools, and both high schools to create school gardens, teach sustainability, and develop awareness of environmental challenges and solutions. The group also sponsors Students for a Greener World — an organization of Newton middle- and high-school students interested in making a positive environmental impact and teaching kids about the environment. For more information, sign up for the School Connections e-newsletter and/or email schoolconnections@greennewton.org.